ROI on Pre-Employment Testing.

What is the value of screening candidates?

This Workforce.com article, Estimating the Financial Value of Staffing-Assessment Tools takes a stab at it. It spells out four back-of-napkin formulas (my favorites!) for calculating ROI. Sources: fewer bad hires, more good hires, reducing turnover, and reducing admin costs.

All four miss the point.

Screening only works if you believe you will always have a surplus of perfect candidates. That your labor market doesn't offer any candidates an alternative to you. That you don't need to compete for talent's attention and commitment.

For most jobs, these assumptions are short term pipe dreams. That aside, screening can burn your employment brand.

Why? Test before hire is rude.

Most screening exams burn bridges with potential employees. Like going out on a blind date only to be frisked for weapons, give blood, take a breathalyzer, consent to your credit being inspected, and ordered to complete a personality test before sitting down for coffee. And without your date consenting to any of the same.

What would you think of the date that behaved that way?

Rude. Insensitive. Control freak. Moved too fast.

And you'd tell all your friends about him.

Because there are too many fish in the sea to put up with that kind of unmannered abuse.

Hamlet on the Holodeck: The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace

What stories does your site create? We know it can relay packaged tales of personal growth and team accomplishment. But the very act of using your website creates a story in the mind of the visitor. Two books explain this clearly: Hamlet on the Holodeck: The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace by Janet H. Murray and Computers as Theater by Brenda Laurel. Using software, online or off, has the emotional, dramatic, and narrative structure of a stage play or movie. The user has a goal, this creates tension as they overcome obstacles enroute to the goal. Each step of progress creates little moments of satisfaction and release. As they get closer to the finish, suspense rises and, upon completion, a cathartic whoosh and the endorphins kick in. Some stories don't work. No sense of plot, direction, engagement, context. No intermediate accomplishment. No enjoyment of the climax. Too long a denoument. Company career sites frequently suffer from the same agoniing problems. They ignore the many goals job seekers bring. They don't provide context. They don't status and acknowledge progress toward goals. They don't reward meeting milestones or small successes. Conversely, great video games engage. They manage to design in hooks that get people to invest dozens of hours in play. To get their friends to join. Enough that it's worth giving up meals and television. Career sites can be in that league, but usually aren't. I wonder why?