Eugene Burke, SHL, talks to Online Recruitment Magazine

Eugene Burke, Director of Science and Innovation, SHL Group Limited

Please tell us more about yourself, for example your role in your present company
I am the Director of Science and Innovation at SHL Group Limited and responsible for global product design and innovation. I lead new product development and advise on the business processes through which psychometric models are applied and products delivered as solutions in the workplace.

Past and present work that I have undertaken in the field of Occupational Psychology includes contributions to articles and chapters on assessment, psychometrics, computer-based and online testing, training and competency design, decision making under stress and aviation psychology, as well as my book, ëHandbook of Pilot Selectioní, published in 1995.

How long you have worked for your present company?
Since 1998 where I have held both PandL positions such as Director of Consultancy for the UK as well as roles in product strategy and development.

How long has your company been established?
SHL has been operating for 30 years in August!

How many employees work in your company?
SHL has approximately 600 employees worldwide - over 200 of them psychologists. SHL has representatives in 38 countries.

Outline your companyís business and how it works
SHL is a world leader in objective assessment - measuring whether people can do the job employees need them to do. This covers recruitment, development and retention. Itís about getting the right people in the right job and keeping them.

We develop, implement and sell objective assessment and consulting services. All of our products are based on extensive research. This enables us to produce tools, which identify and predict key behaviours in the workplace that transform people performance. SHLís tests are used across the employee lifecycle ñ from recruitment and selection through to transition and succession and we continue to invest heavily in research and development to ensure productsí relevance, reliability and validity.

SHL offers solutions that can operate independently or be integrated into a clientís own website and their existing HR systems. SHL integrates with almost all third party applications to provide a seamless connection between HR systems and assessment platforms to ensure consistency and reliability.

Who are your clients?
SHL has over 5,500 clients around the world, as our tests are available in over 30 languages. SHLís client list contains 73% of companies on the FTSE 100 Index, such as Experian, Centrica and BP. Other large clients include Ikea, Marks and Spencer and Tesco. SHL has relationships with many smaller clients, for whom we provide Bureau services, consulting and products. SHL also have a large partner network of distributors and resellers, called SHL Partner Network (SPN).

SHL also delivers integrated online assessment through partnerships with workflow providers in the talent acquisition and talent management space.

What are the benefits of your product to your customers? (What evidence do you have, e.g. any statistics?)
SHL is in the business of ëTalent identificationí - providing services which enable HR professionals to identify what talent looks like in their organisation, and apply these metrics to develop existing staff and recruit the right talent.

Our products and services have enabled client organisations to reduce cost per hire, reduce time taken to hire, monitor the return on their investment, enhance the quality of hire and improve the productivity of staff. One of SHLís UK clients, Marks and Spencer implemented SHLís Talent Screener product, a sifting tool that would ensure that those invited for interview had the right skills and attitude to succeed. The process delivered strong results.

Customers moving to an SHL designed recruitment process have seen up to a 33% increase in applicants screened out early in the process, a 45% increase in success rate at interview and an 18% reduction in applicants failing to attend interview. SHL tools are found to be a strong predictor of success in a role ñ the same case-study showed that 76% of those that scored highly in the initial screening went on to be rated as ëexceedingí or ëoutstandingí in their first six-month appraisal.

Objective Measurement:
In August of 2006, SHL commissioned some research to further explore the dangers of basing recruitment decisions on face-to-face interviews and CVs only. With the information generated by this research, SHL communicated some shocking statistics.

85% of people believe that it is easier to cheat in an online test and 94% of HR Directors expect candidates to bend the truth during an interview. Earlier research among existing SHL customers brought to light the need for greater security against possible fraudsters who either get help in the online test or ask someone else to sit it in its entirety.

Two major developments to counter these concerns:
1. The emergence of specialist online test security and web tracking organisations such as Caveon, SHLís online test security partner

2. The introduction of SHL Verify TM, cheat resistant assessment - launched in response to specific customer feedback.

What do you do to attract and maintain business in your sector and what will you be doing to maintain this in the future?

We help our clients to realise the benefits of assessment, globally, supported by strong tools, product development and innovation. SHL has a legacy of industry research and test quality that is upheld today. Each new product release has years of intensive research behind it and this will continue to uphold SHLís place in the industry.

One of SHLís clients, Portman Building Society had a huge network of branches and head offices and with up to 100 CVs coming in each day to a paper and e-mail-based process, response speed and systems focus were on the agenda. SHL worked with talent management software experts Job Partners to deliver fully integrated online assessment. This system completely automates the recruitment process and places the companyís recruitment information in one place - making it more consistent and accessible. Churn in the two key volume roles has been reduced by 8%, a considerable achievement within six months. In addition, its members ñ the Portman customer base ñ are reporting higher levels of happiness through their monthly Customer Satisfaction Index.

The future is online, and to that end SHL has been involved in combining scientifically proven assessment of individualís potential and behaviour with the power of the Internet for many years. As mentioned, SHLís Verify product pioneers secure online ability testing and SHLís E-learning suite harnesses online functionality to explore new learning constructs and save time and money on lengthy training courses.

How has online recruitment changed in the last twelve months or so from your companyís perspective?
SHL specific stats show that the demand for ASO (Ability Screening Online) products increased by 20% in 2006, demand for the OPQ (Occupational Personality Questionnaire) online increased by 20%, and in total, SHL are delivering over a million tests a year online.

Providers are working together through acquisition or strategic partnerships for content or expertise and we are seeing a consolidating market of software providers and systems integrators, providing clients with value added process.

What are the real statistics of online psychometric usage for recruitment and development processes?
HR product and consultancy Company Cubiks have calculated online usage figures for recruitment and estimate that 62% of those surveyed had completed an unsupervised computer-based ability test.

With larger and larger volumes of applications and tests being completed online, employers are beginning to realise that they can make the process even swifter from the start by introducing sifting questionnaires or elimination questions. For large companies with thousands of applicants for every post, such as MandS, it hastens the journey towards finding the right candidates for the job, saving considerable time, manpower and money.

Please feel free to add your personal thoughts on the progression of online recruitment. Where do you think its going?
According to many at SHL, the future of all psychometric testing is data driven. If that immensely valuable data is being generated at the start of an employeeís career, surely it can be used for more than placing an individual into a job?

Looking ahead, psychometric tools and the application of these will continue to grow more sophisticated and therefore even more valuable. Partnerships with platform providers and integrators will become more informative to provide closely aligned solutions. Assessment tools will provide a roadmap and informed assessment of talent management needs will become more important as the war for talent rages on. No organisation will be able to ignore the need for automated talent identification and development solutions and perhaps, online recruitment will become the default.