Welcome to the February 23, 2005 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. TotalView: The Newest Generation of Personality Tests

"The idea was to prove...that you were one of the elected and anointed ones who had the right stuff and could move higher and higher and....join the special few at the very top."
Tom Wolfe, author

Personality, that marker of human behavior, has fascinated great thinkers, well, for a long, long time. More than two millennia ago, in 444 B.C., Empedocles described human behavior in terms of four elements. Shortly thereafter, Hippocrates identified body fluids as the driver of our actions.

Although scientifically inaccurate, these early and interesting observations underscore an inherent need for humans to understand each other. Think of the key to understanding personality as a Holy Grail. Just as Indiana Jones, and countless others, sought to break the Holy Grail code, so have scientists and psychologists labored to find ways to quantify the elusive qualities of human behavior.

It used to be that understanding personality was the link to helping folks through tough times, marital discord, and anti- or asocial behavior. That study now spills over to the business sector as employers try to answer the question: “What makes some people better suited to a particular task than others?”

Consider the article, “Inside the Head of an Applicant,” published in the Feb. 21 issue of Newsweek. Its central theme notes the demand for personality tests has skyrocketed. Small business owners, school systems, and the government join major corporations in using personality testing as an interviewing screening tactic and to assess employees for internal promotions. The Newsweek article estimates this type of testing is a $400 million industry.

So, helping employers make sound hiring decisions is now big business. How did that happen? Ask anyone who has interviewed a prospective job applicant. You’ll hear the same lament: the job interview fails to accurately predict the fit between the applicant and the job, including how well that applicant fits into the organization’s culture.

Acceptance of personality tests was hardly immediate. Frustrated and exhausted because hiring takes a lot of time, effort, and money, hiring managers have relied on everything from handwriting analysis, lie detector tests, and even pyschological evaluations to improve the outcomes of hiring decisions. When these “alternative” methods proved faulty, many hiring managers gave up. After all, why employ recruitment devises some human resources managers described as no more useful than a daily horoscope?

Why the change now? There are several factors involved. Let’s start with global competition and a slow economic recovery, which shifts the focus to continuously improving productivity. To do this, employers want a streamlined workforce of highly productive -- competent, effective and efficient -- employees. Employers can ill afford workers who don't pull their own weight. Besides, it is simply too expensive to hire the wrong people.

There is the significant increase in the cost of recruitment, Couple that with the real dollar drain of resignations and employment terminations when the job fit isn’t right. Hiring the wrong person can cost the company an amount equal to that person’s annual salary. Many studies indicate those dollar amounts can double, triple, or quadruple depending on the level of the position. When hiring mistakes reach the executive office the cost may come to 14 times the annual salary of the person whose employment is terminated. And, that hefty sum might be conservative when you factor in lost market share and opportunity. Consider the impact for Hewlett Packard when the ex-CEO, Carly Fiorina, lost her position.

Okay, now we know that personality tests can occupy a comfortable niche in an employer’s recruitment and retention tool kit. Thanks to the Internet, thousands of personality quizzes are available at the click of the mouse. How does an employer choose from this cornucopia of personality tests?

That’s a good question. Not every test offered is valid and reliable. Unless the tests screens candidates against criteria related to that employer’s job-related specifications, the chances of hiring the wrong people or rejecting the right people remains high, not to mention risky. The ultimate hiring catastrophe occurs if a rejected applicant sues an employer using the personality quiz as the reason. The interview and applicant screening process must be both predictable and job-related otherwise the employer doesn’t have a prayer in court.

The Newsweek article cites the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) as an assessment used by 89 of the Fortune 100 companies for hiring and promoting employees. The article failed to mention that MBTI was not designed for employee selection. Although highly predictive of behavioral type, this information is not necessarily predictive of performance. People can and do adapt to the requirements of the job if adequately motivated. (Go to the SPS section on Business Values and Motivators for more information about what values will motivate people.)

Predictive testing should cover three areas that concern employers – the applicant’s job fit for skills, the team, and the culture. Behavioral fit provides just one piece of the information. Tests like MBTI and CriteriaOne DISC, our recommendation for behavioral style testing, are best used in conjunction with other personality tests, behavioral interviewing, and background checks. This is exactly what the U.S. Department of Labor had in mind when it described the “whole person approach” in its publication: Testing and Assessments: An Employer’s Guide to Best Practices.

