Whether you started your Criteria Subscription just to test your candidates or because you were interested in the full suite of products we offer, it’s important to us that you’re getting everything you can out of it.
Since you invested your time, money, and effort using Criteria to help with your talent decisions, we wanted to make sure you know exactly how to maximize its value for your organization.
Here are 10 ways to ensure that you’re getting the most from your Criteria subscription:
1. Revisit your hiring process.
No need to consider an overhaul, but a few tweaks can help lean teams do more with less. Depending on the hiring challenges you’re facing, there are a few different adjustments you can make to speed up your time to hire and make confident hiring decisions.
If you’re having trouble with candidate drop off, consider moving testing deeper in your hiring pipeline. By doing this, you reduce the barrier to entry and time investment required to complete your application, which typically increases the size of your applicant pool. Once you’ve got your shortlist narrowed down, you can send assessments to your strongest candidates. At this point, they are more invested in your hiring process, so they are more likely to complete any testing assigned, giving you the valuable insight you need.
On the opposite end of the hiring woes spectrum: if you’re overwhelmed with the number of applicants you receive for your open positions, add testing early in your hiring process. Screening your candidates early in the recruitment process reduces the risk that you will spend valuable hiring resources on someone who isn’t the right fit for the role. Plus, it can help you identify top contenders for the position and pinpoint candidate with the highest potential to succeed (even if their resume may not indicate it).
You can position Criteria assessments at any point in your hiring process that best serves the unique needs of your business.
2. Dive into our expansive test portfolio.
No matter your subscription level, all Criteria customers have access to our full range of assessments. From general cognitive assessments that can be used for any role, to position-specific tests that help identify the skills needed to succeed on the job, we've got you covered.
From state-of-the-art emotional intelligence tests and gamified assessments to timeless classics like personality assessments and typing tests, you can create a test battery that’s custom fit to examine candidates and find the strongest candidates in your applicant pool.
And if you’re still not seeing the assessments your organization needs, you can create a customized assessment with our Test Maker to address any hyper-specific concerns you have for a role.
3. Test each applicant.
Unlimited testing means you can test as many of your candidates as you’d like – no need to be miserly with your assessments! Every Criteria customer can give as many tests as they’d like for the duration of their subscription.
Just remember that too much of a good thing isn’t great – keep your total assessment time to less than 30 minutes if possible. Fortunately, our wealth of short form and game-based assessments can give you a wide range of powerful insights in a short amount of time!
4. Connect directly with your candidates.
Research shows that communication with candidates is the most important component of a positive candidate experience.
But individualized communication with every single applicant can feel like an impossible task. Within the Criteria platform, you can create personalized email templates that can be sent automatically to candidates as they move through your hiring pipeline.
To learn more about how to full leverage Criteria for smooth communication with your applicants, check out the Candidate Communications Toolkit for detailed information on how to set up your customized email scripts that facilitate trust and transparency with candidates.
5. Streamline your interview process.
All Criteria customers have access to our job-specific interview questions. Armed with both behavioral and situational interview questions, you’ll be able to simplify your interview design process, save time, and rest assured that anything you’re asking candidates is job-relevant and will help you identify the best of the bunch.
And if you have the Talent Success Suite subscription, you have access to both our live and our asynchronous video interviewing tools to make interviewing even easier. You can evaluate candidates responses in real time, use blind hire technology, and easily implement structured interviews at your organization.
6. Create a branded candidate experience.
Our goal is to provide you with the tools you need to make your hiring process easier and more effective. That’s why we provide multiple opportunities for your custom branding to shine through.
Criteria allows you to reskin the testing UI with your organization’s logo and branding. In doing so, you’ll be able to bake in brand recognition to your hiring process. And because Criteria assessments have a 94% positive experience rating from candidates, you’ll get to leverage that positive experience to solidify your overall employer brand. Contact your CSM for help customizing the Test Center with your company branding.
There are other places you can customize too! You can add your branding to email communications that you send to candidates from the Criteria platform, and if you have a subscription to the Talent Success Suite, you are even able to add your own custom branding to candidate summary reports.
7. Check for available integrations with your current hiring platform.
To make things as easy as possible for you and your hiring team, we support dozens of standard ATS integrations and partnerships with other platforms. Our goal is to slip seamlessly into your existing hiring process and inject it with the objective and predictive data you need to make confident hiring choices.
Check out our full list of integrations and partners here.
8. Evaluate your current employees for internal opportunities.
Your current employees have already succeeded in proving themselves, but they may have hidden strengths that could be suited to other roles in your organization. It’s well-documented that internal mobility programs improve retention rates and workplace satisfaction, and incorporating Criteria assessments into your talent mobility process can help you find untapped potential that you’ve already got on payroll.
If you have the Talent Success Suite, Criteria also offers a wealth of post-hire tools that you can use to your organization’s advantage. With Talent Insights by Criteria, you can gain valuable insight into every member of your company, from work habits to strengths & weaknesses to preferred communication styles. Simply assign each member of your organization to take the Talent Insights personality test (similar to the Criteria EPP). Individual employees and their managers will be able to see how they work across 10 key traits that unlock understanding of workplace behaviors.
9. Improve team cohesion and performance.**
With access to Talent Insights as a part of the Talent Success Suite, you can see more than just individual strengths and weaknesses. You can see team-level tendencies with the Team Personality Average and note areas for improvement, or potentially skills to look out for in new hires to help balance out your team’s average.
Talent insights also creates Collaboration Guides that take the guesswork out of group work. Team members can both better understand themselves, their tendencies, and their preferred methods of interaction and communication.
Knowledge from Talent Insights drives stronger team performance, employee productivity, and ultimately leads to better outcomes for your whole business.
10. Give your managers tools to better understand and coach their teams.**
It’s no secret that good management is the secret sauce to both strong retention and a highly engaged workforce.
These same post-hire tools you have access to in your Talent Success Suite subscription can be used to facilitate more effective managerial relationships. With Talent Insights, managers can quickly tailor their approach to feedback and coaching for one-on-ones with members of their team.
Making Excellence Easy for You to Achieve
At the end of the day, Criteria’s top priority is to make your job easier and more efficient. Every part of our platform, from pre-hire assessments to post-hire tools, is designed to help you make great talent decisions. That’s why we are always adding new features and want to keep you aware of how to get the most out of your Criteria subscription.
If you have questions about determining the types of assessments to include, where to best place them in your recruitment process, or how to use post-hire assessments to improve team performance, reach out to your customer success manager for personalized assistance.
** These tips are only available to customers with a subscription to the full Talent Success Suite. If you’d like to access these features, connect with your customer success manager about upgrading your subscription.
