One of the most critical things you can do when implementing Spark Hire Meet assessments is to define your hiring process and where each assessment you’re going to use will sit.

This may vary from job to job and/or hiring manager to hiring manager so it’s important to clarify that before you start hiring for a role.

At a minimum, each time you hire, you should answer the following about Spark Hire Meet assessments…

• What step in the process will each assessment sit?
• Who is responsible for inviting candidates?
• Who is responsible for evaluating completed assessments?
• What are the expectations on turnaround time for evaluations

What step of my process should I incorporate this at?

The answer to this depends on the type of assessment.

One-Way Video Interviews

For one-way video interviews, most customers implement this type of assessment early on the hiring process either as a replacement for a phone screen or directly after.

If you have a lot of jobs or many applicants per job relative to your team's capacity, we’d suggest using one-way video interviews directly after you screen resumes/CVs.

You’ll cast a wider net enabling you to hear from all qualified candidates on paper, but since you’re implementing it at the front-end of your hiring process, expect that some candidates won’t continue.

If your hiring process involves several different stakeholders and you want to ensure they only connect with the highest quality candidates, we’d suggest doing a one-way video interview after an intro call between a recruiter and a candidate.

This gives the recruiter an opportunity to give the candidate more information about the job/organization and ensure the most qualified/engaged candidates are proceeding to the one-way video interview step.

You’ll have higher candidate engagement with the one-way video interview step because the candidates you advance had the opportunity to learn more about the job/organization, but the process will take slightly longer due to the recruiter intro call step.

Live Video Interviews

This is pretty straightforward as most customers simply use a live video interview in lieu of a face-to-face interview when one or more parties are in a different location.

Predictive Talent Assessment

Some customers will implement the Predictive Talent Assessment early in the hiring process in a similar way to one-way video interviews whereas others use it later in the process as an additional data point to break ties between a shortlist of candidates.

Reference Check

We suggest doing this at the same time you’re doing final round interviews with candidates so their references can be completed as these interviews are happening which enables you to have all the info you need to make a final decision faster.

Should I use multiple types of assessments on the same candidate for the same hiring process?

While reference checks are a good practice when you’re hiring for any type of role, some customers have different preferences on when to use one-way video interviews and/or the Predictive Talent Assessment.

If you decide to use one-way video interviews and the Predictive Talent Assessment as part of the same hiring process, here are the two most common scenarios:

• Add the Predictive Talent Assessment before a video interview to help prioritize candidates that you move to the video interview step and which recordings you watch first.
• Include the Predictive Talent Assessment after a video interview once you’ve shortlisted candidates so you can identify finalists and “break ties”.

Ultimately, these two different ways of assessing candidates provide you with different insight.

Video interviews are a great way for you and your team to gain more context on a candidate’s experience and background whereas the Predictive Talent Assessment offer data-driven insight on a candidate’s capacity for success.

There’s not necessarily a right or wrong answer as far as which type of assessment you do first. Instead, it’s the challenges that you’re facing which should determine the order in which you use video interviews or the Predictive Talent Assessment.