Continue reading The Total View and order your copy below.

April Seminar Schedule.

April 6, 2004 - Pathfinder, the Integrated Performance Management System - Register Here for Pathfinder.

April 13, 2004 - Total Applicant Processing System - Eliminate The Headaches and Logjams When Screening Candidates Register Here for APS.

April 21-23, 2004 - CriteriaOne Train-the-Trainer: Learn to Hire Competence with Confidence. Register below for CriteriaOne.

The Perfect Labor Storm - The Rx carries a BIG price tag?
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According to some experts, the pending worker shortage is exactly that - just a media hoax. Thanks to increases in outsourcing and immigration, advances in technology, and the inability for baby boomers to retire both due to lack of financial planning and - - well, just an aversion to kick back and do nothing, workers will not be leaving the workforce in droves.

While those factors might be true, other "systems" are fast approaching that have some ideas of their own that will impact employers' choices when it comes to hiring workers. These changes may force the boomers to re-consider how they work and for employers to re- think how they will manage an aging workforce.

Even if it is true that baby boomers will work longer, one argument rarely considered is who will pay for the healthcare of this aging workforce. Employees? Surely not. At best, employees may pick up only a share of their expenses but for those workers with the right skills and experience, employers will find health care coverage as an un-negotiable benefit to entice workers to stay just a little bit longer. There is no doubt that employers will acquire more costs.

Consider this. Health expenses rise with age, and 77 million baby boomers are now solidly into middle age. By one estimate, the average elderly American consumes 37 percent more health care services than the average worker. The healthcare cost disparity for males over 50 is more than twice as high compared to workers under age 50.Compared with people ages 18 to 44, people ages 45 to 64 are nearly three times more likely to have a disability, six times more likely to have high blood pressure, and 15 times more likely to die of cancer.

Let's see. Ages 45 to 64 - that the largest percentage of employees in today's workforce. You can't afford to keep them - and you can't work without them,

Not to worry though. Prescription drugs will keep our cholesterol and blood pressure down, our tickers ticking, our joints moving, and our you-know-what up longer. (Hint - Think Viagra). Living longer through technology however doesn't come free. The average per-capita drug spending for insured people age 65 and older increased from $827 in 1997 to $1,378 in 2000, an 18.5 percent annual increase. Average annual expenditures for people under age 65 rose from $231 to $358 during the same time period, representing a 15.6 percent annual increase.

Where does it stop? It doesn't. Annual per capita health spending increases by about $74 on average (2001 dollars) for each additional year in age between 18 and 64. Then spending starts rising more rapidly after age 50-about $152 for each additional year in age between 50 and 64.

But the Perfect Labor Storm doesn't stop there. It is well documented that health care workers are in short supply - and this is one area that few experts disagree on. An aging workforce and an aging population means more older people will live longer. Consequently more workers will be struggling to be at work while at the same time balancing a tight wire by caring for a growing number of aging parents and relatives along with their young children. For some employees, they will voluntarily leave the workforce to provide support and care for their parents, grandparents, and other immediate family members. Others will leave because these aging relatives can't afford the high cost of long term care or they can't find surrogate caregivers due to a shortage of healthcare workers.

Get the picture? The Perfect Labor Storm is not just about a shortage of people to fill jobs. That explanation is far too simple. The truth about The Perfect Labors Storm is that few developed countries in the world, no less the United States, will have enough workers with the right skills to meet the job requirements demanded by a service and knowledge based economy.

Equally important and possibly even more significant, the Perfect Labor Storm is about an aging workforce that will have increased healthcare needs. This only exacerbates the already rising costs associated with employers trying to keep their workers healthy. The Perfect Labor is also about a growing workforce with chronic and acute conditions that forces employees to miss work and work more cautiously. Despite living healthier lives longer, employees still age.

Maybe the naysayers are right and the forecast is exaggerated that 10 million excess jobs will exist by the end of this decade. But employer beware - this storm will approach us from every front imaginable. We've never experienced a storm quite like The Perfect Labor Storm.

