Kanata Food the HR Manager\'s

Kanata Food

The HR manager's approach to the new test is the right approach. While the use of standardized tests to assist in hiring is common, the company needs to ensure that the test helps it to meet its strategic objectives. Thus, evaluating the test before actually using the results is an important step in making sure that the test does what the companies needs it to do. If there is an area where the use of the test can be improved, it is that the company should evaluate it across different business units and geographic locations. The current test is only for four stores, and all of these stores have a similar profile. This means that the results of the test cannot necessarily be applied to hiring decisions in different units or geographic regions. The HR department serves the entire company, and therefore must take that into consideration when designing tests like this.

There are a few different recommendations that I would make to the company's management about using this test. Right now, the company has not adequately evaluated the test. As mentioned, the company should evaluate the test in all of its units and all of its major geographic regions before the results can be viewed as significant. I do not believe that the MAT test adds significant value to the hiring process. The higher the MAT test score, the average combined interview score increases, but not significantly. The highest level is still only 7.03 and the lowest is 6.33. Ideally using a test like this should bring value commensurate with the cost of implementing the test. The data thus far shows that it is a weak predictor of success during the interview process (everybody makes the minimum 5 combined score). Not only is there a low correlation between the MAT score and the interview score, but the test is not correlated (yet) to any job-related outputs. More important than finding good candidates is finding good employees.

This is where the company's overall HR strategy comes into play. Kanata wants to do a few things -- lower turnover rates, improve its managerial candidate pool and build a strong collection of minority employees, especially those with management potential. At this point, there is no specific link between the MAT test and these outcomes. The company does not even know the links between its traditional hiring measures and these outcomes.