STOP

SACRIFICING
CANDIDATE
EXPERIENCE FOR
ASSESSMENTS

You don't work hard because it

doesn't pay off anyway.
A) Strongly Agree
B) Agree
C) Neutral
D) Disagree
E) Strongly Disagree next

1
TABLE OF CONTENTS

03
INTRODUCTION
12
ASSESSMENTS
18
FIXING THE PROBLEMS
TRANSFORMED OF TRADITIONAL
WITH VIDEO ASSESSMENTS

04
WHY ASSESSMENTS
13
HIREVUE ASSESSMENT
20
REDUCE BIAS
WORK EXPERIENCE FOR AND INCREASE
CANDIDATES AND RECRUITING DIVERSITY

05
WHY TRADITIONAL
16
HOW HIREVUE ASSESSMENTS
22
SUMMARY
ASSESSMENTS ARE DIFFERENT THAN
DON’T WORK TRADITIONAL ASSESSMENTS

2
INTRODUCTION

WHY SO MANY THIS EFFECTIVE

COMPANIES ARE SCREENING TOOL
RETHINKING HAS UNINTENDED
ASSESSMENTS CONSEQUENCES

If you’re a member of the Talent Acquisition In this eBook, we’ll look at the science
team, there’s a good chance you use a behind traditional assessments and why despite
pre-employment assessment sound science, they don’t work for candidates
at some point in your hiring process. today- and how they can be transformed with
video and artificial intelligence.
According to the Talent Board, 75% of
employers are using some sort of
pre-hire assessment. And the Aberdeen Group
notes that of its “Best in Class” organizations,
91% use assessments to screen candidates.

3
ASSESSMENTS / WHY THEY WORK

There is a reason assessments haven’t really
changed since the 1970s: they still provide
valid, reliable predictions about a candidate’s
job performance.
THE SCIENCE BEHIND
ASSESSMENTS
Assessments developed by Industrial-
Organizational (I-O) Psychologists are backed
by over 50 years of scientific rigor and
validation. Effective assessments are both:
a. Reliable. It will give a similar score when
taken by the same person multiple times.
I-O created assessments are statistically
vetted for relevance to job performance. This
means that if a candidate scores highly on a
pre-employment assessment, there is a higher
than average chance they will be a successful
hire. The opposite holds true for those who
score poorly.
As you can imagine, that sort of prediction
is incredibly useful when making screening
decisions.
So why change?

b. Valid. What it tests is actually relevant to

tasks performed on the job.

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TRADITIONAL ASSESSMENTS / WHY THEY DON’T WORK

CANDIDATE EXPERIENCE RESULTS EXPECTED FROM A

IS OFTEN TERRIBLE LENGTHY TRADITIONAL ASSESSMENT
Today’s candidate has a world of opportunity
available at their fingertips: a simple Google, POTENTIAL QUALITY
Indeed, or LinkedIn search yields thousands of
CANDIDATES THAT pool you
DROP OUT
relevant job results. Asking them to set aside think you’re
1-2 hours to complete an online questionnaire selecting
isn’t just a terrible experience, it’s unrealistic. The
best candidates won’t spend significant time
REMAINING TALENT
completing your assessment when they have POOL FOR
other options. CONSIDERATION pool you
are actually
In the digital age, many traditional assessments selecting from
screen out your worst and best candidates. The
assessment screens out your worst candidates
because it works - they score poorly. And it
screens out your best candidates because they
BOTTOM
won’t complete it. CANDIDATES
SCREENED OUT
The candidate experience is a key part of your
overall employer brand. If your organization is
investing heavily in employer branding initiatives,
don’t overlook an assessment experience that
candidates hate.

5
 THE LASTING IMPRESSION
A CANDIDATE FORMS OF
YOUR BRAND IS DETERMINED
BY THE LAST STEP OF THE
PROCESS THEY EXPERIENCE.
If the last step they get to is a lengthy and boring assessment- that’s all
they will remember. They won’t experience any of the great candidate
experience initiatives later in your process.

6
CASE STUDY / WHY UNILEVER DITCHED
TRADITIONAL ASSESSMENTS

In our evaluation of what

our candidates wanted,
we see that they don’t want
to sit there for 45 minutes and
answer rote questions. They
want a process that’s unbiased,
where people can see them for
their potential and fit, rather than
anything else.”
MELISSA GEE-KEE, STRATEGY DIRECTOR TO THE CHRO, UNILEVER

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TRADITIONAL ASSESSMENTS / WHY THEY DON’T WORK

SLOW, EXPENSIVE
UPDATES
Jobs are changing faster than ever before.
New technologies are completely changing
the nature of work, and new skills are needed.
You can’t evaluate candidates based on
yesterday’s job functions.
IN THE RAPIDLY CHANGING
WORKPLACE, A JOB’S
According to Deloitte’s 2017 Human
Capital Trends report, organizations are RESPONSIBILITIES AND
shifting from “jobs” to “work.” Companies REQUIRED SKILLS MIGHT BE
like Cisco, GE, and Google are finding
great success operating as a “network of ENTIRELY DIFFERENT BY THE
teams”, where employees are assigned to
tasks based on need, not bureaucracy. As
TIME YOU FINALLY ROLL
technology changes the way work is done, OUT THE NEW ASSESSMENT.
organizations will find required skill sets and
job responsibilities shifting.

