By Ken Danderfer

Last month’s newsletter article contributed by Ira Wolfe talked to the advantage to be gained from the use of Applicant Tracking Systems (“APS”). His article got me thinking about how I used to go through the hiring process; whether using recruiters, job boards or newspaper ads compared to using the Prevue APS Pro system for a recent hire.

We recently had a vacancy open that gave me my first opportunity to use Prevue APS in a real hiring situation. I decided to document my experience using the APS Pro and compare it to how we used to go through the 7 step in the Prevue Hiring Process.

I’m sure most of you will relate to many, if not all of my past hiring experiences and appreciate the newfound ease I experienced using Prevue APS Pro.

The experience has been broken up into 3 parts. Each step of the hiring process will be looked at by comparing the old way I used to hire, with my experience using the APS Pro.

PART 1: CRAFTING THE POSITION

Tell us about your experiences trying to figure out how to best post a job opening.

Confirming the Value of Assessments

• Aberdeen research into the use of talent assessments over the last four years has shown that assessments are an incredibly valuable tool in the hiring, development and future planning processes in an organization. Organizations using assessments saw on average 18% more of their organizational goals achieved and 15% more of their new hires achieving their first performance milestone on time. (Aberdeen)
• The data gathered demonstrates again and again that as powerful a tool as assessments are in improving hiring decisions, when combined with a process for ongoing assessments throughout the talent lifecycle, they become even more valuable. (Aberdeen)
• Despite a still-tepid hiring climate, spending on assessments rose about 20 % in the US last year to between 1.5 and $2 billion annually (Workforce)
• The biggest reason organizations use a personality assessment comes down to job fit. Skill is important but skill is something you can teach.(Aberdeen Group)

Current Goals for the Use of Assessments

• Organizations are looking to assessments to help them make better selection and development decisions. When an organization invests in hiring it is not only looking for the skills required today, but to also meet the challenges of the future. (Aberdeen)
• Top performing organizations place more value on assessment data for more decisions than average or poor performing organizations. The major area of difference is that top performing organizations use their assessments to help them understand the future potential of their workforce. (Aberdeen)
• There is continued but slow movement in thinking that assessments should be an engaging experience for the applicant (Dr. Handler) – but that appears to be more talk than action. Although 80% of organizations say they are conscious and concerned about the candidate’s experience in applying for a job with their organization, less than half that number are taking steps to monitor applicant reactions (SHL)

Ideas on How to Make Better Use of Assessments

• The use of assessments for pre-hire boosts performance on several key metrics, but using them for post-hire boosts performance even further. The primary post-hire areas where top performing organizations commonly use assessments are: (1) Onboarding; and (2) Career and Succession planning.(Aberdeen)
• Top performing organizations use multiple assessment tools for specific employee groups and decision points but the top three are (1) behavioral based personality assessments, (2) skill-based assessments, (3) cognitive ability assessments. (Aberdeen, Workforce & SHL)
• A large majority of best-in-class organizations have automated assessments into their recruitment process, integrating them with their career portal and applicant tracking or processing system. This automation is yielding impressive performance improvements in key hiring metrics including improved hiring manager satisfaction and greater reduction in both time and cost to hire. (Aberdeen)

Interesting Trends

• The use of remote testing (on home computers) continues to increase with over83% of professionals indicating they allow candidates to test remotely (SHL)
• Testing via mobile devices (smart phones and other handheld computers) is emerging slowly but is expected to increase significantly in coming years.
• Social media is being used to advertise job openings and source candidates by an ever growing number of organizations. Of those organizations who are using social media in the recruitment process over 1/3 use social media to contact prospective candidates through networking sites such as Linked In and 30% use social media to source or locate candidates, essentially using social media as an advertising medium. (SHL)

If you would like more information on these studies or if you have questions on how the use of Prevue Assessments products relate to these study findings please contact your Prevue Assessments representative or support@prevueassessments.com.

