There is a chance the last time you hired a new employee you made a $1 million mistake. If the employee stays with your firm 25 or 30 years and does only a marginal job, by the time you add up all of the salary, benefits, bonuses, not to mention the fact that over the years this individual may have sabotaged good employees and some of your valued customers, the $1 million may be well below the actual cost of a poor hiring decision.
Now is a good opportunity for your company to add quality employees, but you must use every tool at your disposal to accomplish this goal. Even if you check references, many times people are afraid to give you accurate information.
There is another tool which is available to the person hiring, and that is pre-employment testing. "Stop!" you say. "Isn’t it illegal to use tests in the employment process?" As long as the pre-employment testing devices meet federal requirements, you may use them in your hiring process. Do you realize that each part of your hiring process is considered to be a test by the federal government? Newspaper ads, application forms and interviews must meet the federal requirements. Some types of pre-employment tests include drug tests, honesty tests, mental abilities tests, typing shorthand, driving, spelling, and the list goes on.
The one type of pre-employment screening tool which, when properly used, will give you the greatest amount of useable job-related information is the personality type indicator. This test varies in cost and administration time, i.e., one test takes 15 minutes to administer and costs $15, while another may take eight hours and cost $600. The best combination for most businesses has proven to be a tool that reveals both personality and mental abilities in a reasonable amount of time, about one hour, at a cost of approximately $150.
By utilizing the data obtained in the personality test, you will be able to analyze the personality and mental abilities of job candidates. Understanding how quickly or slowly a person is able to process new and different information can greatly influence a decision on where an applicant can best serve the company. One of the reasons for turnover is the fact that people who learn very quickly can be placed in positions which have little mental challenge, so they become bored, disinterested and eventually a turnover statistic. On the other side of the coin, people who process information at a slower pace can become overwhelmed by their position, which can lead to inaction and indecisiveness.
When productivity is down and people do not like their jobs, one explanation may be that we are forcing square pegs into round holes.
To understand how personality can affect job performance we must first understand some basic human behaviors. Everyone understands what it means to be sociable, but consider the following: people who score in the low range of sociability are considered to be detached. These people do not have a high need to communicate. They will be very well suited for positions that do not require much people contact such as accounting, proofreading, writing, bookkeeping, and research. If you take this same person and put him or her into outside sales he or she will not be as happy or as successful because of the inherent demands of this type of work. People who score in the high ranges of sociability have a very high need to communicate. If they are forced into a job that requires a lot of detail work and little public contact, they will generally become a turnover statistic.
Have you ever put two people side by side to do the same job and one consistently does better? While one person sits and diligently works to complete the assigned tasks, the other is sharpening pencils, getting a drink of water, making coffee, asking unrelated questions, and generally making a nuisance of himself or herself.
In pre-employment testing vocabulary we refer to this trait as nervous tension. Each of us has a different level of nervous tension determined by genetics, biochemical levels and environment. Persons who score in the low range of nervous tension have a very high level of energy. The nervous energy will make it very difficult for the person to concentrate on the task at hand. Individuals who score extremely low will have physical problems, headaches, stomach problems, difficulty sleeping and will miss more work because of these problems. People who score high in this area tend to be more laid back and are able to concentrate for long periods. They also tend to be out of work less because of illness.
When managers understand just what information they can gain about applicants by using a personality test, it will become an invaluable tool in their hiring process, as they will have the added advantage of personality insight. If the managers combine this personality insight with job requirements, education, job history and reference checking during the interview process, they will avoid making a million dollar mistake.
The Atlanta Business Chronicle
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