Recruiters' New Secret Weapon: Psych Tests that Predict Job Performance

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  mcherr09/20/07 Report as spam
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  Psych tests and beyond

  The corporate future depends on innovation and creativity - these tests do little to address this. Safeguards will be needed to minimize the risk such tests become a shield for HR recruiters to hide behind. Looking ahead, genetic testing will eventually enter the management scene, dictating our place in corporate life, but hopefully not an era of "cloned" managers. Of course we may then all start a business in line with our own psych profiles!

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  harkul09/21/07 Report as spam
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  RE: Recruiters' New Secret Weapon: Psych Tests that Predict Job Performance

  Yes, this whole idea of someone coming up with a test that would somehow be an all around conclusive, and tell all, is just BS. I have been in the business of hiring, training, keeping and firing employees for 30-odd years, and while you can get a fairly good, basic idea of one's character and suitability, it stops there.
  
  I have personally witnessed this soooo many times, you do the tests, and the person is supposed to be a shoe-in, and couple of months down the road-yes, fired. And conversly, a person that is the opposite is still here after years and doing a great job.
  
  How is this possible. Well, it all has to do with motivation and how much potential the person has, or how much of that potential this person is willing to dish out at any given time. If you figure that most of us, say about 80%, are more or less just as intelligent as the next person, this simply means that ANYONE in that 80% category has the potential of putting out great perfomance.
  
  But, obviously, this has a lot to do with the dynamics of the situation, and a test will never, in my opinion, reveal the possible outcome of how a person might or might not perform in a special set of circumstances.
  
  Over the years, I have pretty much relied on my gut feeling, and I'd say my percentage in hiring is about 70/30, the high figure being my success rate, and when hiring based on outside/inside HR recommendations, just the opposite 70/30. And with one important factor, never ever has the HR guys come up with a real "homerun"! But based on my gut feeling, I've done that plenty of times.
  
  Yes, these types of tests are just what they seem to be, a way to hide behind a test, not taking personal responsibility in a hiring process, no need to follow through with the training and so on. Overall, anytime I am hiring people to critical positions, I am always involved, and while I may look at a test result, it has very little, if any, influence in my final decision

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  vinuz@...09/21/07 Report as spam
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  RE: Recruiters' New Secret Weapon: Psych Tests that Predict Job Performance

  Psychological test are experimentations and it only talks about an individual's present state of mind. I had once given a Psych test during interview process and as was in a hurry to go back to my work-place, I answered it hastly. The result suggested me as incompatible. I didn't take the trouble going back and redo the test.

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  jsargent09/21/07 Report as spam
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  RE: Recruiters' New Secret Weapon: Psych Tests that Predict Job Performance

  Productivity is about mentoring. If managers threw away those insecurities that the guys they should mentor will one day take their jobs then you would get 100% more productivity. The idea of predicting job performance using psych tests is purely heuristic and does not take into account that if there is a change in working culture we can bring out the hidden potential in people.

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  bergina09/21/07 Report as spam
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  We Use the BigFive and like it.

  I am a director of HR and my company uses this. In my own personal profile, I found the results very accurate and informative. I found the feedback from the organization that administered the instrument very useful. We have found the results to be an important addition to our selection process.
  
  This is not intended to be absolutely predictive and the only evaluative tool used in the selection process, but it is very useful as an additional piece of information.
  
  The version we use is called WorkPlace BigFive ProFile and is administered for us by a firm that we partner with for recruiting and development consulting work.

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  ragrait09/21/07 Report as spam
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  RE: Recruiters' New Secret Weapon: Psych Tests that Predict Job Performance

  How (what of this) is new?

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  darinp09/21/07 Report as spam
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  Blended Solutions Work Best

  Most candidates respond to assessments based on what they believe you are looking for. Because most of the personality assessments, including the Big Five, are situational and fakable you rarely get an absolutely accurate picture of a person during the selection process. However, it does add another data point for consideration.
  
  A blended approach is the best means by which to figure out which of the applicants is the best one. You should put some initial phone screening questions together (e.g. ask them about your company to see if they cared enough to do some homework ahead of a scheduled call, identify what their expectations are before investing a ton of time). Then you should assess them using a validated and reliable tool. You can validate the competencies you are looking for by assessing all employees currently in the role and then identifying the traits that differentiate the best from the rest. Reliability should assure you that the test measures what you intend to measure (e.g. managing ambiguity). Then put the candidate through a brief simulation over the phone. This allows the candidate to see what the job will be like, and if you have a validated behavioral checklist, you can blindly assess other differentiating factors. Finally, a scripted behavioral interview will remove a fair amount of bias from the last step.
  
  The real critical aspect to selection is to know exactly what differentiates the best performers from the rests and then devise a blended methodology that helps you identify those traits over a short period of time (i.e. don't do all of these steps on the same day).

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  tskpers@...09/24/07 Report as spam
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  RE: Recruiters' New Secret Weapon: Psych Tests that Predict Job Performance

  I have used TriMetrix from TTI and have found it to be amazingly good in finding out the behaviour, values and skills of a person. I would see these tests as valuable additions to the existing direct interview and helps supplement it.