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The Selection Assessment Process: Key Steps and Milestones
Request Submission
Complete the SKS Assessment Request form.
Send the SKS Assessment Request form, along with:
Candidate’s resume (a link to their LinkedIn profile page may suffice if the resume is unavailable), a job description for the role you are looking to fill, and any other contextual information that it would be helpful for us to know to [email protected].
The SKS Client Services Team considers the above submission email the green light to launch the assessment process; please ensure candidate(s) are aware of our pending outreach.
The Client Services Team will follow up with the candidate(s) with reminders until the assessment components have been scheduled. We suggest you send a simple email or make a phone call letting them know that SKS will be reaching out. We also encourage providing the candidate with these helpful FAQs.
Fill out a separate SKS Assessment Request form for each candidate.
Introductory Communication
The SKS team reaches out to the candidate via phone or email.
We walk the candidate through the steps of the evaluation process, answer any questions, and work with the candidate to schedule their interview (and work simulation, if applicable).
Email Communication to Candidate
The SKS team sends an email to the candidate containing links to the online assessments and work simulation portal (if applicable).
A Client Services Team member sends a confirmation email to the requester.
The email will contain the details of the scheduled components and offers pre and post call options.
Pre Call
30 minute call with SKS Consultant and key organizational stakeholders (hiring manager, HR representative, recruiter, etc.).
The purpose of this call is to discuss the upcoming evaluation.
In order to make the most of this conversation, take a moment to reflect on the following:
- Review the job description closely. What is missing from that description that your SKS consultant should know in order to best understand the role?
- How would you describe your ideal candidate for this role?
- What key competencies or attributes are you looking for?
- Consider relevant organizational culture and/or team dynamics.
- What would a “good fit” look like for this role? Are there any leadership or workstyles that will likely not work well?
- Are there any “dealbreakers” as it relates to candidacy for this role? If so, what are they?
- What are the key challenges that an individual in this role will likely face in the first 60-90 days? In the first year?
During the pre-call, keep in mind the specific role and candidate at hand.
- What do you need to know most about the candidate in order to inform your decision?
- Are there certain areas around which you and your team are feeling uncertain? What are those areas?
- What information will be most helpful for you to have as a result of this assessment process?
- Is there anything else that your SKS Consultant should know about this candidate or this role?
If a pre-call is not possible, please complete a pre-selection survey found here.
SKS Interview with Candidate
The SKS Consultant meets with the candidate via video on the Microsoft Teams Platform.
Purpose of the Call:
This 60–90 minute interview is meant to arm the SKS Consultant with additional context around the candidate’s job experience, academic, work and career related history as well as their professional development and self-insight.
Assessment Report Provided
48 hours following the completion of the candidate’s last scheduled assessment component:
The SKS Client Services team sends the report via email to all report recipients listed on the Assessment Request form. As a reminder, this does not include the candidate themselves.
Post Call
30 minute call with the SKS Consultant and key organizational stakeholders.
Stakeholders can include: hiring manager, HR representative, recruiter, etc. The candidate is not included in this call.
The purpose of this call is to discuss the assessment report.
In order to facilitate a meaningful discussion during this call, take a moment to carefully review the assessment report ahead of time.
Take note of the following:
- Any questions you may have regarding the qualitative report content, as well as the quantitative ratings.
- Any areas that confirm your observations regarding the strengths and limitations of the candidate.
- Any areas in which the assessment feedback differs from your experience of the candidate, or in which the feedback feels inconsistent or unclear.
During the post call, keep the specific context of the role under consideration in mind:
- Ask any questions that you may have about report content or ratings.
- Consider how the strengths and development opportunities that are highlighted within the assessment report may manifest within the specific context of the role. If you are not sure, ask the Consultant to explore any relevant scenarios that may come to mind.
- Consider the competencies and attributes that are most important for success in this role. If you do not have a clear picture of the individual’s presentation related to these competencies and attributes, ask the Consultant to share more detail and insight into these areas.
- Discuss how to support the candidate in the role in order to build on the strengths and manage the development opportunities that are highlighted within the assessment report.
