Question: The benchmarks for the Stable, Poised and Relaxed personality scales produced from a Job Description Survey were a much lower range than we expected. Why did that happen?
Answer: We have reviewed the answers you gave to the questions in the Job Description Survey and the resulting benchmarks for the subject position. There are two matters you should understand about Prevue benchmarks that are created from the use of a Job Description Survey:
- The Stable vs. Emotional scale is a major personality scale and the other two scales (Poised vs. Restless and Relaxed vs. Excitable) are the two minor scales that support that major scale. The questions in the Job Description Survey examine facets of the two minor scales. The benchmark for the major scale is generated from the results of the two minor scales applying an algorithm that is derived from the norms for the Prevue Assessments.
- The Job Description Survey is designed to identify the circumstances that exist in the workplace for the specified job and the traits that are required for that job. It does not necessarily identify the characteristics that you may want to see in persons hired for the job. In the case at hand, the answers given to the question in the Job Description Survey indicate a person in this job will encounter very little conflict, challenge, criticism or stress. These responses therefore produce benchmarks for the Stable, Poised and Relaxed scales with lower scores because the position does not require someone who is comfortable dealing with conflict, pressure or stress. Despite the location of the benchmarks suggested for these scales by the Job Description Survey you may prefer to seek persons for the position that have higher scores than the position demands. In that event the benchmark can be expanded and/ or moved to the right to the extent you feel is required. You can determine the range for the benchmark that you consider appropriate by reviewing the benchmark descriptions in the Benchmark Development Report produced from the Job Description Survey or by reviewing the scale descriptions in the ” Understanding Prevue Scales” handout which you can secure from your authorized Prevue Distributor or from the My Account section when you log into www.prevuehr.com .
One other thing to keep in mind is that benchmarks produced from a single Job Description Survey provide only suggested benchmarks that should be reviewed carefully (following the process noted in section 2 above) before being put into use. Further, benchmarks produced solely from a Job Description Survey should be reviewed as performance data becomes available for candidates hired to the position that will enable you to do a concurrent study of those candidates.