The Newsweek article describes a more accurate generation of personality tests are in the market. That’s true. At SPS, we recommend the TotalView Assessment System.

Both TotalView and NEO Personality Inventory (the example given in the Newsweek article) are based on the Big Five Personality Model, which is designed to measure traits of normal functioning personalities. This is an important component for employers who want to comply with right to privacy and Americans with Disabilities acts. We recommend TotalView because the system was constructed exclusively for business and career building. The system is as accurate and valid for predicting job fit as its competitors like NEO and exceeds employer expectations for the ease of administration, real-time turnaround and publication of easy-to-read job fit reports. As a bonus, TotalView Selection reports include recommneded behavioral interview questions, customized for the job. With minimal training, a hiring manager or small business owner can assess a candidate and make predictable hiring decisions without employing a psychologist or relying on gut instinct.

Does this latest generation of personality tests work? SPS Clients using personality tests like the TotalView, Business Values and Motivators and CriteriaOne DISC have reduced hiring mistakes, cut recruitment costs, improved productivity, and increased profits. If spending less time hiring and fixing performance issues is on your 2005 to do list, visit our website and contact us today.

New e-book: Seven Surefire Steps To Hiring High Potential Employees.  FREE for a limited time - a $19 Value.

For more about online personality tests, visit http://www.super-solutions.com/onlinepersonalitytests.asp

More about online personality tests

2. Perfect Labor Storm Alerts #356 to #360
http://www.perfectlaborstorm.com/facts.html

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

Fact #356: The U.S. Department of Defense needs to hire more than 14,000 scientists and engineers in each of the next two years. The problem is the pool of candidates is shrinking.

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Fact #357: Department of Defense retirement rates are accelerating faster than expected. In 2003, the number of people retiring exceeded OPM's expectation by more than 10 percent or 10,000 workers.

Fact #358: As of 2004, there were 73.4 million people younger than 18 in the U.S., or approximately 25 percent of the population. In 1970 the percentage of kids under 18 was 34 percent. By 2010, the number will be only 24 percent. (Source: childstats.gov)

Fact #359: The Labor Department projects that more than 600,000 nursing jobs will open up over the 10 years that end in 2012, a 27 percent increase over 2002.

Fact #360: The Labor Department projects other areas of job growth:

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.  Adult in Career Transition? MAPP Career Assessments is the 1st Step

For adults in transition, make positive life changes now. Assessment testing is the first step to establish your strengths and career goals. The MAPP Assessment is critical in helping you develop career plans and to tailor your education and re-training to fit yourl learning style and career goals.

The MAPP Assessment is a personalized career tool that will help you identify your strengths. You can match your results to 900 job descriptions online and research jobs that may be of interest to you. MAPP will help you concentrate on building skills and finding work within an area you enjoy.

More about career tests and assessments.

4. New! FREE Interview Question Guide Membership

SELECTPro(R) - 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.

Take a Tour and Sign Up for a FREE Interview Question Guide Membership.

5. Stop Generational Clashes - Take the Generational Style Assessment

The Generational Style Assessment is a self scoring instrument to help determine an individual’s influencing style when relating to people from different age groups or generations in the workplace and help them to adjust or “flex” their own approach.

A brief synopsis of the four age groups used in this assessment is shown on the inside back cover of the booklet. This also shows the four generational relating or influencingstyles likely to be most effective in relation to each age group that can be employed by an individual. The four styles (Steering, Empowering, Building, and Supporting) arise fromintersecting two dimensions; the level of clarity and focus required by an individual or group, and the level of energy or engagement that is needed.

It aims to:

•   Raise people’s awareness about the very different behaviors
and characteristics of the four age groups that we identify
(20’s, 30’s, 40’s and 50’s+).
•   Alert individuals to their own relating style biases, and
show them four discrete influencing behaviors.
•   Help people to take age differences more seriously in
seeking to get the best out of everyone and contribute to
getting all groups to work together more harmoniously.

 

This 20-page instrument booklet contains extensive background information and assessment interpretation notes.

Ask about our 2 and 4 hour "Exploring Generational Styles" Workshops, too.

Order Generational Style Assessment

7. SPS Will Open Pre-Employment and Career Testing Center

SPS is moving in March to bigger and better facilities. Watch for more announcements and the "grand opening" of the SPS Pre-Employment and Career Testing Center at 2137 Embassy Drive, Suite 218, Lancaster, PA.

Syndication available - call us.