That question brought me back to when I was younger and mother used to ask me a question that I’m sure everyone has heard at some point in their lives.  “If all your friends were jumping off a bridge, would you jump too?”  I can still here her asking it, but being the adventurous child that I was, my answer was always “YES”.  I’m sure that there are people out there that said “no”, but by no means was I one of them.  Looking back now, I know that I did not have enough information to answer her question properly.  If she was asking me if I would jump off the Golden Gate Bridge the answer is “no” (unless I would have a parachute, then it would be maybe).  If she was asking me if I would jump off of a bridge that is over a stream that is deep enough and doesn’t really have a current, I would say yes.  I have learned enough to avoid answering questions that I don’t have enough information about.  Maybe that is the problem; people do not have enough information to make an educated decision about using a behavioral assessment for selection.

We speak with prospective clients every day and most of them are interested in using an assessment.  The odd thing is that something seems to hold them back.  Maybe they don’t quite believe in using assessments or maybe since they can’t touch our product every day they don’t see the value in using it.  When I see how much money and time companies lose because of turnover and having employee misalignment, it honestly scares me.  Most of the companies that we speak to could easily cut their turnover in half by using a valid assessment that has been customized for their company/role.  Does this cost money?  Yes, but we know that the cost of implementing our system is far less that the cost of turnover or lost production.

Back to the question, “why isn’t everyone doing this”.  I’m not really sure, but I certainly would like to know.  With the recent economy, you would think that companies want to run as efficiently as possible.  Having unnecessary turnover or misaligned employees greatly affects organizational efficiency in a negative way.  The best way to get the most out of your workforce is to hire the right people and retain them.  It is much easier to hire and train someone that “fits” your culture than to try and get someone who doesn’t “fit” to be a top performer.  Think of it this way, do you want to put a square peg in a round hole or a square hole?

The reasons were varied as to why personality assessments became less used.  I believe that one reason was that we saw too much litigation from unhappy and unsuccessful candidates.  As a result, employers began to shy away from using any tool that could significantly differentiate one person from another.

But the world is changing.  Today, companies understand how expensive it is to hire a new person, how much time it takes to train a new person, and then how much effort it takes to address the disillusionment that arises for the rest of the team when we dismiss that person because they simply did not fit very well in the job or the company’s culture.

So, if you are around long enough, the trends always return.  Today,  companies are again looking for valid and reliable tools to assist them in making better hiring decisions.  Today, however, managers are also much more aware of what makes a good test, the importance of ensuring that the test is job related, and they are doing the diligence ahead of time to be certain that the criteria used for selection purposes is in fact able to identify superior candidates.

Here are some best practices to use when you choose a tool to use within your selection process:

1. Make sure that the instrument you choose is valid and reliable.  Ask the test provider for study documentation and test user references to prove to you that other reputable companies are using the tool for selection purposes and that the tool meets the Department of Labor’s standards for selection.
2. Be sure that the instrument does not probe into private information about the candidate and that the content is job related.
3. Look at the way the test results are scored.  Does someone have to interpret the results?  If so, you risk introducing rater bias into the process.
4. Does the test provider give you a recommendation for each candidate?  Some companies like this feature, while others prefer not to have the recommendation. The important thing is not to put too much reliance on the recommendation itself.  As the hiring manager, you know your requirements best, so don’t rely on others to tell you whom to select.  Performance and match to the job are at the end of the day the most reliable predictors of success.
5. Use the results to ask more questions so that you can really get to know the candidate more fully.  If you only conduct one or two discussions with the candidate, you will make mistakes and choose someone who doesn’t really match the position at some point in your selection process.
6. Make sure you know what you are looking for in the candidate.  What skills, abilities, talents and capabilities do you really need to move your organization forward?  Think about this before the first candidate comes in, not after you become enamored with someone who has a whole lot of capability, but is not really a good match for the job.
7. Check references.  Don’t use the excuse that you can’t get good information about a candidate’s background or prior performance. Hire a good reference checking service to help out with this part of the process.  Better to know the bad news before you make the hiring decision if it is there to be uncovered.

If you would like to know more about personality testing and how such a tool can help you make better hiring decisions, call us to talk.  We can help you build a best practice selection process that includes the necessary steps and tools to find the best new hire possible.

I think the first question to ask yourself is “what am I trying to accomplish?”  Is it an issue of finding out if the person might work well in a team made of other diverse individuals?  Is it an issue of finding out if the individual matches the criteria for success you have identified in your environment?  Is it an issue of understanding what you will need to do to develop the individual after you hire him/her and will you invest the funds?  Or is it an issue of getting the test to make your selection for you?

