Hiring for Fit - Job Profile and Talent
Assessment
Five Star PLUS Hiring Methodology™
¶Define the job's key accountabilities and talent requirements ¶
Screen applications and resumes for minimum acceptable requirements and standards,
sort into high, medium and low priority candidates. Eliminate those applicants
with repetitive short tenure. ¶
Pre-screen high priority applicants by phone (salary requirements, verify minimum
requirements, location preferences, acceptable work hours - also use this as your
2nd opportunity to market your company to the prospective employee. Invite those
who passed the phone screening to complete the appropriate assessments using The
Nielson Group's Fit Series™ of assessments via online or paper response forms.
Online assessment option can be administered via e-mail to the applicant. ¶
Interview those with the best match based on assessment results ¶
Complete a background check (criminal, DMV, others based on position) on candidates
you want to make an offer (see our applicant release form)
Plus
¶Design
and implement a comprehensive 6-month onboarding program based on the job, the
company's needs and the new employee's needs. See our white papers:
People
think they know themselves. Others attempt to be someone they aren't. Our goal
is to identify the true characteristics of a person before they are hired and,
using assessments, determine if they have the talent necessary to succeed in the
job. Three books recently published have pointed to talent being more than hard
skills, education and knowledge. According to Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman
in their book, First, Break All the Rules, "…companies are
searching for undiscovered reserves of value. Human nature is one of those last,
vast reserves of value. If they are to increase their value, companies know they
must tap these reserves." Buckingham and Coffman made a clear case for
identifying the behavioral characteristics and values a person possesses when
hiring for fit. According to John Butler, author of Successful Entrepreneurial
Management, behavioral style, values and soft skills are critical to job fit.
And perhaps the best-written and popular contemporary material on proving the
importance of soft skills in the workplace is Daniel Goleman's book, Working
With Emotional Intelligence. What all of this research is telling us is that
great managers look at soft skills, behavioral style, values and integrity when
matching people to jobs. The Nielson Group offers assessments to measure and identify
these characteristics that make up an individual's talent. This same strategy
is applied to the job, that is, behavior, values and soft skills inherently found
in the job are used to define job requirements and measure both candidate and
incumbent job fit - scientifically and accurately. Once the job is defined and
a good fit is found, coaching, training and/or development can then be applied
to enhance those skills that are deemed most important to successful performance
of the job.
Step One - Does the Applicant have the Right Attitudes for
Your Company?
The Nielson Group uses one of the most validated and reliable
assessment tools on the market to test applicants for the right attitudes. This
low cost assessment can be used in high volume to weed out those "unwanted"
attitudes. If the applicant does well on this assessment the time and money invested
in the next step in the process won't be wasted. The goal here is to avoid wasting
precious time with candidates you shouldn't be considering regardless of their
credentials. To learn more go to:
Step Two - Does the Applicant Have the Talent (Fit) to Perform
at a High Level based on the Job Requirements?
The
Nielson Group uses assessments from Target Training Int'l, a leader in job and
talent assessments. We've combined highly
valid and reliable job-related assessments based on whether the job is hourly
technical or service work, professional/degreed, sales or sales management and
management/leadership types of positions. Regardless of type of job or position,
we can align a talent assessment and job profile to predict success with a high
degree of certainty. Together, we call our assessment offerings The
Fit Series™ (1.8 MB).
Our clients have found the TriMetrix Talent
Report to be very effective in determining the level of job fit in the selection
process and the TriMetrix Coach report to be invaluable after the person has been
hired. The nice part is that once the candidate has taken the TriMetrix Talent
Assessment, you can request the coaching report later without having the new employee
retake the assessments. We call this a Total
Talent Management System.
THE FIRST STAR IN THE FIVE STAR HIRING
METHODOLOGY
¶
Define the job's Key Accountabilities and Talent Requirements.
The Nielson
Group uses the TriMetrix Job Profile™ to create a comprehensive job profile.
But it starts first by identifying the key accountabilities.