For traditional assessments, changing job

metrics often require an entirely new test.
Building out that new assessment is a time-
consuming and expensive process, requiring
lengthy studies of its validity and potential for
adverse impact.

8
TRADITIONAL ASSESSMENTS / WHY THEY DON’T WORK

UNOPTIMIZED FOR
THE MODERN CANDIDATE
According to a recent study by Aptitude
Research Partners, only 25% of companies
factor in mobile when evaluating assessment
providers. In today’s device driven world,
engaging candidates on their mobile devices
18%
of job applications were optimized for
is essential. mobile devices in 2015

79%
Other parts of the hiring process are quickly
becoming mobile optimized. According to
the Talent Board’s most recent Candidate
Experience Research Report, only 18% of job of job applications were optimized
in 2016, representing how critical
applications were optimized for mobile devices mobile experiences are in the modern
in 2015. By 2016, that number jumped to 79%. job search.
That’s a huge increase, and it represents how

21%
critical mobile experiences are becoming in
the modern job search.

Mobile experiences are also incredibly of Americans making $30k or less per
important for building a diverse workforce. year rely on mobile devices as their
sole source of internet access.
According to Pew Research, 64% of
Americans earning less than $30,000 per
year own a smartphone, and 21% rely on it
for internet access.

9
TRADITIONAL ASSESSMENTS / WHY THEY DON’T WORK

MISSING CRITICAL DATA

I-O created assessments have conventionally
been a series of closed-ended questions, often
numbering over 100. The high number of
questions is necessary to establish reliability
and validity.

However, closed-ended questions don’t give CLOSED-ENDED

a full view of a candidate’s skills, abilities and
motivation.
QUESTIONS DON’T
GIVE A FULL VIEW
In contrast, HireVue Assessments use
open-ended questions in a video interview, OF A CANDIDATE’S
so candidates can describe themselves in their
own words rather than being forced to use
SKILLS, ABILITIES AND
multiple choice. There are no ‘right’ answers. MOTIVATION.

10
CASE STUDY / WHY SONIC AUTOMOTIVE IS
CHANGING THEIR ASSESSMENT

Our hiring managers tend to

trust their gut - when they see
assessment questions like: “Which
is worse, a plane flying into a
building or a terrorist attack?” they
tend to discount the results from
that assessment when making
hiring decisions. Since HireVue
Assessments use the same types of
algorithms we use in our security
cameras for our facilities, they’re
much more likely to trust its insights.
JOHN PEREZ, SR DIRECTOR OF TALENT ACQUISITION, SONIC AUTOMOTIVE

11
ASSESSMENTS TRANSFORMED WITH VIDEO /

Video interviews are an experience most of

your candidates are already familiar with - and
love. HireVue customers boast an average
candidate Net Promoter Score of 65.

This means approximately 75% of our

customer’s candidates are promoters: they
would recommend the experience to a friend
or colleague. HIREVUE ASSESSMENTS
Video interviewing is convenient for candidates
and completion rates are much higher than DELIVER PREDICTIVE
traditional assessments.
AND VALIDATED
ASSESSMENTS IN THE
EXPERIENCE OF A SHORT
VIDEO INTERVIEW.

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THE HIREVUE ASSESSMENT EXPERIENCE /

CANDIDATE RECRUITING
EXPERIENCE EXPERIENCE

Candidate Takes a Phone screens, interviews and

Video Interview assessments in one step

Candidate Receives a HireVue’s algorithm allows your team

Timely Response to make data driven decisions

Quick and Easy Discover the best talent, faster. Don’t lose
them to a bad assessment experience.

13
WHAT’S IN A VIDEO INTERVIEW?

HireVue Assessments can look beyond data collected from

closed-ended questions in traditional assessments.

help purchase see trying

product money
buy relationship don’t different
client experience
thing basically
trust sales really say

NON-VERBAL CUES & DATA VERBAL CUES & DATA

The video component of HireVue Assessments
gives more context on a candidate’s emotion, sincerity,
and temperament. Facial expressions and even
hand gestures give more insight into true
communication style and reactions.
What a candidate says in open-ended questions
including word choice and vocabulary give a more
complete picture of them and their skills. Intonation,
inflection and other auditory indicators are used to
evaluate how a candidate says something, which can
completely change the meaning.

14
A COMPLETE CANDIDATE PICTURE /

25,000
All together, the verbal and nonverbal components of a 15 minute
video interview provide over 25,000 points of data - compare that
to the 100 or so data points collected from a standard assessment.