The first three questions are fine uses of personality tests.  The last one is not appropriate.  Any assessment you use should be for the purpose of gathering valid and reliable information to help you or the individual better understand the true capabilities, motivators, potentials or personal styles that the person possesses.  And to ensure that the results you get are valid and reliable, make sure that your assessment meets this criteria:

1. Does it measure what it purports to measure?  Another way to ask this question is “Is the assessment valid?”  We can get into a long discussion around validity.  Face validity, content validity, context validity…all important.  Is it the right instrument to use in your particular situation?  Does it measure job-specific requirements, motivators and behavioral traits?
2. Does it measure what it purports to measure consistently?  Another way to ask this question is “Is the assessment reliable?”  Does it consistently produce the same scores for a person through test-retest review in a population?
3. Is it a tool that is more appropriate for use in team building?  Styles inventories (Myers Briggs, DISC, color grouping inventories) are excellent tools for team building, but assigning a particular quadrant of preferred style is not an ideal way to select staff.  Myers Briggs’ validation literature states that the tool is not appropriate for selection purposes.
4. Is the tool fakable?  Is it easy for the person to skew the results through answering a particular way or by choosing answers likely for a particular type of person?  One of the problems encountered with lickert scale type tests (ones where the respondent is asked to rate a statement on a scale of 1 to 5) tend to have this issue.  This is the reason that additional items are often used to determine the levels of fakability.  Ipsative tests (forced rank type items, where the individual is presented with a number of statements and asked them to order them) overcome the issue of fakability.  Depending upon how the scoring routine works, the frequently made argument that ipsative tests cause scores to be high in one area, while automatically causing another area to be low, can be overcome.
5. Does the instrument show good predictive capability?  Can to results predict, consistently and accurately, whether the individual will be a success greater than 75% of the time?  We offer an ipsative assessment that has shown to predict success at better than 97% of the time in some situations.

Personality tests are very useful tools, providing you integrate the use of the instrument within a process and let the tool offer objective information to support your selection process, assist you with developmental planning, or to increase team effectiveness by enabling people to understand how others might be the same or different from themselves.

Good performance in an interview setting (including a well written resume) does not always translate to long-term success.  In fact, studies have shown that standard interview techniques are about as effective as flipping a coin.  Additionally, the American Psychological Association states “67% of all job applicants’ resumes contain misrepresentations.”

That is why so many world class organizations have turned to the use of personality assessments to gain an objective perspective of their applicants’ true potential for the job.  When used correctly, personality assessments can substantially increase the effectiveness of any interview process.

Just like anything else, however, there are good assessments and there are bad assessments.  The trick is to make sure that you find a valid tool that will meet your company’s needs.

Quick tips to finding and using the right personality assessment:

• Have a clear purpose - Understand what you are trying to achieve through the use of a personality assessment.  For instance, are you looking to reduce tunrover?  Increase new hire productivity?  Find the right “fit” to your culture?  Know in advance.

• Make sure the assessment is valid - Any reputable assessment provider will provide you with a copy of the assessment’s validation study (technical report).  Ask the provider how their tool complies with EEO and OFCCP fair hiring standards.

• Understand your specific requirements - If you are looking to use an assessment to hire outside sales people you probably shouldn’t be looking for a 2-hour, “pen and paper” assessment.  You’d be better off using a 25-minute, online assessment that self-scores!

• Make sure the assessment measures job-specific criteria - Good assessments can be customized to any position/role within your company through a study of existing staff members.  Remember, always target the system.

• Beware of pass/fail tests - Personality assessments should be used as a tool in a multi-staged interview process.  A good rule of thumb is to use the information yielded by an assessment for no more than 20% of your hiring decision.

• Assessment support - How do you need to be supported by the assessment provider?  Do you want telephone feedback support?  Are you looking to be trained?  The best assessments will actually provide you with interview questions to use based on the results.

• Track results - Using an assessment tool shouldn’t be a “nice to have,” it should produce measurable results for your organization.  Identify key metrics upfront and track the efficacy of the system on an annual basis.

As one of our Fortune 500 client’s recently said, “its not why would you use a personality assessment in your selection process, its why wouldn’t you?”

Also, reported in additional sources is that over 33% of companies are currently buying testing services from about 2200 test providers.  There is a broad range of test types and a variety of factors that can be measured with these types of tools.  Your results will be only as good as the provider and the testing product you decide to use.  Some general guidelines to consider in using assessment during the selection process:

1. Use only assessments that are non-discriminatory, valid and reliable for selection purposes.  Some tests should be used only for development or team building.  These include styles inventories, which bucket people within particular preferences, like the MBTI, or which assign person’s preferences to color groups, or measure styles or types.  These types of inventories should not be used during the selection process.
2. Every individual who reaches a particular stage within the selection process should be given the assessment tool.  Place the assessment further along within the process to ensure that sufficient other information has been gathered which can be used IN ADDITION to the assessment results for decision making.  No more than 20% of the hiring decision should be made based solely on the assessment results.  Too much reliance on test results by hiring managers should be avoided.
3. Develop selection standards within your own environment using the assessment tool and a sufficient population (at least 60 people) to produce valid criteria.  Do not simply test high performers.  This is a very unprofessional practice sometimes recommended by test providers.
4. Use a structured interview process in conjunction with assessment to investigate the individual’s prior experiences and successes on the job.  Prior success is the best predictor of future success.
5. Have the candidate interviewed by more than one person and use the assessment results to guide the interview during the process.  The assessment is a tool which provides reliable information about the candidate in order to investigate the individual’s true potentials.  It should not be used as a pass fail step in the process.
6. Discuss each candidate’s merits after the interviews and assessment process is complete to ensure that balanced decision making occurs when selecting finalists.
7. Don’t advise remaining candidates until the recommended candidate is on the job.  Many times, good candidates may have several offers and will accept these offers, only to continue to search for their ideal position before actually beginning work. Get a signed employment contract if at all possible when the candidate accepts the position.

If you follow these steps as you incorporate assessments in your selection process, you will be able to significantly enhance the quality of your new hires.  For more information about ECI’s selection process and the ECI Behavioral Insight, give us a call or visit our website.