Laying
the Foundation for Performance
A position's accountabilities
are not the same as a job description. They are instead a succinct summary of
critical goals and key successes the position is held accountable to produce for
the business. Accountabilities define the reasons why the position is necessary
in the first place. They lay the groundwork for management to move forward in
defining the supporting behaviors, motivators, skills, capacities and cultural
rewards that will support successful achievement of the position's accountabilities.
A position's critical accountabilities are defined through a facilitated
process in which participants who are familiar with the position explore, validate
and quantify its "reason for being." Those involved in the process can
be chosen from employees who formerly held the position, the manager and/or a
former manager of the position, and key managers/staff who interact closely with
the position on a regular basis. Ideally, three (3) or more people with current
actual working knowledge of the position should be involved. At every step of
the process, it is important for each participant to focus on the simple objective:
defining a short list of critical accountabilities for the position. When complete,
the resulting list of accountabilities typically numbers from 3-7 in total. Accountabilities
vary considerably depending on the industry, company, culture and management.
All of them must contain, wherever possible, targets to achieve for successful
performance. These targets should be measurable wherever possible to leave no
question as to the achievement level required. They should also be prioritized
and weighted to reflect which is most important to the position. Some examples
may be:
EXAMPLE: POSITION ACCOUNTABILITIES - DIRECTOR, ORACLE HR IMPLEMENTATION
Provide strong leadership and project management skills to the Oracle HR project
Ensure executive management and stakeholders are kept informed of critical-path
progress and variances from plan (20%)
Keep appropriate executive
management and governance committees informed of project status, goal attainment
and issues
Serve as liaison to business unit advisory council
Ensure all stakeholders and users receive frequent and appropriate communications
Oversee and monitor all phases of the project schedule
Monitor
performance of project team
Respond proactively to potential
delays in a manner that reduces or eliminates the risk of delay (10%)
Ensure all stakeholders and users receive timely, appropriate and effective training
(20%)
Ensure new processes are simplified to leverage Oracle configurations
and any new HR process cycle times are reduced (30%)
Ensure all service
provider expenditures are approved by the governance committee and services delivered
in a manner that meets Cendant's needs (20%)
EXAMPLE POSITION ACCOUNTABILITIES
- PHARMACY CUSTOMER CARE REP
Provide a patient advocacy approach
with every customer contact (patient, doctor, pharmacist, patient caregiver) so
that the customer recognizes you as an active liaison between the patient, the
doctor and the pharmacy and as a provider of helpful information.
Provide accurate and timely follow-through on all
call tasks and commitments and ensure that communications are clear, proper action
is taken and all internal processes are followed.
Manage to a high level of productivity while
maintaining quality and providing an empathetic and supportive experience to the
patient by controlling the patient conversation, learning and applying effective
and efficient strategies and processes and multi-tasking while conversing.
EXAMPLE: POSITION
ACCOUNTABILITIES - NATIONAL SALES MANAGER
Increase total annual
corporate sales by a minimum of 15% (40%)
Consistently achieve a minimum
of 3% monthly regional sales increases (30%)
Demonstrate sales leadership,
measured by favorable staff feedback (15%)
Recruit, retain and develop
top sales talent while maintaining an average annual employee turnover rate of
less than 10% (15%)
EXAMPLE: POSITION ACCOUNTABILITIES - OPERATIONS
MANAGER
Assure reliable operational systems 24x5 with 99% availability
(30%)
Administer the operations budget to no more than 100% of allotted
funds (25%)
Establish and maintain quality vendor services within allotted
budget (15%)
Proactively recommend and implement quality enhancements
to operational systems, measured by a continued decrease in time, manpower and
costs needed to process client orders and product shipping (15%)
Demonstrate
leadership in managing operations staff, measured by favorable staff feedback
(15%)
It is always the best recommendation to start from scratch
in establishing accountabilities and not assume that one predefined set will suit
your company's unique requirements. The process of defining a position's accountabilities
provides value to the organization above and beyond designing performance appraisals.
