Welcome to the February 9, 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.  Personality Tests Help Uncover The Right Stuff

Admit it. More than once this past year, you’ve identified a person by his or her personality. Everyone does it, from time to time, to make a point. Here’s how it goes.

Joe is so compulsive about details, he’s probably an accountant.

Mary’s house is perfect. Even magazines on the coffee table are placed so the spines are aligned. You can tell she is an architect.

A friendly guy like Sam should be in sales. No one can say no to him

Using this simplistic logic, outgoing and garrulous folks should be steered toward careers in sales, entertainment, motivational speaking, and the like. The quiet, introverted population should be tucked into safe Dilbert-like cubicles focused on facts and figures, far away from customers, clients, and the rest of the world.

Here’s the flaw in the logic. Humans are social beings. Consequently, we veer toward outgoing people. Extroverts have the edge, being considered lively and fun to be around. Extroverts are described as having “fun personalities.” By comparison, staid and detail-oriented people suffer from a statement like, “She’s a great gal, but not much personality.”

So, we classify people as having “great personalities” and “zero personalities.” Each of you can recognize a boss, co-worker, friend or family member who fits one of these personality classifications. Are these descriptions accurate? That depends on who is making the judgment. Think back to that dreadful blind date your best friend described as having a “great personality.” Has there been an occasion when a schoolmate, co-worker, boss, or neighbor described you as having a “problem personality?

What does it really mean anyway when people talk about personality?

We typically define personality as the unique bundle of motivation, attitudes, and behaviors that make each of us who we are. One individual may be outgoing, creative, and excitable while another is reserved, organized, and calm. Something happens when the quiet person is made to speak up and the assertive person is tamed. Do aliens take over their bodies so can they operate in, what seems to them, a weird and unnatural way? Can people easily change something as hard-wired as personality?

No, not really. Changes like the ones just described reflect behavioral adjustments rather than personality changes. Behavior reflects how a person reacts to specific such as problems, people, pace of environment, and procedures. A willing and able person can easily modify and adapt his or her behavior. Not so with personality.

The overwhelming consensus is that personalities rarely change after adolescence, and if change does occur it happens slowly. Let’s take this into the workplace. You recently hired a salesperson who steadfastly refuses to work your database and call prospects and clients. You "diagnose" call reluctance and invest thousands of dollars in training, provide coaching and phone scripts, and add sales incentives. The result? Maybe, just maybe, the short-term behavior will change. In time, one of two things will happen. Either the basic willful personality will come forward or the salesperson will experience burnout from the Herculean effort of modifying his basic behavior for forty (or more) hours a week.

Think of workplace behavior as packaging. Not all packaging is a dead giveaway to what’s inside. Many managers base hiring and succession planning decisions on packaging: that is, observed behavior. Take away the packaging and you get the essence of the person—his or her personality.

This is a significant problem. All job applicants have access to information on how to ace an interview. The successful applicants know how to “wrap the package.” Currently, personality testing saves managers the expense, heartache and embarrassment of hiring a "great personality" only to find out the applicant has a "problem personality". Personality tests based on the five-factor model help hiring managers determine who a person really is and how that person will fit an environment, a team, or a job.

One five-factor test, TotalView, helps separate achievers from doers, risk-takers from risk aversion, outgoing from reserved, and relaxed from easily excitable. It helps identify those individuals who adapt to or lead change, who display leadership or sales ability, and who are likely to benefit from coaching and development.

When looking to build an organization of people with the "right stuff,” think personality. Volumes of empirical research prove this is the best approach. Technological breakthroughs help crack the code for identifying peak performers and developing that potential. Let SPS use Total View for easy, reliable application of state-of-the-art personality testing.

Need help in hiring or promoting the right employees? Success Performance Solutions provides behavioral interview questions, pre-employment tests and background checks for all size businesses and all employee positions.  And more about understanding online personality tests.

2. Perfect Labor Storm Alerts #346 to #350
http://www.perfectlaborstorm.com/facts.html

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Fact #346: A shortage of physicians is expected to reach 200,000 by 2020. (Jan/Feb 2002 issue of Health Affairs)

Fact #347: The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects growth from 2000 - 2010 in 107,000 new physician positions (a 17.9% growth rate).

Fact #348: The percentage of physicians nationally over 55 years of age is 31%, for those over 65 it is 17%. With a trend toward early retirement, this is a troubling trend. (Source: BLS)

Fact #349: Of all U.S. workers 18 and older, 21.2 million - or 16% - are actively disengaged at work. Gallup estimates the lower productivity of actively engaged workers costs the U.S. economy about $300 billion. (Source: GMJ's 2004 Q3 survey)

Fact #350: Sixty-two percent of engaged workers (those who work with passion and feel connected to the company) feel their work lives positively affects their physical health: Amon the "not-engaged", only 39% feel work affects their personal lives positively. More alarming is that 54 percent of actively disengaged employee think their work lives are having a negative effect on their physical health. (Source: GMJ's 2004 Q3 survey)

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! Create Effective Interview Guides in Minutes

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 Fee Interview Question Guide Membership.

4. New! Automate Candidate Screening with Online Interview Questions and Resume Submission. Perfect for the small and medium sized business.

The Resu-mess is back! If piles of resumes and crowded email in-boxes have got you frustrated, you NEED to attend this webinar about Total APS.

What is Total APS? It is an applicant tracking and assessment system that puts your recruiting and selection efforts on auto pilot.

Total APS frees up your time to communicate with only QUALIFIED candidates and helps you ensure a good job fit between a person and the job. Total APS can save your company is to experience the system in action.   View our online 7-minute, no-obligation video online demonstration of the Total APS system here.

Can't view it online? Contact us today for a Free CD-ROM on How to Screen and Interview Candidates Online

5. NEW! Customer Service Skills Profile

This easy-to-use assessment solves one of your biggest headaches in customer service - ensuring consistency in your staff's performance.

How? By giving employee a clear picture of their unique strengths and areas they need to work on - and the motivation to acquire all the skills of an all-around good customer service giver.

Employees can rate themselves in seven competency areas widely considered to be critical to the ability to provide exemplary service:

More about Customer Service Skills Excellence.

SPS now offers Pre-employment Online Background Checks.

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.