SHRM: Personality Assessments And Behavioral Interviewing More Important Than Ever For Employers, Especially in Challenging Times

http://www.shrm.org/hrnews_published/archives/CMS_027272.asp

Abstract: Personality Assessments And Behavioral Interviewing More Important Than Ever For Employers, Especially in Challenging Times

"Avoid the costs of a poor decision.....Move beyond surface measures of qualification and job fit [by]using tools such as behavioral interviewing and personality assessments, before making hiring decisions... There are concerns as to [whether] he will fit in... Incorporating proper assessments into the hiring process gives companies the upper hand in choosing the right people for the organization and leaves the turkeys on the dinner table.”

Society For Human Resource Management (SHRM)
11/25/08 4:00 PM
HR Debates Keeping Bad Workers, Hiring More ‘Turkeys’
By SHRM Online Staff

Although corporate hiring is a rare bird these days, employers still looking for talent find hiring new people to be more daunting than managing poorly performing members of their current teams, according to a recent survey by global management consulting firm Caliper.

An October 2008 survey of 190 U.S. hiring managers representing large and small businesses in a variety of industries reveals that 69 percent of respondents find it easier to work with “the devil they know” than to take a chance on an unknown new hire. Only 31 percent of respondents said they find it harder to manage the people they have than to select new employees.

“In difficult economic environments, people are companies’ most powerful competitive advantage,” said Caliper President and CEO Herb Greenberg, Ph.D. “Every new hire provides a precious opportunity that employers don't want to squander. This adds to the pressure to ‘work smarter’ in the hiring process and to avoid the costs of a poor decision.”

Respondents’ comments reinforce employers’ need to move beyond “surface” measures of qualification and job fit, using tools such as behavioral interviewing and personality assessments, before making hiring decisions, according to Greenberg.

“You're always taking a chance, even with the best qualified person,” noted one respondent. “There are concerns as to [whether] he will fit in. … There could be a two-year investment perhaps before you have him up to speed.”

For some, these hiring concerns have proven to be well founded. With the holiday season fast approaching, Caliper asked managers to describe the “biggest turkey you ever hired.” Among the responses:

• “A fellow who, after one week on the job, asked … to go to Florida. We said no; he called in sick for a week and then came back with a tan!”
• “We hired someone who could barely single-task.”
• “We hired someone and the second day on the job, we found this woman taking a nap in the office of the CEO.”
• “One gentleman came in late, left early, then told me, ‘I’m going to be sick tomorrow, so I won't be in.’ ”
• “An individual who ran up $5,000 on his corporate credit card, which the company has been unable to recover.”

But Greenberg contends that incorporating proper assessments into the hiring process “gives companies the upper hand in choosing the right people for the organization and leaves the turkeys on the dinner table.”

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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.