Assess to Succeed was formed out of Mr. Hosie’s desire to keep the highest standards in Psychometric Testing and Job Fit Assessments. Helping Mr. Hosie keep those standards is the Prevue Assessment, an industry leading tool serving to provide in-depth acumens regarding Job Fit, Succession Planning and Employee Coaching.

Mr. Hosie has 10+ years’ of experience using the Prevue Assessment and 30+ years in the assessments industry. His use of the Prevue Assessment was primarily whilst he held the role of Sales Manager and Recruitment Manager for Leadership Management – Australia’s Assessment division. His understanding has guided many companies through decisions on who to bring on-board and the most effective ways to do so.

“Peter has taught us a whole new way of thinking about assessment tools. I have also valued his insights into sales process and how to ensure people get the right information presented in a way they understand” notes Michael Royal, Founder of BIR Solutions.

“From my personal experience with Peter, I know he’s going to be a great asset to any company looking to implement Psychometric testing; his insights and comprehension of the Prevue Hiring System have been shown time and time again” remarks Mike Campanella, VP of Sales and Marketing for Prevue HR Systems.

More information about Assess to Succeed can be found here: http://www.assesstosucceed.com/

Download Press Release

The interview was with Dr. Paul Marciano, an expert on employee engagement and author of Carrots and Sticks Don’t Work. Some key takeaways I got from the interview were:

• Motivation = short term changes in behavior whereas
• Engagement = long term change
• Motivation is related to the degree that you think the reward is attainable

Dr. Marciano also seems to be very against reward programs (or ‘Carrots, as he calls them), saying that respect means more than a reward.

I half agree with that statement. A company culture that really values their employees and tells them regularly how awesome they are, but pays a sub-par wage, is still a company that isn’t paying it’s employees a fair wage. I think the two go hand in hand and there should always be some tension between giving praise and backing that praise with pay. I think Dr. Marciano goes way too far to one extreme, at least that’s what came across in the interview.

Listen to it here and let me know what you think about his perspective in the comments.

TNLT Podcast #31 (clicking the link will open up another tab for you to listen to audio)

Original post: http://www.tlnt.com/2012/02/15/isnt-it-time-to-reconsider-the-carrot-and-stick-method-of-employee-motivation/

You can download the benchmark below here: http://bit.ly/zaiHDb

What characteristics do you think Cupid should possess?

They needed a new Office Administrator, so they crafted the job posting, pushed it out to various job boards through the Prevue APS and waited. And waited. Nothing.

After waiting over a week and having no responses, they reviewed their posting to see if there was anything missing. They decided to include the salary range, a component they left out of their first version.

Within 3 hours they received 12 applicants.

Do you think a salary should always be posted? What do you think the advantages / disadvantages of doing this are?

As HR managers and Recruiters, Social Media becomes a sticky area to navigate in the hiring process. There are a lot of questions to ask before diving in:

1. Will we search candidates’ online profiles?
2. Can we legally make a hiring decision based on something we see on a candidate’s profile?
3. Are we documenting and tracking this process to protect ourselves as a company?

Some of you will argue that if you have an online profile of some sort, adjust your privacy settings and mind your manners; but should someone be punished for a lapse in judgement that has nothing to do with your company? (They probably weren’t even looking for a job when that picture got posted, although they might have been after)

There are lots of great resources to help your company navigate the social waters, we’ve listed a few below, but the bigger question is:

“Does the risk of using Social Media to screen or gather information on candidates outweigh the benefits?”

http://mashable.com/

http://www.allbusiness.com/staffing-hr/16720335-1.html

The study was commissioned by the British Columbia Securities Commission, who surveyed over 3,000 youth aged 17 to 20. The key finding: the average respondent expects their salary to be $90,735 within 10 years. To put it another way, the average 20 year old expects to make 3 times the average income of a current 29 year old, by the time they reach 29.

Where did these unrealistic expectations come from? I remember being in my early 20′s. I put a few dents in my credit rating. I also never really had anyone sit down and go over budgeting with me until I was older. Goldengirlfinance.ca, who originally covered this report, give some great advice for ways to help youth understand finance.

What advice would/have you given to those on the cusp of starting their careers and looking to be high earners? Share in the comments below.

This means that job candidates are taking their job hunt to job search websites, which scour the internet for jobs based on the criteria the applicant dictates; much like how you do a search in Google. The traditional methods of posting job openings are quickly fading.

How a job opening is written becomes more critical than ever. Not only do you have a series of online job boards to post to, you need to make sure your content within the job posting relates to how people search. This is called SEO (Search Engine Optimization), meaning that you want to be the first thing that pops up with a candidate searches for a job. What your company might call a “Level 1 Programmer” would actually be searched as a “PHP Programmer”; or “Online Manager” is actually searched as “Web Development Manager”, as a few examples.

Is your company using the best terms to describe your job postings to attract the right candidate?

