The HR Summit took place last week in Manchester, the event featuring a handful of talks from industry experts. Becca Guinchard, Head of UK sales at behavioural assessment firm AssessFirst, spoke on how behavioural analysis could well be the solution to the challenges of the so-called ‘great resignation’. 

With record numbers of people quitting their jobs towards the end of 2021, we have entered the new year amidst a recruitment crisis. Brexit and the pandemic have narrowed talent pools by a huge margin, meaning that traditional methods of recruitment are becoming redundant. 

At present, the proposed solution to this mass exodus has been an increase in incentives. Increasing pay and workplace benefits may once have been enough to entice candidates, but such is no longer the case. ‘The great resignation’ is an unprecedented phenomenon, and what is needed, as Becca pointed out at the summit, is a complete shift in recruitment mindset because after all – people haven’t simply quit work, they are usually moving through the jobs market more dynamically. 

According to Becca, behavioural analysis and motivational profiling will “unlock new sources of talent”, while encouraging the retention of talent already working within an organisation. The pause of the pandemic has offered workers perspective, and many of those handing in their notice letters simply aren’t in jobs that align with their personal motivations. 

Behavioural assessment, however, can identify the motivations and interpersonal skills of candidates. Increased incentives do little to attract or retain talent; motivational profiling, however, can ensure a candidate is placed in a job where they can thrive and find fulfilment. Moreover, it can encourage the redeployment of already successful staff into areas where they’ll get more satisfaction from their work. 

Being able to pinpoint employee motivation isn’t the only benefit of behavioural analysis in recruitment either- it can widen talent pools too. AssessFirst’s recruitment platform, for example, revolutionises traditional recruitment methods. Rather than prioritising a candidate’s CV or formal experience, it identifies transferable skills and key personality traits, alongside career motivation. 

In doing so, the platform immediately widens the net, presenting companies with candidates that more traditional employment methods would never have considered. Plus, AI-led platforms, like the one pioneered by AssessFirst, can work to eliminate the unconscious biases in recruitment.  

Spencer Ogden, for example, is an award-winning specialist global energy and infrastructure recruitment company. By using AssessFirst’s behavioural analysis recruitment platform, Spencer Ogden has increased the diversity of its new hires by 22%, all the while recruiting candidates who are scientifically proven more likely to thrive in their positions. Moreover, their speed-to-hire has increased by 33%. 

Platforms like this are the future; Becca’s talk has underscored this fact. Given the benefits seen through using behavioural assessments in the recruitment process, it’s no wonder that AI-led recruitment start-ups are winning vast amounts of funding from investors. These platforms are pioneering a new, and much-needed, recruitment mindset. Prioritising objective potential over on-paper experience is the key to attracting and retaining new talent, and AI-led recruitment platforms can do this while avoiding the unconscious biases that all humankind is vulnerable to. 

Though these pioneering algorithms will need human intervention, the increasingly AI-led approach signals a future we can look forward to, improving every aspect of the recruitment process. AI-led behavioural assessment is changing the game, and will, undoubtedly, revolutionise recruitment forever.