Life has been pretty tough lately at the company. Good employees have
been really hard to find, but since the economy has slowed things are
starting to improve . . .so you think. Your phone rings and Harry, your
sales manager excitedly tells you about this great employee he hired
today.
"Let me tell you about this great guy I hired! He is a little
older, but he passed the interview with flying colors and best yet . .
.he loves to work with people. He is fascinating and has great ‘soft
skills,’ just what we need around here. I have a gut feeling he is
going to be the best sales person we’ve ever hired."
Finding and placing the right person for the right
job is critical to business success. Because of the labor
shortage, many businesses feel like they need to lower their standards and
hire the first living body that walks through the door—a bad strategy.
Job interviewing alone is unreliable in today’s market. Many people
with hiring responsibilities are not aware how one bad choice can damage
or in this case "kill" healthy organizations. Shortsighted decisions often
lead to disastrous results.
One reason interviewing by itself is unreliable is because most of
today’s job seekers are proficient at interviewing—they already know what
to say. They can put on a good "presentation" and bluff their way through.
Even the best interview doesn’t give an accurate clue on their reliability
and how they interact with their co-workers. . Furthermore, job resumes
are often exaggerated and unreliable.
A better approach in needed. Many organizations are turning to behavior
assessments and personality trait testing for both hourly workers and
managers. Back in the late ‘90s, only 5 percent of Fortune 500 companies
used some type of assessment. Today, that figure is climbing to 65
percent. A year 2000 study by American Management Association showed
nearly half of 1,085 employers polled use at least one assessment in their
interviewing process.
Javier Lozano, SPHR, an organizational capability coordinator for
Chevron USA recently told HR News that, "A validated pre-employment
test can be a strong predictor of future performance and whether an
applicant is a good fit for the job. If used correctly, a validated test
can be one of the best retention tools available to the employer."
For example, companies like The Plotkin Group created an integrity
survey that measures an individual’s honesty. It identifies applicants who
may steal merchandise or money, misuse sick days, give unauthorized
discounts and other counter-productive behaviors. QWIZ Inc. has several
automated tests that help measure basic job skills such as word
processing, computer skills and basic reading and mathematics. They also
have a product that can help select better applicants to work in call
centers.
One bank using assessments selected people who sold $60,000 more
services and products annually. A manufacturing company hired people who
generated $21,600 more per year than the company average and $42,000 more
than those who received failing scores with the assessment. By using
behavioral interviewing process and assessments, Ritz-Carlton hotels was
able to reduce their turnover from over 100% to less than 30%.
It is bad enough to hire Hannibal Lecter as an employee and much worse
to have Hannibal Lecter as a boss. Soft skills or manager’s Emotional
Intelligence (EQ) is a key factor in creating high retention. Many times
people get promoted for the wrong reasons or good technically skilled
people can’t make the leap to become good supervisors.
To help develop soft skills hundreds of companies are using a special
version of the DISC assessment. The reason this is far superior to other
assessments is its simplicity, accuracy and availability on the Internet
24 hours a day. It takes only 10 minutes to complete, score and E-mailed
to anyone in the world within minutes.
Individuals receive a personalized 26-page report that helps them see
themselves as other people see them. Furthermore, this report helps
facilitate a positive dialogue between the manager, the team and his or
her boss. The personalized report includes beneficial information as to:
-Their value to the organization
-Don’ts on communicating
-Communication tips
-Their ideal work environment
-Keys to motivating them
-Keys to managing them
-Areas of improvement
-Action plan
-Ranking on 12 leadership skills/competencies
To see a complete list of assessments and to request a
free assessment, please visit this website
