Most companies have a similar hiring process for Data Scientists and Analysts. They post the job and start receiving applications. Then they conduct phone screens and technical interviews. And at the end, there’s a take-home project and an in-person interview. But these companies are making a mistake early on that’s costing them the opportunity to hire some of the most talented, under-valued candidates available.
The Hiring Funnel
Though the hiring funnel varies by company and position, the general concept is the same. Companies receive a tremendous amount of applications for an open role, and then based on the resume and cover letter alone, they weed out about 80% of candidates. With the remaining candidates, the company proceeds along the rest of their hiring process until they have only a few left who are brought in for the in-person interview.
A clear trade-off exists between the amount of time companies spend getting to know the applicants and how quickly they are able to hire for the position. This is the primary reason so many people are eliminated even before having a phone screen. It wouldn’t be realistic to send every candidate through each step of the process. But there is a better way to hire the best candidate than just relying on the resume and cover letter.
What’s Wrong with the Resume and Cover Letter?
Nothing. There’s nothing wrong with the resume and cover letter on their own. But they really don’t tell the full story about a person. While reading about the work experience and skills that a candidate claims to have is useful, we all know that these are often exaggerated. It’s also very difficult to compare people just using these two documents. Is someone who worked at Google more qualified than someone else who was at a small, unknown startup? What about candidates coming straight out of college or a bootcamp – do companies just decide based on their gut feeling about the program?
In a field like Data Science and Analysis, where so many of the required skills are objective, there’s no reason to be eliminating 80% of applicants without having more useful and valuable information. It’s the hiring manager’s responsibility to ensure that they find the absolute best people for the job, so they should have a clear and precise methodology whenever winnowing out candidates. Unfortunately, the resume and cover letter on their own just don’t provide enough clarity to confidently make these decisions.
Our Method
Whether an open position has 10 or 1,000 applicants, our approach is to send a standardized, comprehensive test to all the applicants. The reason is simple. Sending a test to candidates to complete takes absolutely no time for the company and provides so much more clarity on which candidates to proceed with. Hiring managers will have the data they need to better compare candidates with similar work experience, and those without much experience at all.
After testing applicants, companies can easily start eliminating candidates from the hiring pool and proceed to the phone screens and further interviews. This will allow them to spend more time making sure that the candidate is a good cultural and team fit, and is someone that they’d genuinely enjoy working with.
How to Get Started With Testing
While coming up with all of the requirements for the test can be a complex process, there are a few key guidelines to follow.
The test should:
- Align with the work the position is responsible for
- Have easily interpreted results
- Allow the top candidates to stand out
To anyone that’s interested in learning more about testing early on in the interview process, we’re happy to help. We offer our comprehensive testing service completely for free, so if you’d like to get started, reach out to us anytime at [email protected].