What's Ahead For Employers? Download a sample chapter from The Perfect Labor Storm.

Perfect Labor Storm Alerts #126 to #130
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Fact #126

Fact #127

Fact #128

Fact #129

Source = Accenture

Fact #130

Source = AOL survey

"The Perfect Labor Storm Fact Book: Why Worker Shortages Won't Go Away" is HERE! Order your copy today - $7.95 includes free shipping for limited time only.

Order your copy of The Perfect Labor Storm Fact Book today!

Personality Gone Wild?
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Just last week it happened again. Richard Clarke, who worked with (and most people would use that word loosely) four American presidents, came out swinging. He went public with his outrage at how the current administration is handling our nation's security problems.

I personally can't confirm whether Clarke is right or wrong and that's not my point. But to be surprised at his response - that is what is so puzzling.

Leslie Gelb, who first hired him in 1979, described how Clarke worked with others. "He has annoyed everybody he's worked with for 30 years - but everybody wanted him around because he could actually get the job done." Over four administrations, he became known as a "very hard working, arrogant, not especially pleasant or polite fellow who manages to get an impressive amount of work done", according to Gideon Rose who worked under Clarke during the Clinton administration.

So what's up with the surprise? For 30 plus years he got results through "throwing his elbows around", "riding roughshod", "not paying attention to others around him". He was even described as a "pile driver". Did people really expect him to roll over when he couldn't get the results he wanted?

Not even by the farthest stretch of the imagination, could Richard Clarke be considered a team player. He's even a registered Republican but calls himself a political independent.

What's my point? Personalities are personalities are personalities. Without a significant emotional event, a wake-up call if you will, personalities are quite stable. People may modify and adapt their behavior situationally, in a way "masking" their personality to communicate with and engage other people. But the forces that actually drive the behaviors are motivators and values which in turn, shape the personality.

Should Richard Clarke (or his managerial clone) stop by and apply for a position with your company, would you hire him? Would he fit in your organization?

Allow me to take you through a quick overview about how assessments can help you evaluate a candidate like Richard Clarke and then determine how he might fit or mis-fit your organization. I'll use a few scales from the TotalView Assessment System to describe his personality.

I'm sure he could hold you in awe with his lightening quick responses (high cognitive abilities) - but are cognitive skills enough to predict success? What happens when he wants to move faster than the rest of the team that work for him?

His impressive track record for getting results even when the going was tough is driven by his competitiveness. He is likely a "10" out of 10 on this scale. The same goes for assertiveness - he obviously isn't afraid to speak his piece, even when it's controversial.

Does he believe that there is one right way to do things? It appears so. That trait is "measured" by the Conventional scale. Does he just speak off the cuff or did he plan ahead and have all the facts? Based on the respect he received from his peers despite his arrogance and bull-headedness, no one ever described Clarke as someone who was "winging it". He is a voracious reader and had as many facts as possible before making his decisions. Planning and organized is measured by the organized scale. With a personality like his, he would have never made it this far if he wasn't always prepared.

(If we switch gears for just a moment, Clarke is also very likely driven by the Doctrine Motivator - a strong set of beliefs that guides his every decision. In his case, Clarke demonstrates that he will do and say what it take to defend his country against terrorism - that is behavior driven by Doctrine.)

As you can see, how Clarke did his job for over 30 years and why he was praised for his hard work is exactly how he believes he needs to do his job now. So he keeps doing his job the way he's always done it and people are is outraged at his behavior. Does that make any sense?

Personalities do predict HOW people will do their jobs. Take the guesswork out of employee selection and promotion.

Begin to Hire Competence with Confidence.

Marilyn Walker "adopts" SPS and becomes Director of SPS Employee Assessment Center
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I am very excited to be joining Success Performance Solutions as the director of the Employee Assessment Center. "Figuring people out" has always been a big interest of mine.

