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Category: PXT Hiring Assessment

The Labor Market is Strong: Tips and Tools to Aid the Hiring Process

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Hiring AssessmentsThe labor market is strong and continues to grow, with employers posting 11.3 million jobs in May 2022, making it an exciting time to be looking for a new job. According to the latest jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), hiring demand has remained strong in most industries, except for manufacturing and mining.

The current demand in the labor market is being driven by an expanding economy and low unemployment rates. This is a great time to be hiring, but it’s important to have the right strategies and tools in place. Let’s discuss some hiring process tips and tools, including using a hiring assessment.

The Current Demand in the Labor Market

As mentioned, the current demand in the labor market is being driven by an expanding economy and low unemployment rates. This means that there are more job openings than there are unemployed people to fill them.

In May, employers posted 11.3 million job openings in the United States, a signal of an extremely tight job market. The beginning of 2022 saw more workers quitting, however that has slowed now, and firing has risen. In May, 4.3 million workers quit their jobs, while there were 1.4 million layoffs and discharges.

Workers Continue Their Job Search

Job seekers continue to look for new jobs regularly, making it a good time to be hiring. However, there are a few tips to keep in mind during the hiring process to ensure it goes smoothly.

Hire for Potential

One tip is to hire for potential. When looking at candidates, don’t just consider their current skills and experience, but also think about their potential to grow and develop in the role.

This can be difficult to assess, but there are a few key questions you can ask during the interview process to get a better sense of a candidate’s potential:

  • What are your long-term career aspirations?
  • What are some skills you would like to develop in the next few years?
  • When was the last time you learned a new skill?

Review Candidates Based on Your Current Organization’s Needs

Another tip is to review candidates based on your current organization’s needs. Consider not only the skills and experience a candidate has but also how they would fit into your company culture.

It can be helpful to create a list of key qualities you are looking for in a candidate and then use that as a guide during the interview process.

Use the PXT Select Employee Hiring Assessment Tool

One tool that can be extremely helpful during the hiring process is the PXT Select Employee Hiring Assessment offered by Corexcel. PXT Select is a innovative hiring assessment that can help you identify which candidates have the necessary skills and abilities for the job. It can also help you predict job performance and assess fit within your organization.

The PXT Select Hiring Assessment is a fantastic way to identify optimal candidates for the job and ensure a successful hire.

It works by candidates first taking an assessment that evaluates three key areas: Interests, Behavioral Traits, and Thinking Style.

Thinking Style: The thinking style portion of the assessment measures how an individual approaches problem-solving and decision-making.

Behavioral Traits: The behavioral traits portion of the assessment measures an individual’s approach to work, including their motivation, adaptability, and teamwork.

Interests: The interests portion of the assessment measures an individual’s preferences and interests in relation to work tasks and activities.

After taking the assessment, you will receive a detailed report that highlights their strengths and areas for development.

If you’re looking for a better way to identify the optimal hire for the job, then consider using the PXT Select Employee Hiring Assessment. This assessment tool can help you make better hiring decisions by finding the best fit for your organization.

Source: https://www.wsj.com/articles/hiring-demand-remained-strong-as-summer-started-economists-estimate-11657099801

Are you Hiring? Be Sure to Hire Right

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What a year we just had; businesses and organizations across the board scrambled to revise operations, workers went remote, and hiring in many sectors came to a halt. As we enter a new year, hiring freezes are beginning to thaw. If you’re fortunate enough to be hiring, be sure to hire right with these best recruitment practices.

woman typing on the computer with the word assessment on the screen

Employing the wrong candidate comes at a cost. It costs you money. It costs you time. In fact, the cost of a bad hire is considered to be the equivalent of an employee’s first-year salary*. According to surveys conducted by John Wiley & Sons, which questioned 2,000 individuals, hiring practices are a common problem:

  • 39% of hiring managers do not always align job requirements with candidates.
  • 54% say candidates are not always assessed with a structured interview process.
  • 65% of hiring managers rely on their instincts rather than data.

To help ensure that you bring the right individual(s) on board follow these best hiring practices:

Establish a consistent hiring process. This ensures that hiring is fair, and it makes it easier for you to compare candidates. Consider creating a checklist that keeps the position’s requirements and the qualifications you seek front and center.

