ALC Executive Search is launching a psychological assessment tool that is initially aimed at helping recruiters recruit their own staff.

The tool, which was due to be launched by ALC Discovery on 27 April, is tailored for the recruitment industry by looking at the skills and attributes of over 200 recruiters who billed more than £250k a year, to build up a picture of what a great recruiter looks like.

Recruiters too often rely on their instincts as recruiters to hire staff for their own companies, Tim Connolly (pictured above), a partner in ALC Executive Search, told Recruiter. While this can work well “a lot of the time”, Connolly said, doing so also led to poor hiring decisions, with recruiters guilty of unconscious bias and prone to hiring people in their own likeness. This resulted in the industry missing out on a lot of great talent, he said.

Connolly added there was “a sub-conscious fear among some recruiters that using something like an assessment instrument is taking away their skill, their job, their expertise, and that the wrong candidate will be hired”. 

With the tool, candidates are assessed under seven broad competencies, such as account management and building relationships and within each, they are assessed against traits such as confidence and persistence. Candidates’ values and emotional intelligence can also be assessed. After taking the assessment candidates are given a score, and the hirer receives a report, Connolly said.