1. The webinar will discuss assessing key predictors of hiring success, specifically focusing on soft skills which are difficult to measure but important for predicting job performance. 2. Using objective data from past managers and coworkers through detailed references can better predict how candidates will perform in a job compared to methods like personality tests which can be unreliable. 3. Companies that use pre-hire skills assessments tailored to specific jobs experience lower turnover rates and improved hiring outcomes.

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Soft Skills, Hard Benefits: Assessing
the Key Predictors of Hiring Success

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Speaker: Jack Kramer
Executive Vice President
SkillSurvey
Moderator: Sarah Sipek
Associate Editor
Talent Management magazine
Soft Skills, Hard Benefits: Assessing
the Key Predictors of Hiring Success

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Frequently
Asked
Ques;ons

8. #TMwebinar
Sarah
Sipek
Associate
Editor
Talent
Management
magazine
Soft Skills, Hard Benefits: Assessing
the Key Predictors of Hiring Success

9. #TMwebinar
Jack
Kramer
Execu:ve
Vice
President
SkillSurvey
Soft Skills, Hard Benefits: Assessing
the Key Predictors of Hiring Success

10. Soft Skills,
Hard BenefitsThe key predictors of successful hires

11. Speaker
Jack Kramer
Executive Vice President, Field Operations
SkillSurvey, Inc.
Jack helps leaders in human resources leverage data-driven
analytics to make more informed hiring decisions and improve
retention for each candidate they hire. SkillSurvey helps
organizations of all sizes; outcomes of its scientific work have
been published in the peer-reviewed International Journal of
Selection and Assessment.

12. Agenda
- Soft Skills – The Secret to Hiring
- Why Soft Skills are Hard to Measure
- How Should it Work?
- Key Competencies and What it Means to
Be Job-specific?
- Getting it Right - Bottom Line Results

13. Resign Yourself
to This Reality
46% of newly
hired employees
will fail within 18
months
Only 19% achieve
unequivocal success
* Source: “Hire for Attitude” Forbes, January 23, 2012 † Source: “Hiring for attitude: Research &
tools to skyrocket your success rate” Mark Murphy, Leadership IQ, 2012

14. Hiring Well is Hard
This has probably happened to you before…
Person appears perfect…
ü dressed well
ü great answers
ü a sense of confidence
You hire him in your
organization ….
…and he poisons it

15. And you inevitably end up saying…
…the thing is,
he interviewed
really well.
Hiring Well is HARD

16. “Even Inspector 12 put more thought into certifying
the quality of Hanes briefs than most organizations
put into figuring out whether they’ve got a winner
or a smooth-talking nightmare on their hands.”
Rob Asghar, Forbes, April, 2014
What Went Wrong?
HR tends to do what they know…
- Resumes
- Interviews
- Self-Assessments

17. What Went Wrong?
- Soft skills seldom given their due
- Pre-hire assessments are not typically
job-specific - they’re generic
- Meaningful feedback from past managers
and coworkers is rarely collected.
- Self-assessments and personality tests
can be unreliable

18. Personality Tests are Great…
…if you’re hiring Miss America
#1 Issue
Authenticity/Faking
Review of 22 studies that
examined actual faking
revealed:
The average number of
fakers on personality
tests is 30%

19. Self-Assessments
Don’t Measure Up
Skills Assessments
- Issue: Cheating
- Answers on the internet
- Estimates are that up to
1 in 10 candidates
engage in it
How valuable are they?
When new hires fail, 89%
of the time it is for soft
skills vs. job skills
Cognitive Assessments
- Can show Adverse Impact
Data from a large number of
studies show large average
differences by race/ethnicity on
cognitive ability tests

20. “Soft Skills” are the Hard Part
How should the process work?
- Identify set of soft skills for each job
- Assess them, and make sure the
assessment criteria is as specific as the
job
- Use objective data and predictive talent
analytics
- Use detailed references from former
managers and coworkers for every hire

21. The key to
predicting future
job performance?
Past job
performance

22. Professionalism
Interpersonal
Skills
Problem Solving
And Adaptability
Personal Value
Commitment
Managing
Others
Leadership
True Predictors of Success
Proficiency in a short list of competency areas, which focus on soft
skills, are the true predictors of success in almost every job.

23. Professionalism
It’s the “price of entry” and consists of a wide variety
of behaviors and skills. Some apply to jobs across the
board:
- Dependability
- Following instructions
- Work ethic

24. Professionalism
Chemical Engineer
- Develop and implement
comprehensive safety
procedures for workers who
handle chemicals and operate
equipment
- Ensure compliance with all
relevant safety and
environmental regulations
(e.g., follow all rules for
disposal of hazardous
materials
Sales Professional
- Accurately prepare customer
orders, proposals,
presentations and out-ward
facing communications to
customers
- Consistently meet or exceed
sales goals
- Comprehend the sales cycle
and follow best practices
throughout the entire process

25. Interpersonal Skills
Can personality tests provide insights regarding a
candidate’s interpersonal skills? Yes.
Can they reveal how well the candidate worked in
team situations in prior jobs? Not very well.
Having interpersonal skills like the
following will make him or her far more
likely to succeed:
- Listening
- Relationship-building
- Collaboration

26. Interpersonal Skills
Housekeeper
- Provide a high level of service
to all guests
- Remain calm and helpful
when handling complains
from guests
Registered Nurse
- Provide others with personal
assistance, medical attention,
and emotional support in a
caring and compassionate
manner
- Listen carefully to patients
and co-workers, taking time to
understand and ask
appropriate questions without
interrupting