Use data in the hiring process. We use data to make lots of decisions these days, so why not use it for hiring? While the impression the candidate makes during the interview carries considerable weight, going exclusively with your gut is so yesterday. Data offers valuable input.

Use PXT Select™. This online assessment is designed to help you select the best candidates for your organization. Candidates take an assessment, and PXT Select generates a report that provides insight into their behaviors and interests. It also tips you off to their verbal and math skills so you can see if they’re a good fit for the position.

PXT Select lets you compare candidates to one another and a single candidate to multiple positions. In addition, the reports have ongoing use as they provide tips for an individual’s onboarding, training, and development.

After the year we’ve had, focusing on 2021 is a welcome development. If your organization is growing, congratulations. We’re here to help you do it right.

Email us at learn@corexcel.com to learn more.

* Source: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

After a Pause on Hiring, Reset and Restart

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When the pandemic began, it abruptly threw businesses into turmoil. Workers went remote. Hiring in many industries was put on hold. Management focused on how to stay afloat and move forward. Now that states are starting to reopen and move towards a sense of normalcy, businesses are lifting the pause button, resetting, and starting to hire again. If you’re one of them, here’s what we suggest:

hiring reset after covid

Consider hiring remote workers1. Instead of bringing people on board and planning for them to eventually come to the office, you can add permanent telecommuters to the team. Unsure? Try a candidate out as a freelancer. Start with an experienced remote worker, communicate your business’s values, and establish guidelines. Also, be sure to convey your corporate culture and to verify a candidate’s identity.

Use a hiring tool. In the best of times, it’s a challenge to make sure you bring the right people on board. Now, without meeting candidates in person, you want as much insight as possible at your disposal as you decide who to hire. We recommend PXT Select™, an online hiring assessment designed to help you select the best candidates for your organization. It not only assesses thinking style (e.g. verbal reasoning), but also behavioral traits (e.g., independence), and interests (e.g., technical). It measures verbal and math skills, too.

This is important because you don’t want to hire someone who, although good at the job, ultimately won’t stay because they don’t feel fulfilled or engaged. PXT Select takes a variety of factors into consideration and provides information that lets you know if a candidate is truly a good fit.

Candidates complete an assessment online that takes an hour or less to complete. The system generates reports that let you truly get to know a candidate. It even suggests personalized interview questions for you to ask a candidate to probe deeper for more insight on certain points. You can also use the reports to compare multiple candidates.

So dust off your pre-pandemic hiring practices and reset with these tips. You’ll start fresh and bring in the best new hires for your organization.

Email us at learn@corexcel.com to learn more.

1Forbes.com: Hiring Your First Remote Employee? Follow These 16 Tips

Hiring the Wrong Candidates Costs You Time & Money

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Hiring Roundtable

Here’s How to Hire Right

You need to fill that job, and you need to fill it now. You interview a candidate, have a terrific conversation, and hire them. A few months later, your new employee isn’t up to snuff. Sound familiar?

When you have an open position, it’s tempting to cut corners and quickly fill the spot. However, hiring mistakes cost your organization time, money, and emotions. In the long run, it pays to take the steps necessary to hire right.

A Hiring Solution

To add objectivity to your hiring process, use a hiring assessment. We recommend PXT SelectTM, a powerful online tool. PXT Select helps you hire the best candidates, onboard them effectively, and develop them over time.

The first step is for a candidate to take an assessment that looks at their behavioral traits, thinking style, and interests. Then reports are generated: 1) providing insight on the candidate and 2) letting you compare the candidate against job-specific models. You can quickly see if the candidate’s characteristics align with the ideal person for the job. There is even a report that suggests personalized interview questions to use to learn more about a specific candidate. Moreover, you can compare candidates to one another.

What sets PXT Select apart from other hiring assessments?

  • Once a candidate takes an assessment, you have ongoing access to all reports in the PXT Select suite. So down the road, when that employee wants a promotion, for example, you can use the data and check their suitability.
  • The reports are useful and easy to read. Packed with information on candidates’ skills, job compatibility, manager compatibility, and more, the reports don’t require interpretation.

Hiring tip: When you share candidates’ results with them, see how they respond. Their attitude when receiving feedback provides additional information for your decision.

Using a hiring assessment adds objectivity and efficiency to your hiring process. When you’re considering multiple candidates—all with good resumes and good personalities—the data removes some of the guesswork and points you to the best hire for your organization.

Email us at learn@corexcel.com to learn more.

