Recruiting Remotely for Critical Senior Appointments? Games-based Assessments Help Tackle One of the Most Daunting Challenges in a Suddenly Virtual World of Work

Over the past two years people and organisations had to adapt to an enormous amount of change; remote work, virtual meetings - and the frequent need to jam cotton tipped sticks up our own noses.
One of the most daunting challenges for many organisations has been the need to recruit virtually.
Despite all available tools in our assessment toolbox, from role play to psychometric testing, most managers still rely at least in part on the 'feel' they get when meeting an applicant in person for an interview.
But chemistry does not travel well over the internet. Without our sixth sense being able to contribute, we often feel insecure whether we made the right choice with a candidate.

The task to recruit purely virtually becomes even more daunting when the role we need to fill is a high level role, a senior appointment or a leadership role. Having the right person in a senior role can have major positive impact on the organisation. In reverse, having the wrong person in such a role can cause havoc with long-term negative consequences. It might even cost you other critical members of your team.

We were thrilled that our clients found that the Kartasia Trials Assessment could take some of that pressure off their shoulders. While the assessment is not designed to reveal a candidate's ability to play well in a team, it did allow candidates to demonstrate their approach to challenging tasks and complex problems. And it was a reliable indicator for whether they were ready for a senior level role or not.

The information provided a fertile foundation for the interview that followed and allowed the assessors to go straight to the most interesting questions. It left them more time and provided so much upfront insight, that in the conversation their sixth sense had a chance to get a feel - despite the constraint of virtual meetings.

We believe many of the changes we made during the pandemic will stay with us in the future. Remote work is too cost effective and to a degree convenient to be put back into the box. It opened up much larger pools to fish in for suitable candidates because for many positions location isn't a constraint anymore. With that also virtual recruitment will maintain its relevance. Given the success we had with the Karthasia Trials we will explore options to extend our portfolio in this area - and maybe at some point we can even give you a better sense of your candidates chemistry with you and your team.

Promise: no cotton sticks up the nose required.