Assessments and Candidate Experience

Chris Hoyt: I know I’m gonna catch a lot of heat for this, Laura, but I’m just gonna say it: I didn’t like the Wicked movie. I didn’t like it.

Laura Fields: No, I don’t like Wicked the show. Why are there romance stories in this? I don’t understand. Nothing about the movie needed to be three hours. They just whittled it down to the women and what counts in that story.

Chris Hoyt: I love you. You have the take now. The bullets won’t come at me—they’ll come at you. This is great.

Laura Fields: I’m used to being riddled by bullets. That is my role.

Chris Hoyt: I saw it on Broadway, probably four times. The kids loved it. It was good. I enjoyed it. Idina Menzel, Kristin Chenoweth—I loved it the first time. It was okay the second, third, and fourth. But the movie? I really had a hard time with it.

Laura Fields: Three hours—for half of it, maybe.

Chris Hoyt: Yeah. I’m not a Grande fan either, maybe that’s part of it. Ever since the donut thing, I just can’t.

Laura Fields: I agree. I’ve held a grudge because of the donut thing.

Chris Hoyt: But you are a Broadway fan. A big Broadway fan.

Laura Fields: I am. In fact, on April 5th, I’m making a whirlwind trip—one day only. Flying up and flying back to see Orville Peck play the MC in Cabaret. I recently discovered him and want to see that. And Titus Burgess is going to be in Othello. That’s my plan.

Chris Hoyt: So you’re flying to New York, watching two shows, then flying home?

Laura Fields: That’s the best-case scenario. A lot could disrupt it. We’ll see.

Chris Hoyt: Definitely some wildcard issues there. Keep us posted.

Laura Fields: Will do.

Chris Hoyt: Alright, we’ve got some stuff to talk about today—and it’s not Broadway. Are you ready to jump in?

Gerry Crispin: If we must.

Chris Hoyt: If we must, we must.

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Chris Hoyt: Welcome back to the Recruiting Community Podcast show! We’re excited to be here. Jerry, how are you?

Gerry Crispin: I am wonderful—but lagging slightly.

Chris Hoyt: A little bit of lag. It’s the internet—what are you gonna do?

I’m excited today because joining us is Spectrum’s own Laura Fields. She’s awesome. We’re going to discuss assessments and candidate experience. Laura has insights on retargeting applicants—specifically those who drop out during the assessment step, which we know is a big pain point.

Before we dive in—quick housekeeping: we’re streaming on YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitch. If you’re with us live, drop a comment or question in the LinkedIn chat. You can also catch up on past and future episodes at cxr.org/podcast.

Alright, let’s bring Laura back in—there she is!

So Laura, I want to hear the escalator pitch: who is Laura Fields? What should listeners know about you?

Laura Fields: Okay, I’ll give it a shot. My educational background is in industrial-organizational psychology. I came out of school in the 1900s—so now you know how old I am. I immediately started working in employee selection and have been doing that ever since. So assessments, selection, employment law, interviewing—that’s my bread and butter.

Chris Hoyt: The 1900s makes it sound like you belong in the history of recruiting project.

Laura Fields: Like I should be shoulder to shoulder with Jerry, right?

Chris Hoyt: Well, you’re holding up a lot better than Jerry.

Laura Fields: He’s a vision.

Chris Hoyt: Let’s start with why candidates drop off. I know we’ll dive into your retargeting efforts, but what do you think causes most candidates to abandon the assessment step? And how can companies make assessments feel less like a wall?

Laura Fields: Great question. The first thing you can do is administer the assessment in line with the application. When I came to Spectrum, some candidates would submit a resume and then wait until a recruiter reached out before receiving the assessment. That delay felt like the company had forgotten them.

We saw withdrawal rates around 37–38% when assessments were delayed. Now that we’ve integrated assessments in-line—making it feel like part of the application—our withdrawal rates are closer to 15–20%, depending on the job.

Chris Hoyt: So 30% was before you improved it. Would you say that 30% is about industry average?

Laura Fields: It feels high. I’d say 20% is more in line with what it should be, but it depends on the job and the labor market. During the Great Resignation, it was a lot tougher.