It focuses management attention on assuring that the organization's key success
factors are supported by the critical accountabilities of the positions they create,
which in turn assures maximum return on investment for the organization. Hiring
based on these accountabilities assures a solid foundation.
The next steps
in laying the foundation involves defining further dimensions of the position,
including behaviors, motivators, skills, attributes and cultural rewards. The
Nielson Group uses the TriMetrix System Job Profile™ to collect and validate
each of these dimensions using input from incumbents, stakeholders and the boss.
Both an individual report and a multi-respondent report can then be generated
showing how each participant scored. The multi-respondent report combines all
respondent results into one consolidated report.
To request a comprehensive
white paper on using The Nielson Group Five Star Hiring Methodology™ click
here: FiveStarWhitePaper@nielsongroup.com.
GENERAL SCREENING ASSESSMENTS
The Nielson
Group has extensive use in the administration of the Orion Opinion Survey from
Orion Systems. We continue to recommend and use this family of assessments because
they have proven effective at screening out undesirable attitudes. When combined
with a behavioral and values assessment, you combine the "screening out"
process with a job matching process ("screening in" behaviors and values
for job fit) that ensures you interview only those applicants that show a strong
probability of being successful in the job. There are many reasons for using the
Orion:
Up to 80% of turnover is due to mistakes in hiring
Employee
theft costs businesses billions each year
Costs for drug-related absenteeism,
health and worker compensation costs are in excess of $50 billion dollars a year.
Hiring, training and getting an hourly worker productive cost 15 - 40%
of their annualized wage.
Not all applicants are right for the job. Some
have trouble with tardiness, absenteeism or supervision. Others have theft and
drug problems, poor customer service attitudes, poor communication skills or poor
sales attitudes.
Why we recommend the Orion Opinion
Survey
The
Orion Opinion Survey provides accurate, valid and illuminating insight, free from
adverse impact. It examines job-related attitudes your applicants will bring with
them to the work environment.
It provides an objective, valid information-gathering
service and offers advantages over traditional methods by focusing on key work-related
issues. The report provides three levels of detail (short, medium or long) and
a summary of positive and negative attitudes. It suggests the applicant has below
average, average or above average attitudes in several areas including supervision,
work, workplace drug use, workplace theft, customer service, communication, competitiveness
and sales.
Administration time ranges from 15 to 25 minutes and is available
in multi-lingual versions. To learn more about the different versions and administration
and delivery options click on the Orion Systems banner above.
About
the Orion Opinion Survey
Organized in three parts the ORION PE profile
contains information vital to selecting the best possible applicant - specifically
related to integrity of the person.
Attitudinal
Scales Section(different
versions offer these in various combinations which shortens or lengthens the number
of test questions, customization is a standard service for clients with 500 or
more applicants per year)
Validity Index - advises the interviewer of the existence of distortion,
(the applicant's conscious or subconscious attempt to alter the results of the
survey) by placing the applicant in a risk zone of Low Risk, Marginal Risk, or
High Risk.
Supervisory Attitudes - assesses applicant's attitudes
and habits toward acceptance of supervision and supervisory potential as being
Above Average, Average, or Below Average. The Supervisory Attitudes Scale is intended
to measure one's willingness to accept others as authority figures and to perform
well when under the direction of others. Those having difficulty in accepting
direction and working with leaders are believed to make poor employees.
Work
Attitudes - assesses applicant's attitudes and habit toward absenteeism, tardiness,
and the concept of working as a team as being Above Average, Average, or Below
Average. It appears obvious that those having poor or lackadaisical attitudes
toward work habits do not make good employees. The Work Attitudes Scale was designed
to measure such attitudes.
Workplace Theft Attitudes - assesses applicant's
attitudes and habits toward employee theft as Low Risk, Marginal Risk, or High
Risk. The Workplace Theft Attitudes scale is measures of attitudes regarding employee
theft. The items on this scale primarily ask about acceptability and prevalence
of employee theft and cheating, downplaying or rationalizing minor theft or similar
transgressions, and lack of personal control in a way that jeopardizes the well-being
of employers and others.
