hiringMost hiring managers are products of the traditional hiring system, where candidates put together a written list of their qualifications and hiring managers or HR departments select those with the most impressive credentials and experience to bring in for interviews.  At those interviews, the candidates attempt to make the interviewers like them and want to hire them, while the interviewers try to figure out if they like and want to work with the candidates.

As the traditional workplace continues to transform into a networked, flexible matrix of team-oriented professionals, and the need to hire the best and brightest continues to grow, the old system doesn't work any more. No matter how strong a candidate may look on paper, she may not be a good fit for your team, depending on her personality, communication style and self-management skills.  On the flip side, a candidate that may have somewhat mundane qualifications may be the perfect addition to your team because she has "soft" skills that don't translate well on a resumé or in an interview, but shine forth on the job.  

To avoid the wrong candidates and hire the right ones, you need a way to tell what candidates are like on the job--how they interact, how they perform, what challenges motivate them and what obstacles stump them.  This is where hiring algorithms come in.  Using big data on recruitment, performance and retention, analysts can make powerful predictions about what candidates make the best employees, and then make those algorithms available to organizations looking to expand or improve their workforce.  Companies like Nextaff create interactive tools for potential candidates to complete as part of their application, and systematic interview tools so that face-to-face conversations can focus on the most meaningful questions.  They build and implement standardized recruitment and hiring procedures to make sure that no promising candidates are eliminated by hidden biases.  For more information on the ways an agency like Nextaff can help you hire more effectively, check out this white paper about crafting the perfect hire.

Hiring is the most fundamental decision that any organization makes about how to do business.  As we learn more about the power of hiring algorithms, doesn't it make sense to harness that power to your efforts to recruit the best?