Learn how to assess candidates using values-based recruitment. Explore practical assessment methods, resources and guidance to recruit the right people.
Assess candidates, select people who share your values.
The Assess stage focuses on using a range of selection methods to understand whether candidates share your organisation's values and are the right fit for the role.
Looking beyond qualifications and experience helps you assess how candidates are likely to behave in practice. Using a variety of assessment methods also creates a fairer, more inclusive recruitment process by giving candidates different ways to demonstrate their strengths.
Research shows that values-based assessment can help organisations recruit people who are more likely to perform well, stay longer and contribute positively to workplace culture.
Benefits include:
Watch: Using values-based ways of assessing whether candidates share your values and are the right person to be your personal assistant.
How to assess candidates
A strong assessment process uses different methods to build a complete picture of each candidate.
Use a range of assessment methods
Give candidates different opportunities to demonstrate their values and behaviours through activities such as:
Link assessments to your values: develop clear assessment criteria that reflect your workplace values and the behaviours you expect in the role.
Make the process fair and consistent: ensure everyone involved in recruitment understands how to assess candidates objectively, consistently and inclusively.
Choose methods that fit the role: select assessment activities that reflect the day-to-day responsibilities of the job and allow candidates to demonstrate how they would apply your values in practice.
Resources and templates
Download and use these resources to strengthen your assessment process.
- Values-based recruitment checklist – assess - review how effectively your recruitment process assesses candidates' values and identify opportunities for improvement.
- Assessing values in your selection process - explore a range of assessment methods and practical ways to involve different people throughout the recruitment process
- - The Curious about Care quiz is a tool designed to help you find the best candidates for care roles.
Making your assessments neuro-inclusive
A flexible assessment process helps ensure neurodivergent candidates have an equal opportunity to demonstrate their strengths.
You could:
- offer alternatives to psychometric assessments where appropriate
- use work samples, job trials or problem-solving activities
- send interview questions in advance
- provide written copies of interview questions during the interview
- allow candidates to use notes or mind maps
- offer adjustments for online interviews, such as keeping cameras off where appropriate
- create assessment environments that minimise sensory overload by using quiet spaces, natural lighting and regular breaks.
Where possible, involve neurodivergent colleagues when designing your recruitment process and seek their feedback on reasonable adjustments that can improve the candidate experience.
Learning from others
See how organisations across adult social care use values-based assessment to recruit the right people.
- Helen Sanderson Associates – Using values-based recruitment to recruit the right people
- Dussindale Park Nursing 微微草视频 – Using values and behaviour-based scenarios during recruitment
- Sense – Embedding values throughout the recruitment process
- Avalon Group – Involving people who draw on care and support in recruitment