Watson-Glaser a key part of the Kearney recruitment journey
For three years, Kearney has been using the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking assessment to identify candidates that will excel in their job roles. Recognizing critical thinking as a foundational competency for its employees, Kearney’s recruitment specialists Nabilah Tan and Teresa Yap explain how the Watson-Glaser has supported the company's strong belief in the value of critical thinking as a key skill in today’s competitive marketplace.
Recognition of this change is driving company culture in Kearney. Tan and Yap explain that you cannot gauge someone’s critical thinking ability from their resume – and this is why they needed an independent assessment from a test like Watson-Glaser. Kearney employees are increasingly expected to display a range of multi-disciplinary skills that span both the competencies required in innovative technologies and the people skills required on the job – making selection of the “right” hires both more important and more challenging.
“Watson-Glaser not only helps identify candidates with a strong suite of critical thinking skills but, crucially, does this in a way that introduces fairness to their selection procedure. Because the score takes into account the level of difficulty and the test questions are randomized from item banks.” Yap adds that there is less bias or subjectivity in the test results.
“Using the test as a first gate for candidate selection means that Kearney saves considerable time and money within recruitment as it allows them to focus only on those who have already proved their ability from the Watson-Glaser assessment. Once applicants have cleared this critical bar, we are then free to concentrate on case interviews, which highlight a very different skill set in candidates, and allow the interviewer to focus on other – more diverse – attributes.”
“Taking the Watson-Glaser assessment is an opportunity for [candidates] to ‘wow’ us and progress to interview." explains Yap. Tan and Yap both agree that there is often a pool of candidates that look “borderline” from their resumes and the Watson-Glaser often benefits applicants.
In order to get familiar with the test Yap found trialing the assessment in-house advantageous. “Putting your company’s “high-flyers” through it gives a really good gauge of what the range of scores might mean for individual competencies. It allows you to identify an appropriate internal benchmark that can then be used going forward in determining the talent pool to interview. This also allows us to monitor trends from selection to development.”
Identify top talent
Measure critical thinking
Benchmark candidates
Identify future leaders
Learn more about the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal.
Company Snapshot
Industry: Management Consultancy. Working with more than three-quarters of the Fortune Global 500, governmental and non-profit organizations.
Revenue: $1.5B
Headquarters: Chicago, Illinois
Workforce: Global team of 4,200 people working in more than 40 countries.