15
HOW HIREVUE ASSESSMENTS ARE DIFFERENT THAN TRADITIONAL ASSESSMENTS /
OPEN-ENDED V. CLOSED
ENDED QUESTIONS
Unlike repetitive closed-ended questions in a
traditional assessment, HireVue Assessments
typically consist of 4-6 open-ended questions.
You can ask fewer questions and get more
rich data for a more complete picture of each
candidate.
CAN’T BE GAMED
Open-ended questions and 25,000 data points
mean HireVue Assessments can’t be gamed.
Out of the box assessments are easy to game
because of readily available prep tests and tips
where candidates can practice and prepare.
CANDIDATE FRIENDLY
EXPERIENCE
HireVue Assessments are quick and convenient
for candidates to complete. The speed and
consolidation of multiple steps, means you
keep the best candidates in your funnel and
provide a positive experience with your brand.
COMMON QUESTION TYPES
THAT ELICIT JOB-RELEVANT
RESPONSES ARE:
• Situational judgement questions. Candidates
are asked what actions they would take when
confronted with a hypothetical situation.
• Scenario-based simulations. Candidates
simulate their actions in a hypothetical
scenario.
• Past behavior questions. Candidates are
asked to relate past experiences and
on-the-job behaviors.
If your organization has an I-O team, chances
are they’ve already performed this job
analysis - in which case HireVue can simply plug
in your job-related questions.
16
CASE STUDY / WHY COMMONWEALTH BANK OF
AUSTRALIA IS CHANGING THEIR ASSESSMENT

We had a look at the HR

performance data early on,
and it just wasn’t good
enough. We had way too many
candidates sitting in this “we
like them” bucket. With HireVue
Assessments, the early feedback
from our recruiters is that “the
algorithm is basically right every
time.” It’s very effective.”
DAVID CURRY, HEAD OF TALENT OPERATIONS, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA

17
FIXING THE PROBLEMS OF TRADITIONAL ASSESSMENTS /

At the start of this eBook, we identified some of the problems with traditional
assessments including: a terrible candidate experience and slow and lengthy updates.

HireVue Assessments fix these problems.

A GREAT QUICK UPDATES MOBILE BETTER BIAS

CANDIDATE
EXPERIENCE
It’s a much-appreciated chance
to put their best foot forward, and
an experience they’re comfortable
with. The video interview takes
from 15-20 minutes to complete
and can be completed at their
convenience on any device.
BASED ON YOUR
JOB NEEDS
Updates to a HireVue Assessment
occur whenever you supply new
performance data. So as job
duties and new hire performance
undergo changes, so will the
assessment.
OPTIMIZED
Since HireVue Assessments are
delivered directly through the
HireVue platform, they are highly
optimized for mobile.
MITIGATION
The 25,000 data points in a video
interview provide much more to
work with than the 100 responses
of a traditional assessment.
HireVue Assessments efficently
collect high quality data sets and
consistently achieve the highest
level of reliability and validity.

18
CASE STUDY / WHY MATTRESS FIRM IS CHANGING
THEIR ASSESSMENT

We’re going away from an

assessment provider that
we’ve had for eight years.
We’re making a bold change
and really focusing on
improving the candidate
experience, going after top
talent, and improving our
quality of hire.”
AMANDA ROBBINS, VP OF TALENT ACQUISITION & RETENTION, MATTRESS FIRM

19
REDUCE BIAS AND INCREASE DIVERSITY /

When talent acquisition leads with video in their process, more candidates can
be considered. Leading with video reduces unconscious bias and increases diversity
in candidate pools.

WIDEN THE TIED DIRECTLY TO MITIGATE

NET
When you let everyone interview, you open
the door for a huge number of high quality
applicants who might have been screened
out based on their resume. Giving everyone
an equal and fair chance isn’t just the right
thing to do, it increases your access to a much
broader talent pool. Diverse teams are higher
performing teams.
PERFORMANCE
HireVue Assessments are built using your
performance data. Putting a candidate-friendly
assessment at the beginning of the hiring
process eliminates human bias from those
essential first-pass screening decisions.
BIAS
HireVue provides comprehensive adverse
impact reporting. If bias becomes apparent
during the validation study, we can identify
the data points that caused the discrepancy -
and remove them from consideration.

20
CASE STUDY / WHY ATLANTA PUBLIC SCHOOLS
IS CHANGING THEIR ASSESSMENT

We have a more
challenging environment,
so we need an assessment
that is specific to our
school district. We want
to assess for our unique
teaching culture.”
SKYE DUCKETT, DEPUTY CHIEF HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICER,
ATLANTA PUBLIC SCHOOLS

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SUMMARY /

HireVue Assessments provide all the benefits of a traditional assessment without any of the downsides. Keep top
candidates engaged with a quick, mobile-friendly video experience that meets their modern expectations and
enhances your brand. Video allows for data-rich open-ended responses that take into account the candidate’s
answers as well as critical non-verbal communication for better data-driven analysis and prediction.

HIREVUE TRADITIONAL
ASSESSMENTS ASSESSMENTS

PREDICTIVE AND VALID

GREAT CANDIDATE
EXPERIENCE

OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS

BETTER BIAS MITIGATION

EASILY UPDATED

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THANK YOU /

Join these innovators who are transforming assessments

and providing a great experience for their
candidates - all while getting the best talent, faster.

GET A DEMO

www.hirevue.com
23