Do Results Live Up to Promises with Behavioral Assessment Tools?

If you’re in the market for a behavioral assessment tool to help you reduce turnover and increase productivity, you’ll hear a lot of promises from assessment providers. An important part of your due diligence should be confirming that the tool lives up to the promises made.

There are a couple of ways you can do this and we’ll explore them here.

The first method involves testing the system yourself in a small way before entering into a larger agreement. If you go this route, it’s recommended that you run this test with multiple systems so you can accurately compare. This is the ideal way to approach it; but, realistically, it can be time-consuming if the tool requires significant training to use and challenging for most organizations to run mini-implementations of many tools.

A more practical, and less costly, way to get this information is through talking with existing customers about their experience. Just like you approach previous employers when checking candidate references, approach current customers of the tool you’re considering and ask them for feedback.

And, Just as with candidate reference checking, the practice of reference checking behavioral assessment tools is only as effective as the questions you ask. If you ask simple, yes/no questions like, “Do you like X?” or “Should I buy X?” you’ll get limited value from the responses.

Ask the assessment providers you’re considering for a list of references and ask each person on the list a specific set of questions based on your needs and how you plan to use an assessment tool.  If you’re going to use the tool primarily around recruitment, focus there. If your focus is employee development, or if you’re integrating the solution across your talent management system, focus your questions accordingly.

Here are some sample questions you can use:

• What impact did the tool have on your retention rate?
• How did the tool measure up to your expected results?
• How easy or difficult was it to work with the tool?
• How do your hiring managers find the reports? Can they act on them?
• How did you find the support you received?
• Would you recommend this tool/provider for someone in my situation? Why/why not?

By getting specific in your questions and zeroing in on whether or not the tool lives up to the promises made by the assessment company, you’re much more likely to find the tool that’s right for you.

For more tips on how to choose the right assessment tool for you, download our free eBook, Before Choosing a Talent Assessment Tool.