Article contributed by: Kenneth J. Danderfer, Prevue Assessments. July 2011

References:

• Assessments 2011, Mollie Lombardie, Aberdeen Group, May 2011.
• Trends in the World of Pre-Employment Testing for 2011, Dr. Charles Handler, February 3, 2011.
• 2011 Global Assessment Trends Report, Sarah S. Fallaw Ph.D. & Tracy M. Kantrowitz Ph.D. SHL Previsor (Link to Report)
• More Companies Go With Online Tests to Fill in the Blanks, Ed Frauenheim, Workforce Technology

Q: Is the online version of the Prevue Test the same as the booklet test?

A: The online version of the test is the same as the booklet, also known as paper & pencil test, with appropriate changes in the instructions to the test takers; however, the online version of the test groups all of the Abilities together at the beginning of the Assessment.  The booklet separates the two Shapes section by placing the Interests section between Shapes 1 and Shapes 2.  You can compare the candidate’s answer sheet for candidates tested using the online version to the booklet test, if you have a booklet available.

Q: How does the test experience between the online versions vs. the booklet version differ?

The online version of the test has an automatic timer that runs in the pop-up window.  Booklet candidates typically have someone timing them during the assessment.

In the online version, the first four sections each have a timer that counts down until the allotted time has run out.  Candidates have the opportunity to review instructions and use the practice questions prior to commencing each section in both versions.  However, online version candidates may opt to take a longer break between sections if they are taking the test off-site.

Q: In PrevueOnline.com, I see the term Scope throughout the site.  What is the Scope?

A: Scope applies in two different ways – Assessment Scope and Position Scope. The Assessment Scope refers to the number of assessment sections a candidate is asked to complete.  The Position Scope determines the number of scales a benchmark will measure.  It also determines the type of JDS or Assessment that the Survey Participants or Concurrent Candidates are asked to complete in the course of developing a new benchmark.  An Activity allows for flexibility in using the Assessment Scopes when bringing the Position Scope together into an Activity, thereby giving the user the opportunity to use a smaller Assessment Scope than required by the Position Scope.

There are six assessment sections, namely, Words (“W”), Numbers (“N”), Shapes 1 (“S1”), Shapes 2 (“S2”), Interests (“I”) & Personality (“P”) currently.  The combinations of some of the assessment sections offered by Prevue create Scopes.  There are five scopes available and these are WNS1S2IP (Full), WNS1S2 (Abilities Only), NIP (Numerical Reasoning), IP (Coaching) and P (Personality Only).

The scope is also used when building a benchmark for a Position.  The Position may have a scope set for it and once the scope is set, it is saved permanently.  The scope of the position will then determine how many assessment sections will be required when assessing candidates for the Position.  If you select a full scope position, then you may opt to assess and/or view any of the other assessment scopes when inviting candidates or viewing reports.  If you build a benchmark with a smaller scope, you will not be able to upgrade to the full scope.

NOTE: The scope of a Position cannot be changed once the position has been saved. Activities can be used to assess candidates on a smaller scope than what the Position requires.  It is therefore recommended that Position scopes be set to the fullest scope available to allow for greater flexibility in assessing candidates at a later time.

NOTE: If you opt to use a smaller scope, you will still pay the same number of credits as the full scope.  Prevue charges for the Report Package and the Reports you wish to view rather than the number of assessment sections the candidate was assessed for.

As the economy continues to improve, employers are beginning to look towards developing more aggressive growth plans.  Many companies, particularly smaller ones, that survived the downturn, did so by aggressively cutting costs.  While this was a necessary response, most companies are now finding expenses have been cut as much as possible, and  they now must begin to grow sales in order to meet financial goals.  In many cases, this means hiring and developing new sales staff. Read more

• Employment prospects are improving and hiring activity is increasing in almost all jurisdictions. The pace is faster in Canada, Australia and New Zealand but all of the G7 countries are trending in this direction.  If you are not hiring right now you will probably need to do so within the next few months.
• As employment and hiring activity pick up, competition for the best candidates will increase which in turn will drive a need to reduce the time to hire. This is already the case for those seeking IT and Software Development personnel.
• Businesses are still licking their wounds and rebuilding balance sheets from the 2009 recession so they need to do everything more quickly, more simply and at a lower cost, while still being effective – a very tall order to fill.
• In comparison to 20 or even 10 years ago businesses are employing fewer people while expecting them to assume greater responsibility and to be more productive than their predecessors. To accomplish this end businesses have to continuously seek to improve the quality of their hires.

