Methods
www.jaguarlandrover.com
Hypothetically Speaking…
With applications increasing and recruitment costs rising, Jaguar Land Rover wanted to find a more cost-effective way of handling its growing volume of applications. In late 2013 the company moved away from online competency-based applications in favour of Situational Judgement Tests (SJTs). Rob Gill, Graduate, Undergraduate and Apprentice Recruitment, explains why STJs offered an attractive alternative, and how Jaguar Land Rover did it…
several bids, we partnered with Saville Consulting. We began by dissecting the competency framework and ran focus groups with graduates, as well as managers of high performing graduates, to identify critical incidents and high performance and desired behaviour in those situations.
STJs can
come in various different formats,
from the more common text based scenarios to 2D/3D animations or video-based scenarios,
The appeal We’ve only just developed and started using our SJT but research suggests that they have a number of benefits. One finding is that they tend to show reduced levels of adverse impact by gender and ethnicity compared to traditional cognitive ability tests. They can also be used to directly assess job relevant behaviours; and can be administered in bulk, enabling volume recruitment. If created bespoke for the organisation or mimicking the industry in which it operates, SJTs appear more acceptable and engaging to candidates compared to cognitive ability tests since scenarios are based on real incidents, and they can simultaneously tap into a variety of areas – ranging from problem solving and decision making to interpersonal skills. Traditional psychometric tests tend not account for the interaction between different aspects in a single test.
Creating a bespoke package STJs can come in various different formats, from the more common text based scenarios to 2D/3D animations or video-based scenarios, with or
without audio recordings. We chose a 3D animated version which looks very modern and slick, starting the candidate experience journey in a positive way. As a result, it provides a much more engaging candidate experience than the form that it replaced, something which is reinforced by feedback from the internal trials we held. The SJT is also bespoke, allowing us to start to leverage our brand early on through the assessment tools. While it isn’t strictly gaming, this style of delivery is also much more on-trend/ in-tune with the young demographic we are looking to recruit. We picked a variety of scenarios and built them at a slightly higher level based on our competency framework rather than on specific job tasks, which also allowed us to support assessment across a variety of role types.
The process From the outset we had a clear idea of the output and format (3D animation and mapped to competency framework rather than job or technical knowledge based items) that we wanted, so we put the project out to tender. After reviewing
These outputs were then used to develop different situations where the judgments would be required. Once a number of situations were developed, subject matter experts (high performing graduates and graduate managers) were asked to suggest effective and less effective solutions to the situation. The animated clips and accompanying text/audio then began to be built. Through various iterations and trials of this, the items were further refined to remove responses that were ambiguous or did not offer differentiation. Once we felt we had the items right, it came to integrating the test into our applicant tracking system.
The results The SJT was launched as planned and on time. In October 2013, applications were already up 34% year-on-year. I’m not claiming this is a direct result of the SJT, but you could argue that it is easier for candidates to apply because the SJT segment of the application should take no more than 20 minutes, whereas it would take longer to carefully complete the four competency based questions that it replaced. The real test will be the impact it has on the quality of candidates that make it through to the later stages of the assessment, and those we see at assessment centre. So far so good. n
www.agr.org.uk | Graduate Recruiter 25
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