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Biggest Predictors of Job Performance When Looking at Candidates

Are you in the process of recruiting employees or freelancers? Well, employees and freelancers can make up the biggest expenditure for any company. As an employer, you should be able to determine if the applicant will succeed in your vacant position. However, when faced with a stack of resumes and appointments for interviews, it becomes challenging to know what exactly you are looking for.

Predicting a candidate’s job performance varies from role to role. Every job requires a specific set of skills that recruiters should look out for. For instance, key predictors of success as a customer service agent will not be the same as those of a marketing agent. Nonetheless, some key job performance indicators that cut across the board. Below are some predictors of job success to look out for.

  1. Cognitive Competence

Also termed general mental ability, this describes how an individual performs in various mental processes such as problem-solving, calculations, memorability, organization, planning and reading. Evaluating your candidate’s cognitive ability is crucial for jobs in every industry. With this, you can predict how easy the candidate will catch up during training, how they understand instructions, and how efficient they will solve problems at work. Evaluating pre-employment testing companies can help you tremendously in finding someone with adequate talents.

  1. Development Mindset

During recruitment, you will come across candidates who are natural learners. Candidates with such a mindset are willing to learn new things and put in effort to better their skills. Such employees will always look out to learn new skills, advance their careers and willing to grow both personally and professionally in their capacity. Simply put, persons with growth mindset believe in individual development by embracing feedback and hard work.

Employees become successful if they invest in their careers and development. The right candidates will always want to do better at their job, advance and likely take on additional tasks that make them stronger in their work. Through this, such persons will soon qualify for a higher role. You can evaluate a candidate’s mindset during the interview or by looking at their past records.

  1. Past Performance

Decisions made after an interview or assessments may not be conclusive enough to give a prediction of how the candidate will perform when employed. Therefore, it is prudent to check their past performance and track record, regardless of the vacant position you want to fill.

Experienced candidates will certainly have a lot of track record to prove their past performance. However, you should look out for success indicators in entry-level candidates as well. When analyzing an individual’s track record, don’t be subjective since they may not have a lot of experience in your field. Check out for past performance in other areas where skills can relate.

  1. Creative Problem-Solving

Several issues can arise while at work. Whereas some may be normal work-related challenges, others could be issues that the individual has never dealt with before. That said, watch out for an employee who can creatively solve complex situations at work. If the candidate can think beyond what they have been trained to do, they will have more confidence in resolving arising challenges at work.

This does not only increases productivity but also helps the employee learn how to think outside the box. Use various scenarios such as sample tests and scenario assessments to test your candidates for this.

Conclusion

Every role in a company requires unique skills and characteristics that indicate a strong performer. It is important to be well-versed with these predictors. The list above can help you benchmark your current or future hiring process.

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