How can you clear all of these hurdles? The following three initiatives will make your business more competitive and effective in finding top performers for your positions:

1. Know What You Are Looking For: You can’t possibly hire the best if you haven’t defined what characteristics differentiate top performers from the rest of the persons you employ in any position. Job analysis will enable you to identify the key characteristics for job success to provide better job descriptions, job ads and behavioral interview questions.
2. Move to Online Recruiting: Start with a career web site for a central source of job posting and candidate information. Couple your career web site with an online Applicant Processing System (“APS”) that enables applicants to apply for jobs posted on your career web site and enables you to identify the best candidates. These two steps will reduce your time and/or increase your quality of hire – guaranteed. Your APS will enable you to collect resumes and required applicant information, administer screening questions, administer your Prevue Assessments and receive all of this information instantaneously. In a tight labor market you can respond immediately to the best prospects. If there are too many applicants for your job openings your APS can automatically filter out the best candidates with screening questions and Prevue job fit scores. You focus your attention on selecting the best instead of sifting through a pile of resumes.
3. Source Smarter: You have to fill your recruiting funnel with good prospects if you want to make good hires. Give some thought to where the best applicants for your types of job postings will likely seek employment and make sure you are positioned to get in front of those applicants. This could be a paid job board like Monster or an industry specific job board. Expand your search to social networks and the hundreds of free job boards that should be accessible through your APS. You should be able to automate the posting process through your APS to source the most qualified candidates faster. Also consider going beyond the job boards to sourcing passive job seekers who are not actively seeking a position through postings on major social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

If you think these three steps sound too time consuming or expensive, you are wrong. Your Prevue Distributor can show you how to implement all of these steps efficiently and economically.

Written by: Ken Danderfer

March, 2011

The Prevue Selection report is the most frequently used report.  It is designed to assist in hiring decisions by utilizing job benchmarks and matching candidates’ scores to the benchmarks.  Below are some frequently asked questions that we receive from Customers.

Q:  I need to assess the Abilities only.  Can this be done and is a report available for the Abilities only?

A:  Prevue introduced the Abilities only assessment and the associated Learning & Reasoning report in August 2008.

For the assessment, you may assess candidates on the Abilities only by first establishing a Prevue Position with the scope “WNS1S2”.  Then create the Position’s benchmark and activate it before you establish an Activity for your position.  Be sure to set the assessment scope in your Activity to “WNS1S2” to ensure you assess the Abilities only when inviting candidates to this activity.

Once the candidates complete the Abilities only assessment, you may use the Prevue Online Report Viewer to generate the Learning & Reasoning report which is an abbreviated Selection-type report that looks at the Abilities only.

Q:  The Position’s benchmark does not seem to screen out candidates very well.  What should we do?

A:  Clients sometimes find that benchmark scale ranges have been set too short being only 3 stens wide, particularly for scales that are not proven to be key factors in job performance for a particular position.  This will affect a job incumbent’s ability to land on the benchmark, thereby reducing their overall benchmark suitability score.  It is recommended that benchmarks be reviewed periodically and adjustments made where necessary.  This is part of the benchmark validation process.

Q:  The Hiring Report Family has 3 other report types in addition to the Selection report.  How and when should these other reports be used?

A:  The Learning & Reasoning report can be used when assessing on Abilities only for selection.

The Working Characteristics report augments the Selection report that provides a five-page report describing how the candidate prefers to be paid, how important work is, how risky their decision making is, how they deal with change and their perception of the world.

The Individual report does not match candidates’ scores against a Position’s benchmark.  It only displays the candidates’ scores on the Prevue Assessments.  Due to the absence of a benchmark this report does not provide interview questions.

Using the Prevue Selection Report

The Prevue Selection report is the most frequently used report.  It is designed to assist in hiring decisions by utilizing job benchmarks and matching candidates’ scores to the benchmarks.  Below are some frequently asked questions that we receive from Customers.

Q:  During the hiring process, at which point should I use the Prevue Selection Report?

A: The Prevue Selection Report is part of the Hiring family of reports.  It is often used for initial screening.  Most customers opt to utilize the Prevue Selection report after short listing their candidates from the initial group, and prior to either the first or second interview.  This decision is influenced by the cost of using Prevue Assessments for screening and selection.  Those who have subscribed for unlimited use of Prevue Assessments invariably use Prevue for both screening and selection.

