How to increase your hiring success by 30 percent
by Elizabeth Harris-MoritzThere is nothing that improves the company bottom line faster than having employees motivated to do their jobs well, achieving success for the company and themselves. Without the right people, predisposed to excel in the right jobs, organizations won’t thrive as they should.
Managers under the gun will sometimes hire too quickly, using guesswork or luck. Where traditionally we’ve depended on education, skills and experience to guide hiring decisions, today there are a variety of psychometric tools that marry science and art to logic and intuition.
They let you back up your intuition with more quantifiable ways to measure how a potential employee will perform in your work environment.
After 20 years in training and staffing, Hyannis-based organizational development consultant Susan Russell has witnessed the continued success of using assessment instruments for recruitment, management training and organizational development – in both worldwide organizations and family-owned businesses. “It’s no coincidence that my favorite and longest-term boss and I had the same personality type,” she said.
Under this model, candidates aren’t “bad” or “good.” Rather, when matched with jobs that best suit their particular characteristics and your specific business culture, they can soar to success. If applied appropriately, psychometric tools can help ensure that match.
Understanding the value of psychometric tools begins with the appreciation that we all have certain consistent personality traits that can be measured accurately.
There are two sides to personality: temperament and character. Temperament is the configuration of inclinations; character is the configuration of habits. Character is disposition, temperament is predisposition. When these are compared to core traits identified as a standard for a particular job function, we can more readily predict a good fit.
An assessment will do nothing for your company if there is no appropriate yardstick for measurement, so bear in mind that assessment analysis must be handled by a professional who is trained to how it should be applied. Also, Massachusetts law requires that in order to use these personality assessments, first the company must develop a profile of the group against which potential hires will be evaluated. Only then can you use the individual profile to help determine suitability for hiring.
Brewster-based human resources director Ann Leighton, experienced with national and international businesses, points out that “personality assessments are most effective when used as a tool to demonstrate differences in communication preferences within a work team.”
She shared the following example: A particular department was experiencing a high level of dissatisfaction with the work environment. Turnover was high. There had been several complaints from employees about the department manager’s style, which was introverted and fact- and detail-driven. While the manager had positive intentions, she was completely unaware of the negative impact her approach was having on her team, which included many extroverted intuitives who present issues in generalities, starting with the big picture. They often developed their thoughts out loud and on the fly, allowing clarity and specificity to evolve. The manager’s preference was to expect her staff get the facts right before presenting information to her, as opposed to the employees’ preference, which was to get feedback along the way on how they were doing and get direction on where to go next. The manager felt her employees’ process wasted a lot of time chatting and not getting work done.
“A personality assessment tool like Myers-Briggs can provide a framework and a language for giving feedback without putting individuals on the defensive. It allows the topic to be centered on the strengths and weaknesses of a personality type versus the particular individual,” said Leighton.
“It was a powerful epiphany for this manager to learn that there are many ways to absorb, filter, process and disseminate information, and that individuals with certain personality profiles were more likely to work well together or be at odds based on their preferred approach. When the manager learned about her personality profile and the profiles of her group, she understood where a large part of the conflict was coming from.
“After learning about their different work preferences, the team came up with a combination of individual coaching sessions and group training, centered around communication techniques by type, and an outline for how to present ideas, solicit and provide feedback, and how to express disagreement,” explained Leighton.
Can a small business afford to add psychometric tools to its hiring process?
Absolutely. Tests can be administered by professionals for about $300 to $500 a person. They are easily accessible online or through career counselors and employment search firms.
Well-tested and accessible tools to consider:
Many of these tools can be found online via a quick Google search – some sites charge for testing and/or analysis, while some of the more general tests can be taken free of charge. In addition, if you have a relationship with an employment or placement firm, check to see if they offer this type of testing – many do.
The Gregorc Style Delineator determines how we receive, express, order and organize information. This tool is extremely helpful in identifying how employees understand and communicate with each other. More information and testing products can be found at http://gregorc.com.
Left or Right Brain Dominance will dictate how you make decisions, what you think, what you believe and what choices you will make. Those evenly divided between left and right brain will tend to be more flexible, but may vacillate or be inconsistent when making decisions. To learn more about brain dominance, and find online brain dominance tests, visit www.whathalf.com; www.web-us.com/brain/braindominance.htm; or www.testcafe.com/lbrb.
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator builds on the work of Carl Jung, and is by far the most popular of these tools. By using MBTI properly, a manager can drill down to determine the best contributors to the organization, determine an individual’s leadership style or preferred work environment, and identify potential pitfalls and/or suggestions for the employee’s development. Visit www.myersbriggs.org to learn more and find online MBTI tests.
The Strong Interest Inventory assessment helps companies recruit and retain the best talent available to them. It’s also a fundamental tool used to coach students as well as anyone who is seeking a more meaningful understanding of work and leisure choices. Strong Inventory Assessments are among the most respected and popular career planning tool used. To learn more about the SII and take sample tests, go to www.cpp.com/products/strong/index.asp or www.careers-by-design.com/strong_interest_inventory.asp.
The DISC model of human behavior is a blend of your natural motor (the speed you do things) and your compass (the focus or direction you prefer) functions. Each behavioral style is a unique blend: active/outgoing, reserved/passive, task oriented/ people oriented. The DISC Web site offers tests and other products at www.discprofile.com.
Emotional Intelligence or EQ covers four dimensions that assess how an individual recognizes and understands their emotional responses; how they manage their behavior; and how they manage their relationships. The four skills are self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management. Unlike IQ or intelligence, these are not fixed skills. They can be developed through focus and development and an individual can actually improve their EQ. A high EQ is a strong predictor of successful performance, particularly in the areas of leadership, sales and customer service. EQ also is the single biggest predictor of success at the management level. A variety of online sources offer EQ tests, one such site is http://ei.haygroup.com/resources/default_ieitest.htm.
The Keirsey Temperament sorter focuses on traits that cannot be changed – unlike EQ, which can be developed. Temperament differs from personality in that it is determined at birth, by neurological characteristics such as spontaneity, or flexibility vs. decisiveness, or organizational ability. While an individual can train to be more organized, if his or her natural tendency is to be spontaneous or flexible, attempts to alter this often result in frustration or even depression. Think about using your left hand all day, if you are right handed. It just doesn’t feel comfortable does it? Now think about placing a right-handed employee in a left-handed position. It will never feel comfortable to them. That’s temperament. The Keirsey Web site offers a variety of products and tests at www.keirsey.com.
Elizabeth Harris-Moritz is president of The Executive Suite in Hyannis. As a business consultant specializing in human resources, she writes about the human resources issues that influence the way we do business, from the recent overhaul of the FLSA overtime and exempt/non-exempt regulations to the power of benchmarking personality tools for employee selection. She can be reached at ejharris@theexecutivesuite.com.
Originally published in the March/April issue of Cape Business
Elizabeth Harris-Moritz Elizabeth Harris-Moritz is president of The Executive Suite in Hyannis. As a business consultant specializing in human resources, she writes about the human resources issues that influence the way we do business, from the recent overhaul of the FLSA overtime and exempt/non-exempt regulations to the power of benchmarking personality tools for employee selection. 
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