Share your thoughts around the assessment feedback and invite all other meeting participants to do the same.
Encourage meeting participants to express any concerns and to share how they see the participant fitting into the role in question.
Explore what additional information might be needed from, or about, the candidate before making any and all related decisions.
Enlist the assistance of the SKS Consultant and other meeting attendees in determining questions to ask or areas to probe during final interviews.
Feedback to Candidate
The candidate is invited to reach back out to SKS to schedule feedback following the finalization of all relevant selection decisions.
They can do so by calling us at 952.926.9852, or emailing [email protected].
Feedback is offered to candidates that complete an interview-based assessment regardless of the outcome of the hiring decision.
During a feedback session, a candidate will meet with their SKS Consultant to review the key findings of their assessment experience. Feedback is offered to all candidates regardless of hiring decisions.
- If a candidate does not move forward with a role with your organization, their feedback will be verbal only. They will not receive the feedback report.
- The verbal feedback consists of a 30-minute phone conversation in which the SKS Consultant reviews the key strengths and opportunities revealed by their assessment.
- If a candidate is internal to your organization, they will receive verbal feedback as well as a copy of their feedback report. If a candidate is external to your organization but has accepted a role with your organization, they will also receive verbal feedback and a copy of their feedback report. Please note, the feedback session must occur after the candidate has started working at your organization.
- This feedback session is a 60 minute video call wherein the candidate meets with their SKS Consultant to review their SKS feedback report.
- The candidate facing feedback report is slightly different than the organization facing assessment report as it is meant to facilitate personal reflection and development rather than to inform decision making. To this end, the candidate facing feedback report contains an overview of the candidate’s strengths, opportunities, and leadership derailers. Additionally, the candidate receives their raw data – the actual score reports from the assessments measures they completed as part of the assessment process.
- During the feedback session, the consultant walks through the feedback report with the candidate, exploring their reactions, prompting reflection, and working towards the identification of key next steps based on the insights provided.
- Following the feedback session, the candidate is encouraged to engage in a discussion with their leader to review their findings and to seek both additional feedback and alignment regarding their professional development goals.
Insight Enhancement Process
This process is designed to strengthen our data driven insights by providing us with information around hiring decisions and outcomes.
2 months following the conclusion of a selection assessment, a 1-2 minute “Hiring Decision Survey” is sent to the recruiter or assessment requestor from [email protected].
This survey is a simple follow up to understand the hiring decision that took place following the candidate’s assessment.
In the case that a candidate was hired, 9 months following the conclusion of a selection assessment, a brief (3-5 minute) survey is sent to the hiring manager and the employee via email.
This survey helps us to understand initial perceptions of the new employee from the vantage point of their manager, as well as the candidate’s own self-perceptions.
Connect with your client manager to learn more about the Insight Enhancement Process.
Choosing the Right Assessment Level
Talent Screens
- Typically used as a preliminary screening tool rather than as a means of robust assessment. Talent screens include personality inventories, problem solving measures, and a critical thinking appraisal.
- A talent screen can be used to assess candidates’ preferences and capabilities in order to provide an initial evaluation of their fit for a given role.
- The time commitment for a candidate is approximately 3 hours and does not include an interview with a consultant.
Talent Evaluations
- Include personality, problem solving, and critical thinking assessments, alongside an interview with a SKS Consultant to provide additional context regarding the candidate’s experiences, approach to others, self-insight, strengths, and development opportunities.
- Talent evaluations can be used to provide insight around potential for growth and development and to assess a candidate’s behavior and presence, in addition to their preferences and capabilities, in order to identify and target key strengths to leverage and opportunity areas to address.
- The time commitment for a candidate is approximately 4 hours.
- This level of assessment is most appropriate for high impact individual contributors.
Comprehensive Talent Evaluations
- Leverages the same series of online inventories and interview as the talent evaluation, but also includes a work simulation exercise to assess a candidate’s performance in the context of a simulated inbox exercise.
- Comprehensive talent evaluations can be used to provide insight around potential for growth and development and to assess a candidate’s real-time reaction and responses in combination with their workstyle, behavior, preferences, and capabilities in order to identify and target key strengths to leverage and opportunity areas to address.