27. Every job essentially requires the ability to assess
and analyze issues as well as adaptability to changing
conditions:
- Analyzing and summarizing information
- Making decisions
- Adapting to change
The more you’re able to assess
problem solving and adaptability
based upon the challenges of a
specific job, the better you’ll be
able to predict a candidate’s success.
Problem Solving
and Adaptability

28. Problem Solving
and Adaptability
Call Center Customer
Service Rep
- Effectively resolve customer
requests, issues, and
complaints using knowledge
of company products,
policies, and services
- Know when to escalate
issues to manager or
supervisor in order to ensure
prompt resolution to a
customer problem
Software Developer
- Effectively translate design
specifications into software
code
- Monitor and test functioning
of software to ensure quality
of product

29. Personal Value Commitment
A candidate’s commitment to values and ethics is a key
driver of your own risk exposure. It’s important to know to
what degree and applicant possesses:
- Integrity
- Respect for others
- Adherence to standards
and policies
There are positions that provide
employees with access to sensitive,
personal, financial or security data.

30. Personal Value Commitment
Adjunct Faculty
- Demonstrate trustworthiness,
honest and high personal
standards in dealings with
students and others
- Treat students, co-workers,
staff and other of different
background, beliefs, and
gender with fairness, respect,
and sensitivity
Controller
- Act with ethics and integrity,
ensuring that the
organization’s financial
activities and records meet or
exceed accounting standards
- Maintain confidentiality and
privacy of company and client
information

31. Hiring Someone to Be
in a Position of Power?
If so, you’re probably going to
need to assess two additional
competencies and apply them
to predict job success.

32. Managing Others
While many jobs clearly demand management skills,
many others will call on them at times.
Skills needed include:
- Selecting and retaining talent
- Leading a team
- Holding others accountable

33. Personal Value Commitment
Operations Manager
- Build a strong and diverse team by continually recruiting and
selecting competent and talent people
Sales Manager
- Conduct regular coaching sessions with sales team, focusing on
successes and area where there is room for improvement
- Effectively measure performance and hold team members
accountable for meeting sales targets
Project Manager
- Give assignments to team member according to their capabilities
(e.g., appropriately delegate tasks according to skill level or area of
expertise)

34. Leadership
The truly high profile positions call for an even larger
set of competencies.
Skills needed include:
- Setting direction
- Managing change
- Motivating others

35. Leadership
Chief Financial Officer
- Work with the executive team to develop short and long-term financial
plans, objectives, policies and actions
- Serve as a trusted advisor to the CEO and others on challenging
solutions
HR Director
- Act as a catalyst, communicating the need for change and inspiring
action
- Motivate others by encouraging them and by building mutual trust,
respect and cooperation

36. The future of your
organization depends
upon understanding
the past performance
of your job candidates.

37. * Source: “Assessments 2014: Consistency is Key” Aberdeen Group, April 2014
Best-in-Class Organizations
Get the Idea
The Aberdeen
Group’s 2014
Assessment Report
reveals that Best-in-
Class organizations
are consistently
using assessments
to filter top-of-the-
funnel applicants
and make hiring
decisions

38. And the Results Speak for
Themselves
Best-in-Class
organizations that
rely on pre-hire
assessments are
experiencing:
- Greater
performance
- Higher first-year
retention
- Higher employee
engagement * Source: “Assessments 2014: Consistency is Key” Aberdeen Group, April 2014

39. The root of problem lies in:
- Leaving the assessment of soft skills to
‘gut feel’ during the interview.
- Overestimating the significance of
education and experience.
- Relying on general tools instead of job-
specific assessments.
- Over-reliance on personality tests and
other measures that use self reports.
But Turnover Remains
Far Too High

40. A scientific assessment of
past work performance by
former colleagues
is the single best predictor
of future job success.

41. The Deliverable:
Pre-Hire 360® Feedback Report

42. The Deliverable:
Pre-Hire 360® Feedback Report

43. Job-Specific,
Behavioral-Based Feedback

44. Studies and Published Reports
are Proof
SkillSurvey
is the only
online
pre-hire
reference
checking
solution with
I/O peer-
reviewed,
published
studies of
its results.

45. SkillSurvey Pre-Hire 360® Assessments
are proven to be:
Reliable
Valid
EEOC Compliant
Psychometric Results
þ
þ
þ

46. Bottom-Line Results
35% decline
in first year turnover
Improved recruiting efficiency –
95% reduction in time spent
tracking down references
Greater hiring manager
satisfaction

47. “…this tale about baseball
[Moneyball] may turn out to
be the opening chapter of a
much larger story about
jobs. Predictive statistical
analysis, harnessed to big
data, appears poised to
alter the way millions of
people are hired and
assessed.”
The Atlantic
The World is Taking Note

48. - Providing Reference Solutions since 2002
- Inventor of web-based reference checking
- Patented Solutions: Four patents received for Pre-Hire 360®, other
patents pending
- 57,204 Candidates in February 2015
- February 2014 – 40,629 – 40.8% + Growth
- 10 million individuals entered into Pre-Hire 360®
- More than 1.4M were candidates
- 1,400+ customers
- 350+ surveys in current inventory – 25 different job families
- Cynthia Hedricks, PhD, Chief Analytics Officer
- 109 Surveys for Healthcare roles, 27 Surveys for IT roles, 16
for Sales roles, 10 for Customer Service roles, 26 for Finance
roles, 21 for Retail roles, 21 for Education

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