Q:  How much weight should the Prevue Selection report have in our hiring decisions?

A:  It is recommended that the weight given to Prevue scores should not exceed one -third (1/3) of your decision making process.  The other two-thirds (2/3) should come from the resume review, interviews and background checks.

Q: Can the text or language in the Prevue Selection report be modified?

A: The text in the Selection reports is driven by the candidates’ responses to the questions and the resulting scores.  You will not be able to amend the text; however, you may choose the “Style” of the Position to allow for role specific text at the time you develop or modify the Prevue benchmark for a Position.  The “Style” of the Selection report is driven by the “Style” set for the Position.  The Position’s Style may be edited and saved, before regenerating the Selection report using the Report Viewer, until the desired style of text appears in the Selection reports.

Q:  I don’t want to use the full assessment.  Can I assess job incumbents for Interests & Personality Only?

A: Yes, you may assess for Interests & Personality only.  You must use an Activity with the assessment scope set to “IP” to ensure you assess Interests & Personality only when inviting candidates to take the assessment.  If you have a previously established the Position with a full scope of WNS1S2IP, you may use this Position when creating an activity, or generating reports using the Report Viewer by limiting the scope to IP.

If you do not have a Position or Position specific Activity, you may use one of the default Activities in PrevueOnline.com designed to assess specific portions of the assessment.  Simply select the Activity called, “Assessment Only – IP (Coaching)” when you use the Prevue Wizard to invite candidates.

Q: Why isn’t the Prevue compatible with Mac computers?

A: Great news for Candidates using a Mac computer!

Mac users will be able to access the Assessment using Safari and Mozilla Firefox.  Prevue has established a Help Guide for Mac users to refer to in order to access the assessment by turning off pop-ups in Safari and Mozilla Firefox.

Q:  How can I see when a Position in my Position List was created and who created it?

A: The Position List page now displays the Date Created and the Position Owner.

Q:  When I establish a New Account, I want the “Serviced By” message to be automatically available, so that I don’t have to change the setting from “No” to “Yes”, to allow it to print on my reports.  Is this possible?

A: The Serviced By message defaults to automatically print on covers of client reports.

Q:  The Email Message History page doesn’t allow me to sort the history by the login who invited the candidates.  Can this be fixed?

A: The Search functions on the Email Message History page now allows you to sort by the login that sent the emails.

Q:  The Candidate’s Answer Sheet displays multiple answer sets for every instance the candidate has been reassessed.  Can the answer sheet display only the most current answer set?

A: The answer sheet for each candidate displays the most current answer set for any of the assessment sections you reassessed.  This means when the candidate has been reassessed, you’ll only see their more current responses.

Q:  The Learning & Reasoning Report is not displaying scores when candidates become interrupted in any of the timed sections.  Can you fix this?

A: The Learning and Reasoning report is now displaying scores properly for interrupted sections.

Summary: Success of Prevue based program

• Reduce dropout rates from by 50%
• Incorporate student specific curriculum
• Improve student placement success by over 40%

Several years ago, a study was undertaken with a community college in Ontario to develop benchmarks for the job roles available to paramedic graduates. The objectives of this study were:

1. To allow a means of assessing current students and participating former students using Prevue for Job Fit;
2. To create a potential screening tool for applying students;
3. To use the findings to adapt in curriculum course content to meet the needs of the students whose job fit was less than ideal – particularly with regard to coping with the stress of poor job fit, and;
4. To provide coaching feedback for students to assist them in making conscious choices about the best career choices for them.

The process involved the completion of Prevue by several classes of current students who were provided with individual coaching feedback as well as an in-class overview of the findings. A number of former students also participated on a voluntary basis – completing Prevue and allowing the use of current job performance ratings.