- The time commitment is approximately 6 hours.
- This level of assessment is most appropriate for leaders of people and is commonly used for those that hold supervisor or manager positions.
Comprehensive Executive Evaluations
- Further builds upon the comprehensive evaluation process, by including a more in-depth interview experience, as well as a more substantial work simulation, including a planning exercise and role play component.
- Comprehensive executive evaluations can be used to provide insight around potential for growth and development and to investigate a candidate’s strategic planning capabilities and their ability to coach and respond to conflict, in combination with an assessment of their workstyle, behavior, preferences and capabilities.
- The time commitment is approximately 7.5 hours.
- This level of assessment is most appropriate for leaders of leaders, such as those individuals in VP or director level positions.
Top Executive Evaluations
- The most thorough and robust level of evaluation and includes the same level of assessment as a comprehensive executive evaluation, with an extra emphasis on strategic planning and intentional influence.
- Top executive evaluations are a thorough method of evaluating a candidate’s workstyle, preferences, behavior, and performance from multiple perspectives in order to identify and target key strengths and development opportunities and to provide insight to potential for growth and progression.
- The time commitment for a candidate is approximately 7.5 hours.
- This level of assessment is most appropriate for C suite leaders.
Communication Best Practices: FAQ
Many times, candidates find themselves seeking additional clarity around the SKS Assessment Process; including what they can expect, what the process is for, and how they can best prepare. Below, you will find some frequently asked questions, as well as key talking points that can be used in response to candidate inquiries.
Candidate Question:
Why am I being asked to complete an SKS Talent Assessment?
Talent assessments are used to identify your aspirations, motivations, strengths, and developmental needs. These attributes are analyzed with respect to the demands of your role as well as opportunities for enhancing your job performance and professional growth.
Candidate Question:
How are hiring decisions made?
Hiring decisions are always made following thorough consideration of all the information gleaned from the talent acquisition process (e.g., interviews, resume, references, assessments, etc.).
Candidate Question:
What role does the SKS Talent Evaluation play in the selection decision process?
The SKS Talent Evaluation is one data point of many in the process.
Candidate Question:
What were my SKS results?
You are welcome to reach out to SKS for specific feedback on your strengths and areas for development after all selection decisions are finalized, and regardless of whether you move forward with a role with the sponsoring organization.
Candidate Question:
What should I expect during my interview?
The interview with SKS is typically experienced as thought provoking and thorough. Your SKS Consultant will ask you to share your relevant developmental experiences, academic history, self-perceptions, motivations, and work and career history. The goal of the interview is for your SKS Consultant to get to know you and to better understand your approach to work and leadership.
Candidate Question:
How should I prepare for this process?
- To best prepare for the online exercises, do your best to set aside uninterrupted time, and to complete the exercises when you feel well rested and able to focus completely.
- There is no need to do anything specific in order to prepare for your interview. The interview conversation will involve the SKS Consultant getting to know you better as well as exploring your work history and experience.
Candidate Question:
Does this process work? Is it valid?
These types of work-related assessments, and the specific instruments used by SKS, have been well researched and validated. The results have been found to be relevant to, and predictive of, job performance.
Candidate Question:
How is my background or identity considered as part of the process?
As a values-driven organization that applies the best available psychological science to benefit society and improve lives, SKS Consulting Group is committed to infusing the principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion into all aspects of the work we do. SKS is committed to equal opportunities for all participants and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, number of dependent children or the ages of the children, physical or mental disability, genetic information, status as a protected veteran or any other basis on which discrimination is prohibited by federal or local law.
Candidate Question:
What happens with my results? Who gets to see them?
Your raw data is not provided to the sponsoring organization. A report summarizing your results and including an overview of your primary strengths and opportunities for development is sent to relevant stakeholders at the sponsoring organization.
Candidate Question:
What if I need accommodations to complete the assessment process?
SKS is happy to provide reasonable accommodations as needed. To learn more, contact SKS Client Services at 952.926.9852 or at [email protected] prior to beginning the assessment process.