Given one of the things we do here at pan is to help employers to select and develop  people, I pay some attention to the larger labor market. As we all know, hiring is down and unemployment is now around 9% according to May 2009 reports from the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics. As a result, one of the things that I find interesting are reports of industries or occupations that continue to do well despite the overall economic situation. For example, there is still a strong demand for positions such as critical care nursing, electrical linemen, and welders. A couple of commonalities among these positions is that they require significant technical skill and require work that is physically demanding. (If you don’t think bedside nursing is physically challenging, just ask a nurse!)

A somewhat similar story can be found internationally. According the Manpower’s recently released Talent Shortage Survey, the most difficult positions to fill globally are skilled manual trades, sales representatives, and technicians who work in the areas of production, operations, engineering and maintenance. The Manpower report goes on to indicate that in down economic times, employers need to do more with less and that workforce planning and selection are even more critical because every employee needs to make a difference.

Reid Klion

Knowing a job candidate’s cognitive aptitude or ability level is one of the most useful pieces of information in making an informed hiring decision. Cognitive ability is one of the best predictors of job success because it tells us both how quickly an individual will learn a job as well his or her likely level of work performance.

Cognitive aptitude tests are typically comprised of items that measure a job candidate’s ability to learn new material, use logical reasoning, or solve problems. Other cognitive aptitude tests measure more specific topics such as reading ability or math aptitude. The benefit of cognitive aptitude tests is that they are often quite valid in making inferences about job performance. They also tend to be both time and cost effective. However, something to be aware of is that cognitive aptitude assessments may be susceptible to adverse impact. That is, members of protected classes are prone to obtain lower scores on these tests than members of other groups. As a result, it is important that a careful job analysis be carried out before a cognitive aptitude assessment is implemented  to ascertain that cognitive ability is critical for occupational success in the position at hand and that the cut score and decisions rules used with these tests are appropriate.

The press episodically covers incidents of cheating on exams. The high profile situations often seem to be found in university settings where large numbers of students are impacted. However, they occur in other programs as well. While these reports often provide commentators with the opportunity to bemoan the tragedy of “falling moral standards in today’s youth”  or some such thing, it is important to realize that there were cheating scandals during the Han dynasty on the Chinese Imperial exams over 2000 years ago.

In a recent episode, our friends at Canada’s Public Service Commission (PSC)  suspected that their Second Language Exam may have been compromised because students who attended one language training school did particularly well on the exam. (Being able to speak both of Canada’s official languages--English and Canadian French—can be a qualification for certain positions in the Canadian federal government so these exams can have rather high stakes.) In impressively thorough and transparent fashion, PSC shared the results of their investigation (that the school was providing its students with a practice exams practically identical to the actual exams but it couldn’t determine exactly how the copies were obtained) as well as next steps (retest everyone who attended this particular language school and accelerate development efforts of alternate test forms).

Obviously, test security is a critical issue in what we do, especially with cognitive and knowledge-based tests which are objectively scored with right-wrong answers. While web-based testing systems tend to increase security because they don’t require the distribution of content on paper--which can be notoriously difficult to track, readily misplaced, or copied--it is still incumbent upon us to be aware that test content is sensitive and should always be managed with security in mind.

Reid Klion

I love watching sports and the Met's recent loss to the Yankees due to Luis Castillo’s fumble stunned everyone!

I’ve been spending a lot of time at the baseball diamonds watching my son play Little League, on a team ironically called the Mets.  One kid on his team who talked about Castillo’s now infamous dropped ball claimed that he really could have caught it himself. I believe him. Here’s why:

Growing up and playing collegiate athletics taught me many life lessons including the importance of routines and how we all can drop the ball if we don’t use proven techniques that lead to success. For example, using two hands to catch a fly ball is a proven method that leads to success in baseball and softball. We learn this at an early age, but we still see Major league players failing to use both hands all the time.

In the world of employee selection, process plays the same important role. Using a selection assessment that measures exactly what it needs to measure is extremely important. If your organization needs to select safety conscious individuals, but your assessment is measuring the ability to work in teams, this method is unlikely to lead to much success in the long run. Dropping the ball in the selection world may mean you are missing out on a great candidate or selecting someone who may not be the right fit.

My grandma used to say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. We can all learn from Luis Castillo and make sure we prevent dropping the ball by using a proven process that leads to success.

Sarah Lacey

Last week, my wife and I celebrated our one year anniversary by taking a trip to San Francisco.  We spent a couple of days in the Napa/Sonoma Valley area tasting and learning about wine.  Being wine novices, we were pretty fascinated by all the factors that go into the taste and quality of each of wine.  It turns out there’s more to making wine than just fermenting some grapes.  Not only are there the grapes themselves to consider, but the soil they’re grown in, the amount of moisture where they are grown, and even the elevation.  Another major factor we learned was the importance of the type of barrel used.  It was interesting to learn how a barrel made from an oak tree in France leads to a different taste than a barrel made from an oak tree in Missouri.  This multitude of factors made what seemed to be a fairly straightforward process into something very complex and interesting.

Being the I/Oish person that I am, I found the complexity of factors that go into making a good wine to be not so different from the complexity of factors that go into finding a good job candidate.  Now of course I’m not talking about storing candidates in barrels to see how well they age, but often times searching for a quality job candidate is mistaken as a fairly straightforward and obvious process.  The truth is that most of the time there are a number of factors that go into what it takes to be successful on a job.  As a result, it is important to use appropriate selection tools available to ensure that we’re accounting for these critical factors.  This can include assessments, behavioral interviews, job simulations, and other kinds of job related tools.  The key is to take the due diligence to appreciate the complexity of truly finding quality job candidates.  Without accounting for this complexity we can be left with sour grapes.

