Alison Carr and Marc Wenzel from Shaker International presenting at the 2017 Michigan Recruiter's Conference.

1. The Real Scoop Behind
Candidate Opt-Out Behavior
Alison Carr, M.A.
Marc Wenzel, Ph.D.

2. Company Overview
About Shaker
• Founded in 2002
• Market leader & innovator
• Many F100, Brand Conscious
• Industry Leaders
Experience
• Customized, multi-method
• Wide variety of roles & industries
• 500m+ annual data points drive
business impact analytics
• 25+ PhD level data scientists

3. Candidate Experience
• 15 years of measuring candidate experience
• Helped found Candidate Experience Awards
Business Impact
• Regularly demonstrate ROI of 5-10x initial investment
• 25-50% reduction in new hire turnover/staffing waste
• 20-125% lift in productivity/time to proficiency
Partnership
• Many F100, including #1
• Assessment process/partnership flexes with company needs
over time
• History of high volume staffing solutions integrated with HRIS
Company Overview

4. Ongoing Analytics
• Demonstrating impact on important work outcomes:
• Answering questions using analytics
Primary work is with assessment end users
• Recruiters
• Hiring managers
• HR professionals & HR leadership
Shaker’s Insights Team
Performance
Turnover

5. “What impacts assessment completion rates?”
“Who are the people leaving our assessment?”
“What are outcomes of candidate opt-out?”
These are empirical questions!
Questions from Recruiters & HR

6. What impacts completion rates?

7. Applicant sample
224,684 unique
applicants, variety of
backgrounds and jobs
Selection systems
69 different selection
systems, ranging from
30 min to 2.5 hours long
Organizations
29 different organizations
represented, < 500 to
10,000+ current employees
Industries
14 different public and
private industries (e.g.,
manufacturing, service)
Criteria
Rate at which applicants
withdraw from application
process before finishing
Predictors
Length of assessment
Job characteristics
Informational characteristics
System characteristics
Organizational characteristics
Study Overview

8. Key Differences
on candidate completion
Position Level
Pay
Job Simulations
Candidates applying for supervisory positions opt out 38%
less than those applying for hourly positions
Candidate opt out decreases by 36% for every $10,000.
Higher Pay = Higher Completion
Including job simulations increases completion by 14%
No Impact on candidate opt-out
Length
Company Size
Job Expectations
If candidates are going to opt out, they usually do so in the
first 10 min, regardless of assessment length
Company size (large or small) does not impact whether a
candidate will complete
Sharing more challenging aspects of the job does not
deter candidates from completing the assessment
Study Results

9. Who are the people opting out
of completing assessments?

10. All-star candidates
We need to figure out how to
keep them in our assessments
Weak candidates
Concerns are
overstated
The system is working as intended
by screening out low-quality candidates
Who are the people leaving the assessment?

11. The study
COMPLETE
What do we know about performance on the
assessment prior to the opt-out decision?

12. COMPARISON OF SCORES
FOR 300K CANDIDATES WHO
COMPLETED VJT VS.
OPTED-OUT AFTER
STARTING
COMPLETES =
MOST QUALIFIED
OPT-OUTS =
LESS QUALIFIEDHigher probability
of opt-out
COMPLETE
OPT-OUT
60%
more
likely
Higher probability
of low VJT
performance 77
Those who perform better on the
VJT perform better on the job:
2x higher quality work
17% more productive
20% fewer errors
Poor performers early
on in the VJT had:
GREATEST OPT-
OUT OCCURS
WITHIN THE
FIRST 10 MINUTES
10
minutes
%
less likely to
be considered

13. What are outcomes of
candidate opt-out?

14. Administrative efficiency case study
Original Process
Candidate
Application
Application
review by
RPO
Pre-hire
Assessment
Phone
Screen by
RPO
Onsite
Interview by
RPO
Onsite
Interview by
Hiring
Manager
Conditional
Offer and
Drug Test
Hire
New Process
Candidate
Application
Application
review by
RPO
Phone
Screen by
RPO
Onsite
Interview by
RPO
Onsite
Interview by
Hiring
Manager
Conditional
Offer and
Drug Test
Hire

15. Administrative efficiency case study
Candidate
Application
Application
review by
RPO
Pre-hire
Assessment
Phone
Screen by
RPO
Onsite
Interview by
RPO
Onsite
Interview by
Hiring
Manager
Conditional
Offer and
Drug Test
Hire
New Process
Did Not Complete
(27%)
Strong Fit Moderate Fit Weak Fit
30% 40% 30%
Completed
(73%)
Not Considered

16. Impact of Pre-Hire Assessment on Hiring Ratios
75
% lower phone
screen-to-hire
ratio
55
%reduction in
onsite interview-
to-hire ratio
12
%lower
application-
to-hire ratio
9.4:1 8.3:1
8.5:1 2.1:1
Ratio
Pre-Assessment
Ratio
Post-Assessment
3.8:1 1.7:1

17.  Assessment length is not related to completion rates
 Efforts to increase completion rates could increase number of low-quality
candidates - applicants who choose to leave an assessment represent
healthy attrition
 Rather than focusing on completion rates, focus on:
 Recruiting a larger number of candidates
 Ensuring a smooth and user friendly assessment experience
 Use job simulations and other engaging, multimethod assessment approaches
Conclusions

18. Questions?
Alison Carr, M.A. & Marc Wenzel, Ph.D.
alison.carr@shakercg.com
marc.wenzel@shakercg.com
Shaker Consulting Group
3201 Enterprise Pkwy, Suite 360
Cleveland, OH 44122