Welcome to the March 14, 2007 issue of The Total View

Published by Success Performance Solutions, Written by Ira S. Wolfe

Pre-employment assessment tests have been around for ages.
Some are pinpoint accurate and will help you make smart hiring decisions. Others deliver only a surface-level look at a candidates personality traits ... and little else.

Attend this 60-minute web-event on to learn about how good employee assessments work and how to make sure you are using the right ones.

Click here to register for this mini-course.

Don't delay - register now or call 800.803.4303. Limited to first 10.

Visit our Human Resources Blog and Perfect Labor Storm Blog where we can post daily (and more often) human resource updates, news, and Perfect Labor Storm facts. 

What's Inside:

1.  Behavioral Interview increases hiring success by 35 percent

Did you know that the success of the unstructured interview is only 57 percent, hardly better than flipping a coin? The problem rests in the fact that most interviews are mere discussions, skirting the real issues. One colleague of mine actually wrote a book comparing the unstructured interview to a blind date....and we know how well most of them work out.

You can increase your success rate over 19 percent (to 68 percent reliability) by using a situational interview, but this of course means that all interviewers are skilled at asking the right questions......and listening......and probing!

The most successful interviews are behavioral interviews.  Behavioral interviews probe for competencies, not just past experience and hypothetical scenarios. In other words, what were the skills used by the candidate to get the job done?  Candidates with developed competencies can repeat the success regardless of the situation or environment and exposes candidates who were just in the right place at the right time. Without competence, candidates just might rely on past behaviors and keep doing the same thing over and over again....even if the situation the next time around is different. The success rate of behavioral based interviews is over 77 percent!!

But not so fast before you jump on this bandwagon. Behaviorial interviewing requires pre-planning and training. You can't just re-name your unstructured interview process a behavioral interview and expect different results.

The first step in introducing behavioral interviewing into your selection process is identifying the essential competencies required to the job. There is no magic formula to competency ID but our work with clients has demonstrated time and time again that 2 to 3 competencies are the right number for line workers and entry level positions; 3 to 7 competencies for supervisors and managers, and 7 to 10 competencies for directors and executive levels.

The next step requires prioritizing the competencies. All competencies are not created equal. Effective behavior based interviews require that each competency is rated in importance. This takes some discussion among subject matter experts, managers and employees who know the job inside and out, to decide what competencies are absolutely essential and which ones are just nice to have.

While some degree of proficiency in all 10 competencies might be necessary for a vice-president to meet performance expectations, 3 to 5 of these might rise above the rest. When my clients struggle narrowing down the laundry list of 30-plus competencies to a mere 3 to 10, I provide this tip: If your employee struggled with timeliness and details but exceeded all sales quotas and customer satisfaction goals would you discipline him? Therefore, getting results and customer focus (2 examples of competencies in our Strategic Success Model) would hold greater importance than time management and detail orientation.

Behavioral competency-based interviewing makes good business sense and is a best practice. To learn how to identify competencies and conduct effective behavioral interviews, call us at 800.803.4303.

2.  Perfect Labor Storm Alerts # 626 - 627

Pre-release Special! The Perfect Labor Storm 2.0 has landed. The year 2007 will see an increase in skilled worker shortages and more competition.   The result will be higher salaries, more training and career advancement opportunities, and more flexible work cultures. How prepared is your company to find skilled and dependable workers?

Perfect Labor Storm 2.0 is the newly updated and revised 2007 edition of best-selling book first published in 2005. You can now download an advance copy of PLS 2.0. a $10 value with every purchase of the original Perfect Labor Storm, still a great value at $7.95.

Fact #626:  The estimated retiree/active worker ratio is expected to increase by 71.4 percent in the United States by 2030. Switzerland is expected to experience a 100.2 percent increase for the same period.  Italy's retirees will outnumber its active workers by 2030.  (Source: Watson Wyatt, World Economic Forum 2004)

Fact #627:  Germany's birth rate, already the lowest in Europe, dropped even further in 2005. Germans had 8.5 births per 1,000 inhabitants in 2005, down from 8.6 the previous year. That compares with 12 births per 1,000 in Britain and 12.7 per 1,000 in France. The town of Chemnitz, in the former East Germany, has what is believed to be the lowest birth rate in the world at 6.9.