The community college was motivated to conduct this study by a number of factors which included:

1. The demand for trained paramedics in the community is so great that literally every student trained has a job waiting;
2. High dropout rate (approx. 40%) after first year by students who found this program was a poor fit for them;
   1. The impact of dropouts on the school revenue budget is significant.
3. High failure rate of trained paramedics who fail to perform to the demands of the job resulting in:
   1. People leaving the profession;
   2. Poorer performers staying on in the job, with elevated stress levels due to poor job fit;
      1. Stress management in this role is critical due to the nature of the work, absenteeism/sick leave due to stress is an issue exacerbated by the incremental levels due to poor job fit.
4. Competitive environment for students among the colleges offering the program – school’s reputation for graduates success at employment is a marketing tool when competing for suitable applying students.

In the same time frame as this study, a broader research study was conducted that reinforced the relevance of behavioural attributes in on-the-job success for paramedics. This study conducted among a statistically significant number of practicing paramedics had the following conclusions of interest:

• Other than clinical competence, the most critical skills that were identified for success in these jobs roles and the skills that the profession was looking for more training and development opportunities were behavioural in nature.
  • Communications skills, including: dealing with difficult people, giving difficult feedback, defusing emotional situations, and ; providing clear and concise information while working in a highly charged environment.
  • Ability to evaluate a situation and analyze all factors to solve situational problems and make reasoned decisions;
  • Time management including the need to deal effectively with routine tasks such as inventory resupply and balance that with highly charged tasks such as emergency calls;
  • Attention to detail when working within a rapidly changing situation
  • Leadership skills in managing the scene where they are working;
  • Working effectively as a team with all involved professionals;
  • Self management skills including managing the emotional aspect of the work; and
  • Stress coping skills.

Clearly, the practicing paramedics were identifying the need for more attention to the best fit behaviours for paramedics and the ongoing emphasis on personal and professional development to help cope with the consequences of poor job fit for people in this profession.

The analysis of the student classes identified several key factors that were useful as a predictor of who would struggle with the role of paramedic. They include:

• Lower results on Workng with Data and Organized was linked to paramedics who were chronically slower and mistake prone at resupplying their vehicle.
  • Impact: Crew wasn’t meeting their availability standards and missing essential supplies.
• 70% of paramedics had a Conflict Style of Dominate or Avoid.
  • Impact: For paramedics with the Dominate style, they could resist taking direction from a supervising physician or miss issues with a patient that their colleague had information on but wasn’t being listened to. When both paramedics on a team were Dominant, conflict and a need to be right characterized their relationship
  • Impact: For paramedics with the Avoid style, they would not speak up to a more dominant colleague even if they had critical clinical information.
• A significant number of paramedics scored in the lower range for the Emotional Style scales of Relaxed and Poised confirming poor stress coping skills both from their predisposition as well as the current state they are operating in.

The curriculum additions that were designed from this input included:

1. A variety of stress management classes were added to each semester.
2. Stress management was introduced into other courses that dealt with incident management and other non-clinical courses – the topic was discussed as a consequence of the job and recommended approaches to situations and debriefs that better prepared the paramedic for the more impactful situations.
3. Time Management in the context of coordinating less urgent tasks, was added to each year – This paid particular attention to less urgent tasks that were still important determinants of success and redefined a successful paramedic as someone who could perform well at both the urgent calls as well as the background and, to them, boring tasks that maintained their level of readiness.
4. Team Building course was introduced that put an emphasis on respect for people with different styles.
5. Course content was enhanced with regard to dealing with difficult people in highly stressed situations – this also placed an emphasis on self awareness of the paramedic’s natural style and adapting to still maintain control of situations while responding appropriately to individuals at the scene including family members.

Finally, a feedback and coaching program was added for students that provided them with their personal feedback as well as the overall profile of their class. The group feedback allowed discussion on how to deal with people who were different from you. A one-on-one coaching series was also introduced that focused on developing self awareness and developing personal goals for coping with the behavioural aspect of the work.

Benchmarks were created for the various paramedic roles and potential applicants to the paramedic program were offered the opportunity to complete an assessment to help them in their decision making for program choice.

In the first three years, the students failing to return for their second year fell from 40% to 23%. The performance ratings for new paramedics as seen in the first year increased significantly.

In the future, the school would like to introduce a tool like Prevue into the application process – first to give feedback to applying student and ultimately to incorporate this into the actual selection process.

Written by contributing author, Lynne Wallace

Lynne Wallace is the managing director of The Assessment Coach, an authorized Prevue Distributor with offices in Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada.

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