This article makes some interesting points:

• While unemployment is now at a 25 year high of 8.5%, it doesn’t mean that hiring has ceased. (This is also what we see from our clients.)
• 4.8 million workers were either laid off or lost their jobs last month, but 4.3 million new workers were hired.
• Sectors such as health care, customer service, and public works are hiring.
• Following the principle of supply and demand, the quality of available applicants has improved.
• Difficulties in selling homes can limit job mobility.

I think that the takeaway point is that despite the economic climate, some organizations continue to hire. And those that do hire can benefit from a buyer’s market and the quality of available candidates.

Reid Klion

While I have tried to avoid the massive media coverage of Susan Boyle (the Scottish singer whose sensibilities and personal style are somewhat less than high fashion), I came across a recent article that does a nice job of reviewing current psychological research on stereotyping.

From an evolutionary perspective, it was often life preserving to be able to tell whether the person approaching us in the forest was likely to be benign or pose an immediate threat to our wellbeing. Since aspects of the stereotyping process seem to be “hard wired,” we need to be aware of this and keep an open mind when meeting people. Indeed, much of the sensation about Ms. Boyle seems to lie in the fact that her musical skills were quite inconsistent with our initial impressions of her.

As might be expected, there is quite a bit of research examining how stereotypes can influence interviewers’ impressions of job candidates as well as how interviews are rather poor in predicting job performance. To this end, I think that one of the often unnoticed benefits of using a selection testing program is that unexpectedly positive test results sometimes force us to reconsider job candidates whose initial impressions (either in terms of looks, training, or background) are inconsistent with our stereotype of how potentially successful job candidates “should” appear. By failing to consider candidates who don’t necessarily fit the usual mold, we may be doing our organizations a significant disservice by missing potential star players.

Reid Klion

From a New York Post (April 19, 2009) article entitled BIG 'F' ON EMT ADVANCEMENT EXAM:

It was a massive medical failure for hundreds of FDNY medics who hoped to get promoted, as a measly 8 out of 721 city Emergency Medical Service workers passed the most recent lieutenant exam.

The 1.1 percent pass rate for the 2008 test is about 38 percentage points lower than the last time the exam was given, in 2004, when 1,044 medics took the test and 409, or 39 percent, passed, The Post has learned.

The FDNY was at a loss to explain how so many medics bombed the test. Entire Article

The issue here is that only 1% of the test takers passed the most recent exam! My initial conclusions are that the test was poorly constructed, the job candidates ill-prepared, or some combination of the two.

There are a number of factors which may account for this. It is even suggested later in the article that one factor may have been poor test taker motivation because the pay for lieutenants can be less than that for paramedics when overtime and meal allowances are considered (which still leads me to question why they would have taken the test in the first place).

Regardless, this only goes to highlight that using a test is a serious matter.  As a result, if an organization decides to use an assessment, it needs to be sure that the test has been well-constructed, fits the requirements for the position, and is used in an appropriate way.

Reid Klion

I just had the opportunity to read Bob Hogan’s recent book Personality and the Fate of Organizations. Always an entertaining writer and speaker (and long-time pan content partner), Hogan outlines how a leader’s personality quite frequently has a clear and direct impact upon an organization’s success or failure. By drawing upon examples from recent business news as well as history, he illustrates his arguments well.

One of the chapters that I found most engaging was “The Psychology of Managerial Incompetence.” Here, Hogan is quite willing to name names and outlines how what he calls the “dark side” of personality (or what clinicians would label a personality disorder) often lies at the root of executive—and organizational—failure.

Another chapter of note traces what he calls the ‘personality wars,” the period between the mid-1960s and mid-1990s when there was remarkably little interest in either academic or business circles in the role of personality. In a rather fascinating bit of intellectual and cultural history, Hogan links this to a number of factors including academic debates about what personality theorists should study (neuroticism vs. self actualization vs. mathematically-determined traits), a distracting preoccupation with the role of social desirability in personality assessment, as well a burgeoning interest at the time in both humanistic psychology and behaviorism. (For those who are interested, he then goes on to link today’s resurgent interest in personality to factors including development of the five factor model and the pragmatic realization that adverse impact was nearly unavoidable when cognitive assessments were used for personnel selection.)