Gerry Crispin: Do you take time to set expectations with candidates?

Laura Fields: Yes. Best practice is to include the assessment in the job posting so candidates know upfront. Right now, our message says: “This role has an assessment. Make sure you’re in a quiet space to take it, or you can complete it later.” Some of the retargeting we’re doing is helping us test whether we need to tweak that message.

Gerry Crispin: Today’s test-takers want something in return. I’d love to see A/B testing that includes, “Here’s what you’ll learn after taking the assessment—even if you don’t move forward.”

Laura Fields: That could be a real differentiator. We’ve been benchmarking vendors and while the market has settled, we’re still looking for new approaches. That kind of feedback offer could stand out.

Chris Hoyt: And at this step—before the assessment—has the candidate had any human interaction yet?

Laura Fields: Usually no. Unless a sourcer pulled them in, they haven’t spoken with anyone.

Chris Hoyt: That makes sense. You probably lose a chunk to the “mass apply” crowd. They were never engaged in the first place.

Laura Fields: Exactly.

Chris Hoyt: Let’s talk about how you’re winning candidates back. What’s working in your retargeting campaigns for people who didn’t complete the assessment?

Laura Fields: Some people you won’t get back—bots, mass appliers, people who already took another job. But I wanted to focus on people who might be experiencing something like stereotype threat—where past experiences or societal biases create anxiety around taking a test.

We looked into the IO psych literature and identified three interventions that help mitigate stereotype threat:

1. Mindfulness prompts

2. Self-affirmation prompts

3. Messaging that reinforces job relevance of the assessment

We created four email campaigns—one for each of the above plus a control group—and tested them.

Chris Hoyt: Okay, so you’re testing messages based on research to see what actually brings people back to take the assessment. Jerry, wanna guess which one worked best?

Gerry Crispin: I’d guess job relevance. That would motivate me. But I think you got returns from all three.

Laura Fields: I would’ve bet on job relevance too—but the winner was self-affirmation.

Chris Hoyt: Really?

Laura Fields: Yes. Messages that said things like, “You bring valuable skills. Keep your strengths in mind as you take the assessment—we want to see the best of you.”

Chris Hoyt: Wow. And what types of roles are we talking about?

Laura Fields: Frontline roles—call center reps, sales, and retail.

Gerry Crispin: Now the question is—do the people who come back for that reason perform better long-term?

Laura Fields: We’ll have to wait and see. But in the short term: 63% of the candidates who came back and completed the assessment were rated as “recommended” or “highly recommended.” Only 20% failed.

Chris Hoyt: So it’s not that they were bad candidates. They just needed encouragement. That’s awesome.

Laura Fields: Exactly. And yes—call center recruiters are incredible. They’re highly engaged and really helped make this successful.

Chris Hoyt: Props to them. I remember those days. Hiring for 411 call centers was relentless. This is meaningful candidate care—intentional, not reactive.

Gerry Crispin: You’re also answering, “Who can do the job?” The next layer is: “Who will do the job?” That’s where candidate motivation comes in.

Laura Fields: We actually have a “Fit Finder” assessment that helps with that—where candidates indicate their preferences and are matched to roles.

Chris Hoyt: That’s amazing. You’ve got to come back and share results on that. Also, maybe we connect you with other high-volume employers in CXR? This could be something to scale across members and even publish.

Laura Fields: I’d love that. We should absolutely collaborate.

Chris Hoyt: Okay, one last question: if you were going to write a book about this work, what would the title be?

Laura Fields: “Assessments for All!”—with an exclamation point. I believe in the power of assessments, and I don’t want fear or misunderstanding to get in the way of great talent.

Chris Hoyt: I love it. And who gets the first signed copy—present company excluded?

Laura Fields: My IO professor, Dr. Nora Riley. I know what I know because of her.

Chris Hoyt: Perfect. Laura, thank you so much. Always a pleasure having you with us.

Laura Fields: Feeling is mutual.

Chris Hoyt: Everyone else, we’ll see you next week at cxr.org/podcast. Take care.

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