Nate Studebaker

While I am almost 20 years removed from my high school days, it somehow became task to help organize a reunion this summer.  When I looked at the lists from our 10 year event, I had 90 classmate email addresses on hand.  Over a period of about six months and sending “spam” emails, I managed to add the whole of 10 additional addresses to my list. So, for a class of 600, I had 100 addresses and fears of a less than spectacular event.  Knowing my high school reputation (or lack thereof) was at stake, I knew that I needed a new plan.

Back in the winter, a friend suggested that I go onto Facebook and see who had registered. To my surprise, it is like a little nostalgic reception where everyone is friends again.  I had requests galore from people who wanted me to be their friend, join their cause, or be a part of their group.  Over a six month period, I managed to accumulate over 300 friends, 6 groups, and no causes (fear of the unknown) .  I made no efforts to actually search for classmates but my list organically grew to over 300 people, a 200% increase—and all without really trying!  

My mind started the machinations about how we can we get these social networking sites to benefit folks in the assessment world and bring forums of like-minded groups together?  I don’t have the million dollar idea yet, but I am interested in any feedback people have on discussion boards or social networking tools like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace, and the like.  We need to help get those interested in testing and assessment to find each other so that knowledge of best practices and resources are available to all.  Like my reunion, it would be no fun if everyone can’t make the party.

Jared Owens

Personality assessments focus on measuring work-related personality traits and psychological aptitudes. There are two major groups of personality assessment inventories. The first set measures a broad range of personality traits. These personality surveys are typically based upon the Five Factor model and cover the personality dimensions of openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and adjustment. These assessments are quite useful for personality profiling because they provide a broad view for understanding a job candidate’s psychological aptitudes.  They are particularly useful in positions that involve interpersonal interaction, teamwork, and serving in leadership roles.

A second set of personality assessment inventories focus on more specific traits or attributes such as integrity, customer service attitudes, or sales ability. In contrast with broad band personality inventories, these personality surveys are only concerned with a specific set of behaviors. They are particularly well-suited for identifying job candidates who have the right psychological aptitudes for a specific job with well-defined requirements such as in customer service or sales.

pan is a member of the Association of Test Publishers (ATP) and a number of us are active in the organization.  ATP describes itself as the “intelligent voice for testing” and serves as a trade organization for those in the assessment industry.

ATP will have its annual Innovations in Testing Conference on February 7-10, 2010 in Orlando. While the date is several months off, I recently received notice that the Call for Presentations will open next month on July 7 and close August 8. I'll post a reminder when the date rolls around, but it is probably good to start thinking ahead about possible submissions as the dates are right in the middle of summer vacation and often not the time most of us are thinking about conference presentations. In a change from prior years, presentations are being solicited around four tracks:

• Promoting State-of-the-Art Assessment: Risks and Benefits
• Advancing the Image of Testing
• Effective Integration of Technology Into Assessment
• Innovations in Test Security

In other matters related to ATP, registration is now open for 1st Annual European Association of Test Publishers (E-ATP) Conference, which will be held September 30 through October 2, 2009 in Brussels.  Also, some online ATP-related resources for your perusal include the E-ATP wiki and the I-O Division blog.

Reid Klion

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 pre-employment screening 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 assessments 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 pre-employment screening tools and management skill set assessments, an organization can select those individuals with the highest potential for its leadership positions.

My sister-in-law recently graduated from college.  I can’t tell you how proud my husband was to see his baby sister all grown up and ready to embark on a career and life in the “real world.”  As I watched the graduates file across the stage, I wondered how many are truly ready to begin their careers.  My sister-in-law spent time in college exploring different majors and used an internship to get a clear picture of life in the business world. However, I wonder how many of her fellow graduates followed a similar path. There’s no judgment here – truth be told, I selected Psychology as an undergraduate major because 1) I thought Psych 101 was interesting, and 2) I had run out of core curriculum classes to take. I was lucky in that after exploring other possible career avenues, I discovered Industrial-Organizational Psychology was truly the best path for me. How many other students aren’t so lucky?

Many college students may be surprised to by the number of resources that are available to help them choose the right major and occupation. Most, if not all, university career centers have assessments that can be taken to identify potential career paths.  For example, the Career Exploration Inventory provides information about occupations, leisure activities and education and training opportunities that match an individual’s preferences. The Career Orientation Inventory  assesses interests and then generates a list of the jobs and occupations that might be a good fit for the individual. Type-based personality inventories, such as the Golden Personality Type Profiler and the Type Dynamics Inventory  can provide information on an individual’s work style and the kinds of environments and organizations in which he or she is likely to thrive. These are just some examples of a number of tools that can assist students in important decisions regarding not only which major they choose but also which extracurricular and professional development activities they may enjoy.

Colleges and universities should advertise the services they offer, including assessments and career counseling, to ensure students are aware of the help that is available. In addition, parents, professors, and other educators should encourage students to utilize their school’s resources and explore different majors and potential careers.   While assessments are an excellent way to start this process, job shadowing and internships, alumni networking, and extracurricular activities, such as on-campus clubs and volunteering, are also helpful tools to facilitate a student’s choice of major and eventual profession.

Jocelyn Courtney-Hays