Hogan is a well-known personality theorist. As might be expected, the book is scientifically grounded. It is written in an engaging and conversational tone that would be accessible to the layperson, but is also sufficiently unique in its tone and approach to be of interest to professionals as well. I would strongly suggest a place for it in your library.

Reid Klion

While we often think about assessments in terms of employee selection and development, there are another set of tests that target vocational interests. Career aptitude tests often look at the pattern of an individual’s personality traits and non-work interests in determining the jobs for which they are most suitable. pan has a number of accurate career tests that fit this need. Some career assessment tests to consider are Career Exploration Inventory and the Career Orientation Inventory.  Related to career assessment tests are another set of tools that look at the personal challenges an individual may need to overcome in finding work or in returning to school. Finally, there are a career assessment tests that look at an individual’s attitudes and knowledge in relation to seeking employment. Especially in the case of persons who are in transition—looking to change careers, considering a return to school, or exploring their work options—an accurate career test or well-designed career aptitude test can be a powerful tool in the process.

A wide variety of personality inventories can be used for pre-employment selection. Some of these are broad band objective personality tests which provide a comprehensive picture of an individual’s personality functioning and are typically based upon the five factor model of personality. A commonly used pre-employment personality test of this nature is the Hogan Personality Inventory. Another similar and accurate personality test is SHL’s OPQ32. The benefits of pre-employment personality tests of this type are that they provide an in-depth picture of a potential employee’s strengths and weaknesses and can also be used for post-hire development and training. A drawback of using these personality inventories for pre-employment assessment is that because of their breadth and comprehensiveness, they are sometimes more expensive and require more time to complete than other alternatives.

Another type of accurate personality test are those that only focus upon one or two aspects of personality, most often integrity or customer service attitudes. Here, rather than providing a broad picture of an individual’s personality, only the specific attributes seen as being most critical for job success are assessed. Some of the more widely used pre-employment personality tests of this nature are Vangent’s Reid Report 29th Edition, Helm QWIK-RELY, and GNeil Service Ability Inventory.  The benefits of using this class of pre-employment personality inventories is that they can be completed quickly and, given their lower price point, can be used as a screening tool early in the employee selection process. However, by design and, in contrast to broad band pre-employment personality tests, they do not provide a full picture of a potential employee’s strengths and weaknesses. Regardless, by careful consideration of the pan test catalog and its sales personnel, virtually all clients are able to identify the objective personality test that will be fit their organization’s needs.

pan’s catalog of tests offers over 200 employee assessment tools. By working with nearly 50 test publishers, our goal is to provide a library of tools that will meet virtually all of an organization’s employee assessment testing needs. The types of employee assessment tools that pan provides include those developed for selection as well as for development. While some of the developmentally-oriented employee assessment testing offerings that pan provides are suitable for the assessment of individuals, another set is designed for multi-rater feedback projects where a number of individuals who interact with an employee provide input about his or her strengths and weaknesses. It should be noted that rather than providing employee assessment software, pan’s assessment testing catalog is entirely comprised of web-based tools. For assistance in finding the employee assessment testing solution that will best meet your organization’s requirements, please contact us.

How an organization selects its leaders is often a key determinant of its success. Fortunately, the pan test catalog has a number of management skill set assessments specifically designed to measure these qualities. This set of personal skills tests typically looks at factors such as personality and cognitive ability to help identify those individuals with managerial potential. It should be noted that while some of these employee assessment tools are selection-based, most also contain developmental advice that highlight both an individual’s strengths and weaknesses as a leader. Management skill set assessments are an important tool for organizations interested in personal skills testing. By using the right employee assessment tools and management skill set assessments, an organization can select those individuals with the highest potential for its leadership positions.