How to Identify Candidates with the Greatest Potential
How is your candidate search going? Are you dealing with multiple positions that you are unable to fill? Facing skill gaps, how do you minimize your risks when you select a candidate? Is your main benchmark how well your job applicants interview? Or are you looking for something more quantitative?
The reality is that resumes can be inflated, job experiences may not be comparable to the job offering, and interviews can result in subjective decisions. Hiring is a nuanced activity. Often, a final decision is based on instinct or a gut feeling.
1) Broaden Your Hiring Search Criteria
Screen not just for past experience and industry knowledge, but for a potential employee’s strength in critical thinking. The skills and mindset needed for sound problem solving and decision-making once they are on the job. And strong critical thinking as a job qualification. We can assist you with the right tools to evaluate that requirement.
2) Determine the Overall Most Qualified Candidates
Strength in reasoning ability means more than the possession of thinking skills.
Individuals can have experience and skills desired, but lack the motivation to utilize them when making decisions. You need to identify future employees who have the ability and mindset to learn and to perform the job. Strength in reasoning ability means more than the possession of thinking skills.
Ask yourself if they are open to new ideas, decisions and skills. Would you describe them as capable and self-motivated? Driven to meet goals? Can they persistently focus on working through problems? Are they resilient, with an appetite for innovation and system changes? Resourceful? Do they strive to anticipate potential difficulties? Will they be good team members and leaders?
Why does mindset matter? Effective problem solvers have strong decision-making skills and, equally important, the positive mindset to consistently apply those skills. These employees are motivated to engage in problem-solving. They bring commitment, focus, tolerance and resourcefulness to their decision-making process.
These employees demonstrate a strong work ethic, flexibility, and the eagerness to learn and grow are most likely to fit into your work culture.
Employees with a well-developed learning mindset are key to developing strong teams. Thinking and decision-making skills, along with a commitment to your company’s mission, vision, and values is important, at every level of your organization.
Prioritize finding people who will think well on the job. Screen job candidates for critical thinking skills AND a lifelong learning mindset.
- Use an objective assessment of the key learning attributes required, at each level of responsibility and accountability, for positions within your company.
- Interview candidates eager to learn, motivated to succeed, with the reasoning skills necessary to succeed on the job.
3)Use the Right Assessment Tool
The reasoning skills and professional mindset attributes measured by the INSIGHT series are predictive of workplace success.
INSIGHT Business Professional delivers the data needed to increase the quality of decision making throughout your organization. Our proven online pre-employment screening tool provides consistent objective metrics on the core critical thinking skills and mindset attributes.
Individual reports clearly document the strength and weaknesses of a targeted array of business thinking skills and attributes of candidates. Group reports let you track progress toward your hiring goals.
Our clients appreciate the security and versatility of our industry leading browser-based testing technology. These include the ability to administer multilingual measures of reasoning skills and thinking attributes throughout the world.
4) Support Employee Critical Thinking with Effective Training Materials
New for Professional Development – Critical Thinking and Decision-Making Mini-Courses: Mindset Boosters, Skill Builders, Deep Dives, and approved Continuing Education Unit Packs each focused on specific aspects of reasoning, decision-making, and leadership. 100% online. Available to individuals for purchase directly from our Store at Insight Basecamp, and to organizations for bulk rates through our Insight Assessment sales office. With these new tools a person can strengthen their critical thinking in as little as one hour.
5) Target Employee Critical Thinking Training Specific Strengths and Weaknesses.
INSIGHT assessments provide metrics on up to 15 different scales to assist you in determining proficiency and those areas requiring improvement. INSIGHT is available for multiple industries, including Business, Health, Defense, First Responder, Government/Law, and Science/Engineering.
Data on multiple metrics enables you to tailor individual and group training toward those specific areas where the greatest gains are needed.
Call us at 650-697-5628 or contact us to learn more about INSIGHT solutions for your critical thinking needs.