Workplace Drug Use Attitudes - assesses
applicant's attitudes and habits toward drug use in the workplace as Low Risk,
Marginal Risk, or High Risk. The Workplace Drug Use Scale is intended to measure
attitudes regarding use of illegal drugs, and the negative impact of drug use
on work behavior and productivity.
This scale compares favorably with traditional
physical drug testing. In a recent study, a population of 579 applicants were
administered both the Opinion Survey and a urinalysis drug test. Of those tested,
26 or (4.5%) of the applicants' urinalysis tested positive for illegal drugs.
The Orion Opinion Survey identified 25 of those accurately, a 96% accuracy rating.
But wait, there is more! What was startling in the study was that an additional
110 applicants admitted using illegal drugs on the Opinion Survey. Based on this
finding, traditional drug testing was only 19% as accurate as the Orion Opinion
Survey. The Opinion Survey identified 23% of the study population as high or moderate
risk based on drug use attitudes. The study confirmed the findings with each applicant.
Self Assessment Section
Self assessments
are derived from responses to questions dealing with specific things the applicant
has done in previous jobs, and to questions that determine what work activities
the applicant likes or dislikes. This section of the profile identifies critical
areas to probe during the interview.
Post Survey
Interview Section
Each profile contains a list of questions from the assessment
that the applicant didn't respond to in the most desirable manner. This section
of the profile suggests specific questions that should be covered thoroughly during
the follow-up interview. The Post Survey Interview Section will make novice interviewers
better and help experienced interviewers conduct thorough interviews quickly.
Employee
Opinion Surveying
Successful organizations are learning to listen
to their people. This enables them to 1) discover and confront problems before
they prove too costly in their effect as well as resolution and 2) maximize the
positive trends occurring in the organization while the opportunity to do so exists.
In surveying onboard employees, ORION SYSTEMS anonymously creates
an avenue of input from your work force. Employee-management relations, training,
quality, customer service, job satisfaction, fairness, and loss prevention are
a few examples of areas in which critical employee feedback can be analyzed through
the use of ORION employee opinion surveys.
Retail Shrinkage: Surveying
For Improved Operations & Decreased Shrinkage
The personnel,
procedures and policies of an organization give it a culture unlike any other.
A corporate culture can also spawn personnel, procedures and policies that decrease
efficiency and raise costs. Management has a need for information from all areas
of the organization to analyze these issues. Simply put, management has a need
to inquire and listen. Information from the workforce can lead to improved strategies
that will keep the company operating smoothly and efficiently.
The
Nielson Group, in partnership with ORION SYSTEMS, provides this process
in the form of the SHRINKAGE REVIEW employee opinion survey. The SHRINKAGE
REVIEW is a tool for loss prevention in the retail industry. This powerful
management tool engages company personnel to identify and modify negative
behaviors and procedures. A variety of specialized surveys exist for industries
including retail, grocery, food service, manufacturing, and others. Call or
e-mail for more information.
The
ORION method of employee surveying is based on two facts. First, employees
"in the trenches" know a great deal about the day-to-day operations within a company.
Second, employees are most likely to respond in a candid, productive manner if
they are sure their feedback will not be credited to them by management or peers.
Our anonymous, confidential approach used in administering and processing ORION
surveys tells the workforce you are acting responsibly and maintaining complete
privacy with their open and honest feed back.
Your workers will see that
their organization is interested in, and will act upon, the opportunities and
problems revealed in the survey report. This positiveimpact on morale
is exhibited by and ORION SYSTEMS study involving 1,400 employees of a
national company. In response to a direct question, 99.5% of these 1,400 workers
stated they appreciated the opportunity to express their views and opinions about
the company.
Used with permission of
Loss Prevention Analysts, Ltd. dba The Orion System. This information may not
be reproduced, in whole or in part by mimeograph, photocopy, or any other means,
without written permission.