Here are a few key stats they shared that we found very interesting:

• 85% of applicants are unfit for the job
• 55% of employees are dissatisfied with their job
• 46% of new hires leave within 18 months
• 30% of business failures are due  to poor hiring decisions

They also mention that by taking 2 hours between the job applicant and the hiring manager, you can increase your profit-per-employee by up to 2.5x.

Enjoy!

One sentence that really stuck out was, “You need to sell them on your company before you ever start running ads.” Being able to stand out from the crowd is just as important to your job postings as it is your brand.

Job hunters are still carefully weighing where they want to work. Yes, unemployment is still high, but along with that, employers are actually finding it more diffulcult to recruit certain positions. A report from SHRM outlines those details.

How your company is perceived by customers is important, but so is that perception by potential hires. Give them a taste of your company culture in your job postings. Draw back the curtain a bit and allow a candidate to see your company before they walk in the doors; it could save you both a lot of time.

For fun, we’ve found some creative postings that have caught our attention. Which one is your favorite?

Questions:

1. How Do Tests Help Businesses?
2. What Kinds of Things Do Tests Measure In Business?
3. Is it Legal To Use Tests in Hiring?
4. Why Do Companies Rely on Tests?
5. Do Tests Invade People’s Privacy?
6. Do Tests Prevent Qualified People From Getting Hired or Promoted?
7. Should A Person Be Hired or Promoted on the Basis of the Results of Tests Alone?

HOW DO TESTS HELP BUSINESS?

Business organizations use a variety of tests as aids in hiring, placing, or promoting employees. Tests can help human resource professionals find the right person for the right job as well as advance an employee along a career path that makes the best use of his or her talents and strengths. Tests can be also be used in putting together effective teams or work groups and in helping them to operate well together. Testing, when properly used, results in more motivated, productive, and satisfied workers and less friction and dissatisfaction in the work force.

WHAT KINDS OF THINGS DO TESTS MEASURE IN BUSINESS?

Employers sometimes use certain tests to help judge an applicants suitability for a particular kind of job or level of responsibility in other words, to match persons to the jobs for which they are best suited. Tests may also measure specific aptitudes such as mechanical skills or sales abilities, or characteristics such as trustworthiness.

Tests are also used to determine the training needs of organizations, their departments or sections, and employees. Test results can indicate whether individuals know how to do their jobs and which specific task need additional improvement. Human resource departments can use this information to target training needs and implement interventions that support increased productivity. Tests can also measure the effectiveness of training that has been conducted in the organization.

IS IT LEGAL TO USE TESTS IN HIRING?

Yes. Tests are just one of a number of procedures that have a legitimate place in making employment decisions. Certainly some kinds of questions for example, about age, religion, or other private and protected information may not be asked and tests used in hiring decisions must be designed with this in mind. But these concerns are not limited to tests. The same federal and state guidelines that apply to tests also apply to interviews, background checks, and so on.

WHY DO COMPANIES RELY ON TESTS?

Tests have several advantages over traditional interviews and other commonly used employee hiring and placement procedures. Tests are even-handed; they ask the same questions of everyone. Tests typically require less time than interviews, so they are more efficient in obtaining job-related information. Appropriate tests have been carefully screened to be fair and unbiased and not to ask for improper information. Tests allow the persons answers to be compared with hundreds or even thousands of other peoples answers to the same question under the same standard conditions. Finally, the decisions made from test results are based on research studies that prove their accuracy and effectiveness. No other procedure can make these claims.

DO TESTS INVADE PEOPLES PRIVACY?

It is possible that a misuse of a test could result in an invasion of privacy. For example, a clinical test intended for use in medical settings should not be used as a part of routine employment screening. But well-designed tests that are used for their intended purposes do not ask questions that invade a persons privacy.

Also it is true that people are sometimes unaware of what they are revealing about themselves by taking the test. However, taking a test is in many ways like answering questions during an interview. A person is equally unsure about inferences or interpretations made by an interviewer. The difference is that the questions on tests have been screened for fairness, are applied consistently to everyone, and that the resulting interpretations are based on research that has proved them to be reliable, fair, and valid. On the other hand, the opinions of an interviewer are just one persons views, however experienced that person may be, and interviewers can be distracted and influenced by prejudices of which they may not even be aware.

DO TESTS PREVENT QUALIFIED PEOPLE FROM GETTING HIRED OR PROMOTED?

Employment screening involves the selection of some people over others. Sometimes there will be more qualified people applying for a position than can be hired. A properly chosen test has an important place in selecting the candidate with the best fit to the position. Using other procedures without considering the results of a good test will tend to rule out more qualified people than will a procedure that includes an appropriate test.

SHOULD A PERSON BE HIRED OR PROMOTED ON THE BASIS OF THE RESULTS OF TESTS ALONE?

Even a battery of tests should not be the sole deciding factor in hiring or promotion. Properly used, tests are only one part of a process that includes other steps such as application forms, personal interviews, supervisor ratings, and background checks. Considered together, the results of these techniques can provide a more comprehensive picture of an individual to help an employer make the right decision for both the employee and the company.