‘Pick & Mix’ recruitment
Led by our Talent Business Partner, Adrian Young, the Stonbury People and Culture Team have turned their attention to the way prospective employees have been hired in the past, and have introduced new tools to assist in the development of ‘Pick and Mix’, a more comprehensive way to interview and assess prospective employees.
While we do not wish to dispense with the traditional structured interview process, research has shown that using this method is often unreliable and ineffective. Many studies have shown that often there is little relationship between candidates’ performance in interviews and subsequent on-the-job performance.
With this in mind, it was timely for us to introduce additional selection tools to assist in acquiring a more rounded picture of a candidate’s abilities. The team has launched ‘Pick and Mix’, our new and more comprehensive way to interview and assess prospective employees.
In addition to the structured interview, the interview process for every role will also include two of the following methods; presentation, group exercise, in-tray exercise, difficult conversation role-play, job specific test (work sample/job knowledge test), blog/vlog post and team meetings.
The new tools will provide opportunities to find out more about the candidate and not just their technical abilities. It will also enable us to measure them against our core values, thus ensuring that they are a good fit for both the role and our organisation.
Framework Delivery managers have already received an introductory briefing session on the new tools and there is more support and training in the pipeline. For each new position, Adrian will partner with the hiring manager to develop tasks that accurately reflect each respective working environment, so that in time, we will have built up a library of available resources that can be used by other mangers in future recruitment campaigns.
While we will undoubtedly benefit from having a more robust interview selection process, this change will also have a positive influence on the prospective employees. The new methods, underpinned by our core values, further reinforce our employer brand and provide a window into our thriving and innovative workplace culture.
Stonbury continues to strive to be a modern, diverse and professional organisation and the introduction of ‘Pick and Mix’ recruitment will contribute to this endeavour.