Don't miss day-to-day updates on Perfect Labor Storm.   Save the Perfect Labor Storm blog to your favorites.

Don't be caught in storm without all the facts. "The Perfect Labor Storm Fact Book: Why Worker Shortages Won't Go Away" is a must-read leading edge forecast that predicts workforce trends for decades to come. Order your copy today - Only $7.95.

3.  New! Upcoming Webinars, Workshops and Training Dates Announced

March 20, 2007: Building the Best Hiring Tool Kit Webinar
April 12, 2007: Interview for Success (Call for information - 800-403-8303)
April 17 - 18, 2007 - ASSESS Expert System User Certification

"Building the Best Hiring Tool Kit" Webinar

Registration: Free

March 20, 2007 - 11 AM EST

Pre-employment assessment tests have been around for ages.
Some are pinpoint accurate and will help you make smart hiring decisions. Others deliver only a surface-level look at a candidates personality traits ... and little else.

Attend this 60-minute web-event on to learn about how good employee assessments work and how to make sure you are using the right ones.

Don't delay - register now or call 800.803.4303. Limited to first 10.

"ASSESS Expert System Certification"

For the first time ever, Bigby Havis and Success Performance Solutions have partnered to sponsor a 2-day ASSESS User Certification in Central PA. (Bigby Havis is one of the top U.S. organizational psychology consulting firms with domestic and international clients.)

Date: April 17-18, 2007
Time: 8:30 - 5:00; 2nd day ends at 12:30PM
Place: Lancaster, PA
Tuition: $1500 per person; $1000 for 2nd person, same company

Assess Expert System is a premier psychometic employee evaluation tool that will take the guesswork out of hiring and promoting key employees.
A state of the art web-based system, ASSESS produces job specific reports linking key personality traits to managerial and executives competencies.
Every selection report comes with a customized behavioral interview guide and every development report includes performance improvements tools and tip customized to the employee, based on his/her responses.

ASSESS Expert System assists management in the selection of outside candidates and in the promotion, placement or development of internal managers, supervisors and professionals. The assessments provided are industry-standard, and each item has been carefully validated and documented.

Participation is limited and over half the seats are already filled. Don't wait.
Call 800-803-4303 for information

4.  Test your knowledge to communicate with different generations

Chances are, you've struggled with someone older - or younger - who just doesn't see things your way. The Generational Style Assessment will help you understand the differences between the generations and identify ways to "flex" your own behavior to better work with or manage people of all ages.

Test your knowledge to communication with Gen X, Gen Y, Boomers, and Traditionalists. Our NEW Generational Style Assessment evalautes the communication or relational style you typically project when interacting with individuals or groups of people from different generations. It then provides you insight into those styles that work for you, and what to do about the styles that don't. This self-scoring workbook includes the questionnaire, response sheet, how to interpret your results, and how to understand the different styles.

Click here to learn more about the Generational Style Assessment.

5.  Less than 32 percent of businesses tracking key HR performance metric

Read more what over 150 HR professionals and executives told us in a random survey conducted by one of our strategic partners, B21 Publishing:

"Less than 32 percent responded that they were tracking the cost to new hire employees." That is a disappointingly low response and demonstrates a continuing gap between sound business practices and the business of human resources.

Other results of the survey included:
* 44 percent responded it was more difficult to find skilled workers in 2006 compared to 2005.
* 43 percent said it was difficult to find dependable workers in 2006 compared to 2005.
* 30 percent said is cost between $1,000 and $2,499 more to recruit a new employee in 2006 than prior years; over 27 percent reported it cost more than $2,500.
* Over 47 percent reported it taking 2 to 4 weeks longer to fill open positions in 2006; over 33 percent said it took more than 5 weeks longer.

To learn more about tracking and reducing the cost-to-hire employees, call us at 800.803.4303.

6.   Quotes from Hire Authorities

"Measure what is measurable, and make measurable what is not."
Galileo Galilei

Ira S. Wolfe Copyright 2007 - All Rights Reserved. Reprints and other distribution by permission