Six Essential Steps to a Great Hire

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Essential Hiring StepsWhen your organization has a job opening, you want to hire the right person. You also want the hiring process to be as smooth as possible. Whether you’re filling a new position or replacing an employee, follow these steps:

1. Update the job description or create a new one.

Clearly state the education, experience, and skills that you seek. Include the job’s compensation.

2. Publicize the job

Post the job opening on LinkedIn, Indeed, or other job boards. Also, post it on your internal job board, so that your current employees have an opportunity for career growth. Spread the word through your network of contacts as well.

3. Screen and narrow your pool of candidates

Review the applications/resumes for experience, education, and work history. Does the candidate’s experience match what you’re seeking? Are there unexplained gaps in job history? Has the candidate jumped from job to job? The answers help narrow down the pool to those most qualified.

4. Conduct phone interviews

Phone interviews help you gauge each candidate’s energy. If you’re filling a customer-facing job, assess the candidate’s speaking ability. If you’re hiring for a solitary job, the individual’s enunciation on the phone is less important.

5. Use a hiring assessment tool

Now that you’ve spoken with a candidate, you’ll want to “look under the hood.” We recommend using PXT Select™, an online tool that measures behavioral and thinking styles, interests, verbal and numeric skills, and even assertiveness. Importantly, it helps set apart candidates who otherwise seem equal. With PXT Select, you can compare an individual’s results with the job’s performance model—and with other candidates’ results. This adds a layer of objectivity to the hiring process.

6.Conduct in-person interviews

Interview your final, select group of candidates. PXT Select provides personalized interview questions designed to clarify discrepancies identified in the assessment.

Now you have the information you need to select the best candidate. Once your offer has been accepted, you can use PXT Select’s onboarding tips. Happy hiring!

Webinar: Discover PXT Select Pre-Hire Assessment

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Identify Your Best Candidate from Sales to C-Suite

You spend hours evaluating resumes finding several candidates. How do you decide who becomes your next employee?  The wrong choice costs 30% of an annual salary and results in lost opportunities and increased employee conflict.

Most large companies have a well-established hiring process that includes a validated, data-driven pre-hire assessment. Yet many small to mid-sized compaies still rely on the resume, a few hastily thrown together interview questions and intuition to determine whether a candidate’s fit for the job.

It’s simpler thank you think to implement a pre-hire assessment.  In this webinar, you’ll learn:

  1. What makes a pre-hire assessment valid and reliable.
  2. The role of validated, data-driven selection tools.
  3. What PT Select measures and why it matters.
  4. How the PXT Select Hiring Assessment can help with hiring and onboarding.
  5. Simple steps you can take to get started.

Date:  March 29, 2018

Contact Us to request the webinar recording.

Learn more about PXT Select, request a demo or make a purchase.

Webinar: 4 Steps to Get the Right Person in the Right Job

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You’ve spent hours evaluating resumes and you’ve found several likely candidates. How do you decide which candidate becomes your next employee? Choosing the wrong person costs on average 30% of the job’s annual salary. And you realize that hiring the wrong person can result in lost opportunities and increased employee tensions.

Most large companies have a well-established hiring process that includes a pre-hiring candidate assessment that is validated and data-driven to help make their hiring decisions. Yet, many small to mid-sized companies still rely on the resume, a few hastily thrown together interview questions and intuition to determine whether a candidate fits a job.

Implementing a pre-hire assessment is simpler than you think. Find put how you can improve your hiring process with a pre-hire assessment. We’ll introduce you to PXT Select, a unique, new candidate assessment tool that can provide data on candidate’s skills and generate customized interview questions based on the candidate’s results.

In this webinar, we’ll cover the 4 steps that can improve your selection process and help you hire the right person for the right job. You’ll:

  • Discover 4 steps to improve your hiring process.
  • Learn the role of validated, data-driven selection tools in today’s job market.
  • Discuss today’s options for pre-hire assessments.
  • Explore the key components of the PXT Select pre-hire assessment.

Date: October 26, 2017

Contact Us to request the webinar recording.

Learn  more about PXT Select, request a demo or make a purchase.

How Two Acclaimed Theorists Laid Groundwork for PXT Select

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Job satisfaction, job success and coworker compatibility are top concerns among recruiters, human resource managers and the engineers of the PXT Select Hiring Assessment Tool. When all three aspects are effectively aligned, business flourishes and profits soar.

