Did you know that in the 1950‘s-in an effort to determine whether soldiers were mentally fit to handle deadly weapons-psychometric (or pathology) testing was created by the U.S. Military?
With dollar signs in their eyes, a few bright entrepreneurs decided these pathology tests (with minor adjustments) could provide them with valuable insights into how people work together to bring about common business goals.
After fifty years of testing, we now know the level of accuracy of these tests. We know where they are helpful and where they fall short.
How can you know if the assessment you are using measures up?
That's the goal of this report-to provide you with 11 Key Questions you can ask yourself to determine the true accuracy of any hiring assessment.
1: What ‘norm' are your job candidates being compared to?
Most assessments measure personality and behavior.
Here's the simple version of how personality and behavior based tests are created. As you will see, created is the key word here.
These profiles are created by psychologists who observe the behavior of a particular group of people. They then create questions designed to show where a person scores in relation to the observed ‘norm' of that group.
In other words, their goal is to match the questions they've designed to fit the ‘norm' they are creating.
Virtually every assessment tool in the market place is "culture" driven. When an assessment tool is to be taken in a different culture, they must, again, find the standard of measure, or ‘norm,' for that culture.
While this process has some value, there is subjective bias involved. Clearly, these tools are affected by many factors including the geography, culture, income, age or gender of that group of individuals.
Unfortunately, subjective bias can significantly lower the accuracy of these assessments.
Perhaps this is why-after 70 years of trial and error in the hiring process-research shows the typical assessment tool is not completely accurate. Most of them are not designed for hiring and are not useful.
Business leaders find it difficult if not impossible to trust the typical hiring assessment. Have you ever found this to be true for you?
There is a better way...
In the early 1900's an amazingly accurate way to measure human performance was discovered by Robert S. Hartman. *This research was nominated for a Nobel Prize in 1973.
His approach was NOT based on simply observing behavior or personality.
Hartman's theory was that we all think and make decisions in the same way-that there are three core decision making dimensions. He called this, "The Structure of Thought."
Hartman spent the next 40 years of his life proving his theory scientifically. He finally did prove his theory with a totally objective mathematical formula. This formula measures how people think and how they make decisions.
This is big news-because unlike "subjective norms" that come as a result of observing behavior and personality, Hartman discovered that the structure of thought actually has its own norm.
Now this norm is the same for people all over the world-regardless of culture, geography, income, age, gender, or other factors-because we all have the same structure of thought.
Hartman did not create subjective norms. His scientific validation actually confirmed a norm-an objective, universal norm that already exists in all of us.
That's important because when the measurement is totally objective-you can trust its accuracy!
The Real Talent Performance Profile scientifically measures how you think and how you make a decision-again, what Hartman called your ‘structure of thought'.
It directly measures skills, competencies, attitudes, talent, whether or not you can access your talent (which is key), and much more... The Real Talent Performance Profile will quickly identify precisely who will and will not perform in your company with greater accuracy than other human metrics systems.
* Robert S. Hartman was a Ph.D. in Philosophy and a professor at Vanderbilt University and the University of Tennessee. He was also a visiting professor at M.I.T., Yale, Harvard and other prestigious universities. He was the founder of the profit sharing system we know today as the 401 K. In order to drive his profit sharing philosophy, Hartman gathered 150 Industrialists and created "The Council of Profit Sharing Industries," in 1947. That same month, The Wall Street Journal reported that two thousand additional business firms petitioned to join the Council and its profit-sharing system. He was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1973 for his work in human value metrics. Upon Hartman's death, a genius named Wayne Carpenter picked up where Hartman left off. He has dedicated the past 30 years of his life to shaping, refining, advancing and computerizing Hartman's work.
A growing list of America's top business leaders are using our system to make more accurate selection decisions and significantly improve business results: Hilton Corporation, Hospital Corporation of America, Red Robin Restaurants, Lance Crackers, HCCA and many more.
2: Does the questionnaire require you to answer questions about yourself?
Are you totally objective when answering questions about yourself or, like most of us, are you a bit biased and subjective? Research in sports and business proves that most people do not accurately judge their own performance and need an outside ‘set of eyes' to see themselves better.
Why is this important?
Just consider how bias enters into the equation when your job applicant takes the assessment. If they are asked to describe themselves, you can be confident the accuracy will be negatively affected.
With the Real Talent Performance Profile, you are never asked to describe yourself. You are never asked to describe what you would, or might do, given a set circumstance. And you are never asked what others might expect you to do-which is a way of tricking you into telling them what you're "really like."
Actually, there are no questions at all. There are 18 phrases, or words. You simply rank them from best to worst.
The Performance Profile is not subjective. You are not asked to describe yourself and you are not asked to describe how you would perform.
This is important and a key difference because when you take the Performance Profile you actually are performing a task, not describing how you might perform. This way you can even experience and know exactly how they will perform for you in your business-before you hire them.
How will it feel for you to accurately predict performance with such an objective technology?
3: Does the questions in the assessment ‘telegraph' what it intends to measure about you?
Obviously you get greater accuracy when the person taking the test doesn't know what the profile intends to measure. Because given the chance-applicants are likely to try and ‘fool' the test to make themselves look better.
The Performance Profile is unique. There is no obvious relationship to any of the 18 items to be ranked. They appear totally random and unrelated. They also have no idea how ranking the items measures them. Because it is impossible to guess how you are being measured-people are often amazed at the accuracy of the feedback.
4: Does the tool you are using measure before or after a decision has already been made?
Measuring personality, behavior, or style, is like taking a digital photograph of a person. You can measure them on the outside-but you can only guess what's really going on inside. It's like judging a book by its cover.
