Welcome to the February 15, 2006 issue of The Total View

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

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.   Can Job Candidates Game Personality Tests?

While ordering a textbook online last week for my Master's program, Amazon recommended a second book, "Ace the Corporate Personality Test".   Wow, a book for job candidates to learn how to "pass" personality tests. The fact that a book has been published to help candidates fake out personality tests should come as no surprise. All you need to do is search the Internet for interview questions or drug test and more results show up for candidates to find the best answers or methods to "beat" the system for drug use.

Of course, while you can fail a drug test, there is no such thing as passing a personality test for a job. Work-related personality "tests" are really just neutral, yet objective, assessments that identify specific personality traits that can impact job performance. They were not designed to be used exclusively on a "hire" or "do not hire" basis. What's important to know that when used properly personality tests should contribute to about one-third of a candidate's total score. The interview should contribute another one-third and reference checks, experience, education, and technical skills make up the final third.

With that said and if there is no right answer, why would a candidate learn to fake out a personality assessment? Why try to game the assessment and get a job you weren't suited for? For whatever the reason, candidates do fake resumes and lie about past experiences and education all too often. That's why the most reliable and predictive assessments include a "lie detector" scale. Also known as fakeability, good impression, and social desirability scales, candidates who try to "ace" these assessments are easily detected.

For example, the TotalView Assessment System integrates the Social Desirability scale into its employee assessment reports. TotalView is scored on a 1 to 10 scale, mirroring a bell-shaped curve. Four to seven reflects the responses of 68 percent of the population, while 1 and 10 identify 2.5 percent each. In the TotalView technical manual, the authors indicate employers can have full confidence in the predictive personality traits if they score between 3 and 8.

Does that mean that candidates who score 1 - 2 or 9 - 10 are liars?   No. It does however throw up a caution flag to hiring managers, who should investigate the responses further.

Scoring above or below the 3 to 8 range could be a warning that the candidate tried to game the system. It could also just mean that the candidate is a "saint" and strives to always act in a socially desirable way. These individuals may just work hard overtime at being cooperative, value working for the good of other people, and do their best to avoid conflict. They view life as a glass half-full and their high Social Desirability score reflects an overly positive, optimistic attitude. While basically very honest people, high Social Desirables may sugarcoat or hold back the truth fearing that what they need to say may not be appropriate, even if accurate, and will hurt the relationship with you.

Individuals who score 1 or 2 also are not out and out liars either. But like the Socially Desirable individual, being Frank (the opposite of Socially Desirable) should throw up a warning flag for hiring managers. One reason a candidate might receive a score of a 1 or 2 is the candidate intentionally downplayed the intensity of his/her traits. Unlike the optimistic Social Desirable, these individuals don't hide their flaws. In our studies with clients, we have found Frank individuals tend to be more candid than most people and tend to find flaws in other people and their ideas. While this sounds like a potential cancer you'd want to avoid, Frank individuals tend to balance the Socially Desirable's overly optimisitic viewpoints and ground lofty dreams with threads of realism.

While candidates can try to second guess personality tests and even practice ahead of time with books like "Ace the Corporate Personality Test", a quality assessments like TotalView, ASSESS, Clues and SELECT expose candidates or employees who intentionally and even unintentionally attempt to mask their true personality. In addition to the Social Desirable scale, the TotalView Assessment includes several other validity checks for erratic or suspicious test-taking.

Sophisticated mathematical algorithms and advances in technology have not only improved the access, delivery and predictability of personality tests but help expose candidates and employees who try to be someone they're not. Now that certainly beats the subjectivity of the interview and the cat-and-mouse tactics used by the hiring manager and candidate during the interview.

For more information, go to TotalView and ASSESS and Clues and SELECT.

2.  Perfect Labor Storm Alerts # 504

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

Fact #504:  In just two decades, the proportion of people aged 80 and above will be more than 2.5 times higher than it is today, because women are having fewer children and people are living longer. In about a third of the world's countries, and in the vast majority of developed nations, the fertility rate is at, or below, the level needed to maintain the population. Women in Italy now average just 1.2 children. In the United Kingdom, the figure is 1.6; in Germany, 1.4; and in Japan, 1.3. Meanwhile, thanks to improvements in health care and living conditions, average life expectancy has increased from 46 years in 1950 to 66 years today.   (Source: The State of World Population, 1999 and 2004, United Nations Population Fund.)

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.  Employee Engagement Surveys

Employee Engagement is the level of commitment an employee has towards the organization. The primary behaviors of engaged employees are: speaking positively about the organization to coworkers,potential employees and customers, having a strong desire to be a member of the organization, and exerting extra effort to contribute to the organization’s success.

Contact us for a free employee engagement survey demo or custom survey.

4.   Quotes from Hire Authorities

"If each of us hires people who are smaller than we are, we shall become a company of dwarfs. But if each of us hires people who are bigger than we are, we shall become a company of giants."
David Oglivy, ad executive

5.   Seven Surefire Steps to Hiring High Performance Employees

"Finding the right employee means different things to different people.  Most managers and owners agree that the right employee must be honest, reliable, and motivated.  But that is where agreement on the most important criteria for job success begins to break down.  Some managers use long term retention as the criteria, due to expensive and extensive training costs.  Others include the need to be flexible.  Good interpersonal skills rank high too for the dream-team employee. As the wish-list grows longer, sharing the same values and work ethic moves up the list.  When all is said and done, successful employees often have less to do with skills than with how well they get along with their co-workers and their managers." (Excerpt from Seven Surefire Steps to Hiring High Performance Employees)

To read more about Hiring High Performance Employees, download your FREE copy (Valued at $18.47) of Seven Surefire Steps to Hiring High Performance Employees for a limited time only. 

6. From The Total View readers

Every week I receive emails commenting on how much my readers enjoy the newsletter.  Occasionally I receive an exceptional one.  With permission, several of these readers have allowed me to publish their comments.  If you have any comments about the newsletter or recommendations how to improve The Total View, please email us.

Dear Ira:

You have become one of my favorite newsletter authors (and I sort through dozens every month) - the true compliment is that I share them with my clients.

I thought your article in the February, 2006 Business-2-Business "Labor Storm Watch" was on target and a real (as opposed to overstated) warnng. I know that you must get discouraged in sounding the alarm and being ignored, but you need to keep it up. You have a knack for the pungent phrase that many of us do not have and you are a good thought leader.

Good, trainable entry level employees (at least in the chemical and process industries) are virtually non-existent. Many times, the client has had to hire a Hispanic supervisor or lead person to tap into the local Hispanic population and has been rewarded with loyal, hard-working employees. But in many small (10 to 20 people) privately held companies, that is a major cultural change that is very difficult for a senior manager (owner) in his 60's, 70's, or 80's to make. If made at all, it usually is the result of a younger generation owner becoming involved - and then as a desperation move.

I thought you might need some encouragement in your campaign of awareness. Keep up the good work.

Best of luck and continued success.

Martin E. Gilligan, Jr.
www.martingilliganconsulting.com

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