The science of successfully matching the right person with the right job is largely due to the work of two 20th Century visionaries — Frank Parsons and John Holland. When assessing a recruitment tool like PXT Select for your company, consider the studies it was founded upon.

Delving into the work of pioneers who developed career counseling and modernized effective candidate selection can help you better understand the recruitment selection system as a whole.

Frank Parsons Lays the Groundwork

In 1909, Frank Parsons of the Vocational Bureau in Boston, MA laid the groundwork for career development theory with a simple outline for successful employment decision-making. This triad of factors consisted of self-understanding, available jobs and the relationship between the two.

Essentially, Parsons believed that if you know your strengths and preferences, and if you are aware of what is required to be successful in specific jobs, you could make sound career decisions rather than leaving your future up to chance.

Parson’s philosophy was especially useful in the wake of the Great Depression, when large-scale unemployment created the need to determine the most effective way to classify the exact strengths of an individual. Shortly thereafter, the Second World War had a similar effect from the opposite direction.

This prompted the development of the U.S. Employment Service General Aptitude Test Battery that helped address job placement concerns arising from manpower shortages. Strategies for dealing with both crises were based on Parson’s work, which by this time had been renamed the Trait and Factor Theory.

The Trait and Factor Theory provided the basis for the PXT Select Hiring Assessment an evaluation system that measures eleven specific traits, allowing you to determine exactly where a job candidate can excel in your workplace.    

John Holland Expands on Parsons’ Theory

Half a century later in 1959, a Professor Emeritus at John Hopkins University named John Holland expanded on Parson’s premise. He created an in-depth occupational classification system known as the Holland Codes.

Holland distilled the thousands of human personality distinctions down to six fundamental categories, which were then mirrored by six types of workplace environments. The realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising and conventional archetypes (RIASEC) became a sound basis for matching people with careers that best suited their personalities and interests.

Holland’s work affirmed the notion that people search for and thrive in environments that best fit their personality type. This prevents negative scenarios where work environments do not match individual personalities.

The indications of the Holland’s Hexagon (an infographic for RIASEC) allows you to see how an artistically driven person can adapt to social and investigative settings but may not respond well to environments that require a conventional, realistic mindset.

Conversely, the system demonstrates that an enterprising person may get along well with others of the same mindset as well as those inclined towards being social or conventional, but people who focus on work through an investigative or realistic lens may deter them.

The PXT Select Hiring Assessment Tool expands on these proven theories and research, providing detailed graphs, metrics and reports on the strengths of your job candidate. In turn, these point to the specific positions in your company where they will thrive the most.

Minimize Bad Hires and Maximize Employee Skills

The inception and growth of the career assessment has evolved into the sophisticated science behind the PXT Select Hiring Assessment Tool. This tool allows you to minimize the incorrect placement of people throughout your workforce and to avoid hiring the wrong people altogether.

Both of these scenarios can come at great cost to your bottom line, if unhappy employees become prone to being late, combative or absent altogether. On the positive side, saving money on recruiting, you can watch your company’s productivity expand because people are working in areas that suit them alongside others with similar mindsets.

PXT Select provides you with information based on a candidate’s answers to a lengthy inquiry. It begins with a questionnaire measuring skills and reasoning in their verbal and numerical capacities. It also evaluates specific personality traits including pace, assertiveness, outlook, sociability, conformity, decisiveness, accommodation, independence and judgment.

These metrics are then assimilated into a series of reports that show you the best position for a candidate or a current employee. It also gives you insight into areas where the person could benefit from coaching and how they measure up next to other individuals.

Additional reports suggest alternate positions that might suit a candidate, how the person will fit into your team and how you can expect them to interact with you and your managers.

Empower Your Employment Process

Based on these proven theories and actionable formulas, your current employees and future recruits stand an excellent chance to experience career satisfaction. Utilizing PXT, you can take steps to assure that they are working in areas and with others that match their strengths and interests.

As an employer, you can benefit from a high level of productivity while the entire team enjoys a general sense of balance within the workplace. These essential facets of personnel management are the fundamental principles behind the PXT Select Hiring Assessment Tool.

If you want personnel who love what they do and a company bottom line that shows it, consider the mechanics of Corexcel’s PXT Select career assessment tool. Determine who are the right people for your company and exactly where to place them in your workforce.

