How APQ Fits with the Forbes 3-Step Hiring Process

Forbes Magazine recently published an article chronicling the ups and downs of a company in the midst of a hiring push. By not getting it right the first time and going through a period of trial and error, this company comes up with a new 3-step approach toward hiring and training that works consistently for them and finds the right candidates for the right jobs.

There are many parallels with what they came up with and the APQ approach toward evaluating potential new hires. Let’s look at a few of them.

Assess

The company in question, Prezi, at first fell into a common trap. They relied on the buzz of a great interview to make the hire. The first candidate they hired nailed the interview portion and was seemingly poised to become a great addition to the team, but over the course of the next week it became apparent that this employee wasn’t going to work out and was eventually let go. Clearly, a more objective, fact-based approach would be necessary.

Prezi decided to try a week-long evaluation period where the new hire would work alongside existing staff. They would be given the chance to collaborate on projects and have their input and skills evaluated by their future co-employees.

In truth, the APQcould have avoided the heartache of that first bad hire in the first place. The APQwould have been able to craft a personality profile to indicate whether or not the candidate made a truly good match…or was just good at getting hired.

Try only the top prospects

While the assessment week was fruitful, it turned out devoting five daysto someone who might not stick around became a chore, and Preziended up shorteningthe assessment to two days.

This approach is fine, but it will be hard to scale if you need to hire many people and therefore have to put a lot of potential candidates through the process. The APQcould solve this by narrowing down the roster of potential candidates to only the very best, so the churn would be minimal. By only assessing the top prospects, Prezi could even return to the five day assessments and gain even more insight on the candidates without the prior pushback.

Educate the team

The third thing Prezi did was train its staff on a bi-annual basis in effective methods of knowing what questions to ask and what skills one should look for when interviewing. This helped the teams work better when assessing potential candidates

APQs could be used in this instance by educating employees on what sort of characteristics go with each job position. In this way, they could tell that someone who is very dominant and restless will likely be miserable in an inside sales job, and a protective, introverted person would likely fail as an outside sales hunter. Giving them a voice in the hiring process would make them feel empowered and valued.

From the initial assessment to finding the right hire, APQ testingand the 3 step hiring process described within are a great match. I think it will be a great fit in yours as well — contact me for a free demo.