Assess applicants correctly: Here's how!

Why an objective candidate assessment is so important

Selecting the right candidates for a vacant position in a company is of crucial importance. After all, new employees should not only be professionally qualified, but also fit in with the company and the team. The wrong hire can be costly if the candidate turns out to be a bad fit.  

It is therefore all the more important to assess applicants as objectively and holistically as possible. It is important to avoid typical assessment errors that can distort the decision. A structured and fair assessment is the only way to identify those who are best suited to the position and the company. Software-supported applicant management can help to bring more objectivity and comparability to the assessment process.

Avoid assessment errors

It is easy to make unconscious mistakes when assessing applicants. Common sources of error are:

• Unconscious bias: Evaluators often tend to rate applicants with similar backgrounds or appearances more favourably. 

• Stereotypes: Evaluators sometimes base their judgements on stereotypes such as gender, age or origin instead of evaluating the person individually.

• Appearances: An applicant's appearance, clothing or demeanour should not be included in the professional assessment.

• Personal mood: The assessor's current mood can also affect the assessment. It is important to keep a cool head and make objective judgements.

• Prejudices: Every applicant should be assessed according to the same standards without prejudice.

In order to avoid such assessment errors, it is important to be aware of your own bias so that you can actively counteract it. In addition, clear evaluation criteria should be defined to guide the evaluator.

Evaluation criteria

An objective evaluation of applicants requires clear and measurable evaluation criteria that are orientated towards the requirements of the advertised position. Both professional qualifications and personal competences should be taken into account.  

The following aspects are important when defining evaluation criteria:

• What training and knowledge is required for the position? For example, a specific degree or programming skil

• What professional experience and skills should applicants ideally have? How many years of professional experience are required?

• Which interdisciplinary skills such as strong communication, teamwork or problem-solving skills are relevant?

• Do the applicant's values and personality match the corporate culture?

These criteria are often already set out in the job description, which is why it is advisable to know them precisely or to have them to hand. A precise and verifiable formulation of the requirements is crucial to ensure a fair and transparent selection.

Ensure comparability

To enable an objective assessment of applicants, it is important to ensure comparability between the assessments. There are two main levers for this:

Standardised assessment scales

The use of standardised assessment scales for all applicants ensures that the assessments are actually comparable. If each assessor uses their own scale, it is difficult to judge whether a 3 from assessor A corresponds to the same level of quality as a 3 from assessor B. This is easier with predetermined scales

Same criteria

Secondly, all applicants should be assessed using the same criteria. If one evaluator focusses on professional qualifications while the other pays more attention to soft skills, this in turn leads to distortions. There needs to be a predetermined weighting of the criteria that is the same for all assessments.

Structured process

A structured process is crucial in order to evaluate applicants as objectively as possible. An assessment sheet with standardised assessment scales ensures consistency between different assessors. The sheet contains the most important criteria used to measure suitability. These may include professional qualifications, social skills or cultural fit.  

Multiple raters

Individual evaluators tend to focus on certain criteria or be guided by sympathy. It is therefore often helpful if several people evaluate the applicants independently of each other. This is the only way to obtain different perspectives and opinions. Ideally, the evaluators should come from different areas and thus bring different experiences and perspectives to the table. Multiple assessors also contribute to greater fairness and objectivity. This gives applicants the chance to be assessed by different people. Their strengths and weaknesses can be considered in a more varied way.

Carry out assessments independently

In order to achieve as objective a rating as possible, raters should make their assessment independently of other raters. This means that, ideally, they should not be aware of previous reviews by others when they submit a review themselves. This prevents raters from being unconsciously influenced by existing ratings. Instead, each reviewer can form their own, unbiased opinion. This makes the reviews more objective and easier to compare and discuss afterwards.

Focus on facts

When evaluating applications, it is important to focus on the specific information in the CV and cover letter and avoid making your own interpretations. Check as objectively as possible whether the stated qualifications and experience match the requirements of the position. Avoid reading between the lines or making assumptions about personality or motivation. This is the only way to ensure a fair and comparable assessment. Also look out for gaps in the CV or special stations and ask about these in the interview in order to possibly gain interesting insights and additional perspectives on the applicant.

Software support

Specialised applicant management systems such as INJOBS can make the evaluation process much more objective and fair. They ensure a high level of comparability by allowing standardised assessment scales and criteria to be used and created. Bias is also minimised by only being able to view the assessments of others after submitting your own assessment. A standardised score is then awarded, which makes the applications comparable with each other. The structured approach not only makes the assessment process fairer, but also more efficient, as several assessors can provide feedback simultaneously and independently of each other.  

Conclusion

The assessment of applicants should be carried out in a structured and independent manner. It is important to be aware of your own potential bias and instead focus on objective facts to avoid assessment errors. 

The following points are particularly important:

• Establish clear evaluation criteria

• Ensure comparability through standardised assessment scales 

• Assess every applicant using the same criteria

• First make independent assessments, then compare them