Contact us to learn more about streamlining your hiring process, minimizing the costs of turnovers and bad hires and maximizing your recruiting efforts with the PXT Select Hiring Assessment Tool.

[Holland’s RAISEC Model]. (2017). Retrieved from Corexcel’s Ready to Hire Simpler and Smarter PowerPoint Webinar.

Webinar Recap: Ready to Hire Simpler & Smarter?

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People are the Most Valuable Variable in Business

“My inventory goes home every night.” — Michael Eisner

In case you missed our live webinar and don’t have time to listen to the recording, here’s a high level recap of our June 2017 webinar, “Ready to Hire Simpler and Smarter?

Although technology often drives business success, the number one asset to any company is personnel. Human resources supply the brainpower, capabilities and distinctive personalities to drive the business.

Putting the wrong person in a job can result in negative attitudes, conflict with other employees, poor attendance and high turnover. An assessment that evaluates the strengths, attributes and interests of employees and potential hires can help minimize poor job placement and create an efficient, productive workplace.

With the PXT Select hiring assessment, you can identify the best person for each role. As the business changes, you can use PXT Select to identify future roles for employees that build on their strengths and a maximize productivity within the organization.

Costly Miscalculations

Unsuccessful hires cost money and hurt morale. Resources spent on advertising, interviewing and training an individual are wasted when new hires don’t work out, regardless of the reason.

In November 2016 Career Builder sponsored a poll by Harris on the cost of poor hiring decisions. They surveyed 2,379 HR professionals and hiring managers across private sector companies and business of various sizes. 75% of the managers surveyed affirmed they had made a bad hire. On average, the reported cost of a bad hire was $17,000.

NOTE: 20% of those surveyed knew they had made a hiring mistake within the first week. 53% knew within the first three weeks!

The Challenge of Successful Recruiting

Successful recruiting requires that an organization have a clear description of the skills and attributes necessary to fill a position. They also need a way to compare individual candidates to see if they are a good fit for their positions. Many companies rely on interviews and “gut feelings” alone to determine which candidate they hire.

Most hiring managers admit that even with a good job description, interviewing requires skilled questions and observations. To make matters worse, poor interviewing skills and lack of time to conduct multiple interviews can result in a choice between several unqualified candidates. Picking the lesser of two evils is never the right way to select a new employee.

 An Innovative, Easy-to-Use Hiring Solution

Corexcel clients now have access to PXT Select, a new online hiring assessment that tests a candidate’s verbal and numerical skills, verbal and numerical reasoning, behavioral attributes and interests. A series of powerful reports compare the candidate’s results with multiple positions and with other candidates. Most helpful, managers also get a series of questions to ask the candidate and tips on “what to look for” and “what to listen for” during the interview.

An assessment is required for each candidate. Once a candidate logs on to the testing platform, the assessment takes 60-90 minutes to complete. Candidate results are measured against a Job Performance Model that describes the skills and attributes necessary to perform a specific job. Corexcel works with clients to select performance models that match their needs.

The price of an assessment includes 9 reports. We’ve highlighted four of them in our blog. We also have samples of all of the reports posted on Corexcel’s website.

The Comprehensive Selection Report provides insight into a candidate’s verbal skills, numerical aptitude, reasoning facilities, behavior style and interests. It also identifies potential areas of concern such as mathematical deficiency or behavior trait that might warrant further probing, depending on the skills and/or needed for the position. It gives recruiters suggestions on what questions to ask and what to look for in an interview.

The Multiple Positions Report summarizes a candidate’s fit across several positions within a business while elaborating on their behavior style’s personal interests and showing how their score could affect their success in any given position.

The Multiple Candidates Report measures several potential hires alongside one another. This report also compares the behavior traits and personal interests of multiple candidates along with numerical and verbal ability.

The Coaching Report is designed to offer insight into the mindset, capabilities and aptitude of an existing employee. This helps managers determine areas where a candidate or new employee could benefit from coaching related to the position that they have been hired to fill. 

Join the Recruiting Revolution

PXT Select is founded on the belief that people perform best when they are placed into positions that are most suited to their abilities and traits. It simplifies the process of identifying and placing individuals where they are most likely to succeed.

Contact us for a demonstration so that you can streamline your hiring process and save valuable man-hours and recruiting resources. Let us help you put the right people in the right positions.

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