Assessments: Future Trends and Best Practices

The link between current trends and best practices is critical when cultivating a forward-thinking culture within your organisation. Recognising and staying abreast of relevant trends can pave the way for fostering a culture of best practices. In this article, we’ll explore this relationship in depth, helping you to proactively strategise the best course of action for your organisational needs.

1. The Rise of Gamification

In the realm of assessment, gamification has emerged as a leading trend. Top-notch organisations like McKinsey, BCG, and Unilever have adopted game-based assessment techniques in their recruitment processes. The allure of these methods lies in their ability to attract, engage, and possibly even evaluate candidates more accurately than conventional assessment measures.

The appeal and engagement aspects of game-based assessments are self-evident. However, what makes them superior for evaluating talent? The answer lies in the unpreparedness of candidates for these unique tests, leading to more accurate results due to the increased internal validity. In simpler terms, the more engaging and unique the test, the higher the likelihood of candidates completing it, thereby enhancing the precision of the test scores.

Nevertheless, as these techniques are relatively unexplored in the assessment world, their widespread adoption is yet to occur. Hence, while gamification is currently a trend, it may soon evolve into a best practice as its scientific validity becomes more robust.

2. The Value of Sharing Results

Having delved into the advantages of data-driven assessment methods, it’s clear that they offer valuable insights into candidate attributes. So valuable are these insights that it would be wasteful not to share them with the candidates themselves. This brings us to the next emerging trend in the assessment sphere –feedback.

Instead of withholding results from candidates, provide them with context. Sharing results not only gives candidates a clearer understanding of their performance, strengths, and areas for improvement, but it also invites reflection. Furthermore, it opens a channel for two-way communication, potentially leading to valuable feedback from candidates about their experience and suggestions for future improvements.

3. Emphasising Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)

The dialogue around workplace diversity has been ongoing for several years, but it’s only recently that it’s garnered the attention it deserves. Presently,diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) aren’t just desirable, they’re critical for business success, and recruitment plays a key role in achieving this.

A data-driven recruitment process aims to eliminate bias at all stages. Assessments, in particular, are at the heart of this initiative. However, if not handled carefully, assessments could inadvertently perpetuate bias. To ensure your assessments are promoting diversity, it’s crucial to ask: Are they conducted in a consistent, bias-free manner? Are they digitally accessible to include candidates with disabilities?

4. Prioritising Accessibility

Your next hire could be taking their assessment on a smartphone during their commute, at home on their desktop, or on a tablet while their child uses the computer for schoolwork. This highlights a significant trend –accessibility. Ensuring your assessment techniques are mobile-friendly is critical, not just for DEI but also for completion rates.

Mobile-first assessment goes beyond mere compatibility. It also encompasses intuitive design and candidate-centric questions. So, when choosing your assessment technique, make sure it’s compatible with all devices and user-friendly.

Trends serve as benchmarks for process innovation and are an excellent way to further refine your organisation’s strategies. While trends reflect market changes, they shouldn’t dictate your strategy. Instead, use them to understand how the recruitment and assessment sectors are evolving. Then, select and implement the most relevant trends for your organisation.

What’s the main takeaway from these trends? We predict that engagement and accessibility will be the underlying themes across all emerging assessment trends. The next step is to consider what tools you can use or changes you can make in your current assessment process to embody these principles moving forward.