January 28, 2009

Edited and Written by Ira S. Wolfe

Published by Success Performance Solutions. Major Sponsor,

2008 Best Places to Work In Pennsylvania

What's Inside this issue of The TotalView:

1.  Cheating on Pre-Employment Tests

2.  Perfect Labor Storm Warnings

3.  Create Effective Interview Guides in Minutes

4.  Get the right Clues before you hire

5.  Quotes from the Hire Authorities

1.  Cheating on Pre-Employment Tests Forces Managers to Find Better Radar

Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal published a story "Test for Dwindling Retail Jobs Spawns a Culture of Cheating."Test for Dwindling Retail Jobs Spawns a Culture of Cheating."  The storyline suggested that attempts to screen out unqualified or poor job fit candidates during these tough economic times has created such a competitive environment that jobseekers have resorted to cheating on work attitude and personality tests.
 
While the premise is likely true, I'll wholeheartedly disagree with the conclusion.  If more candidates are cheating on their resumes, during the interview and on the testing, then it's even more critical for hiring managers to find better radar to detect them - not turn the testing off.   Hiring people who can't do the job, won't fit on the team, and don't share the values of the organization will fail - sooner than later. Hiring a candidate who cheated on his personality test is essentially claiming to be someone he/she is not.  It's just another mutation of identity theft!

In reading through dozens of comments on the WSJ site, it became clear to me that both employers and candidates share some of the blame for this cheating.  It also became clear that neither the employers nor candidates understood the importance of pre-employment testing nor how to choose and use them to serve the best interests of both groups.

First, let me address the question of validity of these "personality" tests.  Is there a misuse on the part of the employer?  Absolutely.  Many employers choose the "right" assessment merely out of necessity ("we have to do something to reduce our turnover, theft, etc.). Others do it because everyone in the industry is doing it. 

The problem with both mindsets is not a problem with the assessment but the ability and due diligence these organizations put into the decision - both are generally lacking. 
First of all, not all assessments are created equal.  Some are more reliable and valid than others. Second, just because a candidate claims to be on time, detailed, and honest doesn't mean he will be. That doesn't mean the candidate cheated but their intentions don't show up in their performance.   (I can want to be on time but just have horrible poor time management or I can love being the leader but have horrible communication skills.) 

In my examples, the distance between intentions and performance is considerable.  The reason:  tests that measure attitudes predict intentions; tests that measure behavior and personality predict performance.  The hope is that both align - but that's not always the case. 

For the story in the Journal, the test is question measured attitude, not personality. The proper pathway by which an employer should choose a test is to first to decide what they need to test for, then to decide the baseline, and then to measure the results of the assessments against the baseline.  Many employers and managers ignore the first two steps - they just purchase a quiz and give it without thinking about how it will relate to the job or their culture (what works in one organization may not be effective in another).  Besides, there are no wrong or right answers. A good job assessment evaluates job fit.  A candidate is doing themselves a great disservice at "cheating" to get a job they won't like or do well.

The bottom line is this: many assessments are valid and reliable but when misused they are ineffective and bad business.
Now...onto the cheating.  Interviews are notoriously bad for effective job hiring.  Candidates fabricate resumes, practice and plan the answers to obvious questions, and are coached how to be interviewed.  Many hiring managers are less equipped to interview than the candidate is at being interviewed. The effectiveness of interviews at hiring the right person the first time is about 52%, slightly better than flipping a coin.  Candidates have been lying for years, long before testing.  Managers just aren't very good at picking it up. 

The current culture and economic downturn has only amplified the problem.  The burden for detecting cheaters falls back on HR and managers.  Don't blame the assessment.  A valid assessment must include a scale for "fakability."  Most times it is called Good Impression scale, Social Desirability, Validity factor, or Positive Factor index. These scales pick up patterns of candidates who seem to be too good to be true.  If the assessment doesn't have it....move on  to another and find one that does.

When used in combination with the right pre-employment testing, reference checks, and a behavioral interview, the success rate jumps to over 80%.  In other words, pre employment testing is a valuable, valid and reliable tool when the right tool is selected, it is used properly, and in combination with the interview, reference and background checks.

2.  Perfect Labor Storm Warnings   

Subscribe to the Perfect Labor Storm 2.0 blog and receive skilled worker shortage updates like this:

In its advancing age, Congress reflects the nation it represents. The average age will be 57 in the House and 63 in the Senate.  This will be the nation's oldest Congress.

All but one of the 37 House and Senate committee chairs tapped so far were in Congress before Obama's 1991 graduation from Harvard Law School.

 

Fourteen arrived in Congress before the incoming president was out of high school. 

Learn more about workforce trends. Purchase the NEW Perfect Labor Storm 2.0 books (soft and hard cover versions) at PerfectLaborStorm.com.

New Perfect Labor Storm videos added. Watch now!

3.  Create Effective Interiew Guides in Minutes

The Automated Online Interview. Screen candidates over the web. Candidates provide written responses to customized interview questions online --ideal for a pre-interview screening or first interview.

SELECTPro(R) is web-based program that helps interviewers design and organize behavior-based selection interview in minutes. It also allows the interviewer to easily create a custom Interview Guide: a document (or script) that the interviewer uses to conduct a behavioral job interview.

4. Get  the Right Clues before you hire!

Are bad attitudes, lack of commitment or low morale cutting into your bottom line? Are you frustrated by new hires not showing up for work, stealing you blind, or having a short fuse?

Get Candid Clues before you hire. Candid Clues exposes a candidate's attitude toward dependability, honesty and frustration tolerance plus the optional scales for computer abuse, sexual harassment and illegal drug use.

Read more about Candid Clues for honesty and integrity checks.

5. Quotes from Hire Authorities

Life's racecourse is fixed. Nature has only a single path and that path is run but once, and to each stage of existence has been allotted its appropriate quality.

 

Cicero

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