Observing behavior may give you some clues about how an applicant might fit certain roles-but it's what personality and behavior doesn't tell you that causes expensive hiring mistakes. Mistakes you would never make if you could only peel back the cover and see what's actually going on inside.
What if, instead of a digital photo, you had a crystal clear picture of what's really going on inside-like an x-ray? What if you could directly measure exactly what you need to know about someone?
It's all about decisions!
To make a decision, your mind takes 4 critical steps. The continuum would look like this...
Perceive, associate, analyze, decide.
Behavioral assessments measure only after a decision has already been made. They miss the hidden variables-the real reasons a person will or will not-can or can not-perform.
The Performance Profile measures what's going on before the decision is made. It actually measures how your job candidate thinks and how they make a decision.
Failing to measure all four of these Critical Variables means you'll be missing crucial information that would enable you to accurately predict job performance.
So how do you know whether your hiring assessment is measuring before or after a decision? Easy. All you have to do is just look at the questionnaire. Does it ask questions about what someone would ‘do,' given scenarios? Even if the test instrument asks you to rank items, are they based on action in any way? Look for that. It's the key...
In order to compare you against their subjective norm, there has to be an action.
Only one hiring assessment measures anything other than behavior and personality-that's the Performance Profile. Because the Performance Profile measures thinking and decision making, what I like to call the foundation of performance, you will get information about ones personality and a great deal more.
5: Does you assessment measure only personality and behavior?
It's important to know if the tool you are using will give you the feedback you need to make great hiring decisions. Some tests will help you understand how people might work together. What we're focused on here is hiring and selection.
As you well know, behavior and personality is susceptible to change. Far too often behavior is affected by mood, emotion and/or circumstances.
On the other hand, how you think and make decisions (your thought structure) does NOT change. This is key in understanding why you can't fully trust a measurement susceptible to moods, emotions or circumstances.
6: Does it answer specific questions you need to know?
To make great hiring decisions-what do you need to measure? In addition to the 4 Critical Variables mentioned in point four, here's a small list:
Role specific skills and competencies
Clarity of thinking and quality of judgment
Attitude
And of greatest importance, do they have access to their talent? There are others...
The Performance Profile directly measures all of these and more.
Our unique technology measures and alerts you to the direct risk you face with every job candidate.
Our highly accurate custom system is currently identifying a minimum of 8 out of 10 risky hires for some of America's top companies, saving them millions of dollars in some cases, in a few short months.
7: Does it work in every culture?
Remember...everyone in the world uses the same 'structure of thought.' It's like a basic operating system for computers. Because we all have the same structure of thought-and the "norm" is the same all over the world-the Performance Profile works in every culture. It is universal.
We are currently improving hiring decisions and dramatically decreasing turnover ratios of businesses in many countries around the world.
8: Does it discriminate in any way?
You need to know that if the technology you're using is discriminatory in any way, it is illegal.
The Performance Profile asks you to perform a task that has no connection to race, gender or age. Therefore it does not discriminate in any way.
9: Does it invade a person's privacy?
Many feel that being asked personal questions is an invasion of privacy.
Again, the Performance Profile instrument does not ask personal questions. In fact, as discussed earlier, there are no questions at all. There is just the ranking of what seem like random, unrelated items.
10: Does the system identify when a candidate has tried to "fool" the system?
Most systems do not have a process for identifying false answers.
The Performance Profile software is programmed to indicate whether someone tries to manipulate the instrument. When the system detects a flawed or manipulated test, the system is designed to give you a "no report."
11: Have validity studies been completed and are they available to you?
There are FIVE types of studies designed to confirm validity.
Construct Validity: Has the instrument been constructed properly?
Adverse Impact Studies: Could the instrument adversely impact participants?
Co-relational Studies: How does it relate to other assessments?
Criterion Studies: Does it measure the criteria it is designed to measure?
Face Validity: Do those who have experienced the technology believe in its accuracy?
All five validity tests have been completed on the Performance Profile.
Most importantly, the Performance Profile has been validated over and over again in unique business environments.
Some of these studies were conducted with Dollar General's entire workforce-over 40,000 people-from the President Cal Turner in Nashville, to the warehouse employees in Miami.
Studies have also been conducted at Sara Lee Corporation, GTE, CUNY Mutual, HCA, AT&T, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, University of Chicago and many others.
To receive a complimentary copy of validity studies, email: [email protected] and enter Validity Study in the subject line.
Bonus Question
12: Is the assessment EEOC compliant?
The EEOC has rules around the use of hiring assessments. They indicate that hiring tools can only be used for 25% of the hiring decision process, must not discriminate in any way, and must measure specifically what you're hiring for. For example, if you're hiring for a sales position, you must measure sales capacity.
The Performance Profile meets EEOC requirements.
Also, it's valuable to know that in order to use a hiring assessment on a candidate before they are interviewed, you must have first completed a "benchmark study."
Benchmarking is where you measure your current staff for success criteria within your business, to get a score to compare future candidates against.
(We are currently doing benchmarks for some of the largest companies in the world and would gladly help you with your benchmarking needs.)
The U.S. Postal Service (as a government agency) is required to obtain a minimum of 5 bids for contracted vendor services. When they experienced the Performance Profile, their need to search for other vendors was eliminated.
The postal service immediately recognized that the unique ability to measure thinking and decision making-coupled with its objectivity and accuracy-put the Performance Profile is in a category of its own.
Other assessments (like the Meyers Briggs and the more clinical psychological assessments) either merely scratch the surface, or are not targeted enough to make them an effective hiring tool.
Comparing the typical assessment to the Performance Profile is like comparing a digital image to the amazing depth and insight made possible only with an x-ray.
Because of the unique and proven ability to identify high risk hires, (a minimum of 8 out of 10) we are saving our clients millions of dollars.
To truly and accurately predict performance-contact us at today.