While completing my graduate studies in clinical psychology I became quite interested in administering and interpreting many different assessment tools, including the 16 Personality Factors (16PF) which is based on the same Five-Factor Personality Model as the TotalView(tm) Assessment System. Having the opportunity to work with employers to figure out who fits best in their jobs, on their teams, and with their organizations is a perfect match for my skills and my personal interests.

Prior to accepting my position with Success Performance Solutions, I was the director of a social service agency specializing in adoptions. As the director my responsibilities included hiring, training, evaluating and terminating staff. After spending countless hours poring over resumes, making initial screening phone calls, interviewing, and hiring, I learned to appreciate the time-saving benefits and improved results when utilizing an applicant screening process and assessments. I know now that it was the people I hired that made all the difference in the services we provided and in the bottom line.

There is no more important step in achieving your business goals than hiring the right people. I look forward to working with you to be sure that you hire competent people with confidence, and manage their performance for maximum productivity and profitability.

Marilyn Walker, MS

Director - Employee Assessment Center, Success Performance Solutions

You can contact Marilyn directly here.

Have you ever avoided an employee's review and hoped they would quit first?
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Or have you ever -

Then Pathfinder, the Integrated Performance System may be for you. What are the benefits of Pathfinder?

Register here for the April 6, 2004 executive breakfast in Lancaster, PA or request a no-obligation web demonstration.

A Closer Look at Behavior-Based Interviewing
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Behavior-based interviewing has been around for 25 years, but the practice has recently been gaining momentum with the increasing demand for skilled and competent employees.

"Behavioral interviewing" is defined as an analysis of a candidate's potential abilities by examining skills that have been used in past job performance. The main difference between this type of interviewing and a regular interview is that candidates are asked to give specific examples of how they acted in the past, instead of being asked to share their opinions or ideas. To read more about Success Stories using behavioral inteviewing, Click Here.

To conduct a behavioral interview, interviewers need to know what to look for in a candidate's response. Online Interview Generator(r) pairs specific "target behaviors" to over 60 competency based interview questions.

Online Interview Generator(r) (IG) allows users to create company and job specific customized behavioral interview guides in minutes. Satisfied IG users include hiring managers, employers, human resources professionals, and consultants.

As an IG user, you can choose an already- developed interview guide from our Job Library of over 40 standard job titles (from Administrative Assistant to COO), then quickly and easily edit to fit your open job. Or, you can choose to design your own interview guide from "scratch" using our extensive database of 65 competencies, and over 1,500 different target behaviors (interview "answers"), and corresponding interview questions.

IG is extremely versatile and flexible - it can be used for selection in every industry, business and organizational environment. IG is inexpensive and cost- effective; clients can purchase interview units separately, or through a site license.

View a sample Interview Guide created with Interview Generator.

What Is It That Employees Really Value?
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6 Proven Motivators are revealed in Understanding Business and Values.

Order your copy of "Understanding Business Values and Motivators". (Yes, Understanding Business Values and Motivators is finally here.)

Understanding Business Values and Motivators is an introduction to understanding the six business values and motivators that drives human performance. In this book, Ira Wolfe describes how each of the motivators affects peoples' behavior in the workplace and how managers can tap into those motivators to increase productivity and improve performance.

Order your copy today - only $12.95. Want a copy of all your managers - call us for volume discounts.

Attention Consultants - call us about affiliate and re-seller programs.

Preview Understanding Business Values and Motivators today.

Discouraged by Interviewing The Wrong Candidates?
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Wasting Valuable Time Sorting Through Resumes?

Then Total APS(tm) is for you

Within minutes, you can have your job posted to the SPS Online Job Board. You send your candidates to the Board where they submit their resume, cover letter and respond to a series of customized filter questions. No more opening resumes, answering phone calls from candidates, screening and interviewing unqualified candidates. All you need to do is log into your account, check how many applicants applied, review their qualifications and contact only those candidates who "pass" your screening filters.

You can even select from three different personality assessments: