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.

A: APS Pro is not updated live to reflect the data contained within your PrevueOnline.com account.  To refresh and update the APS Pro account to use the most current Position List available in PrevueOnline.com, you must sign into your APS Pro account at http://admin.prevueaps.com and click on Career Sites.  Select “Site Controls” and then use the “3^rd Party” tab.  Scroll to the bottom of this page and press “Save” to refresh the data shared between PrevueOnline.com and APS Pro.

Q: I have recently hired for a position that I had posted on my career site.  The posting was set to be open until the end of the month.  This job listing still appears on my career site.  How do I remove the listing?

A: APS Pro job listings can be taken down prior to the listing expiring.  Simply go to the Jobs tab in your career site.  Click “Edit” next to the position.  On the “Job Listing” page, scroll half way down the page to the area where the “Start Date*” and “End Date*” drop down menus appear.  Amend the date to a date prior to the existing end date.  Scroll to the bottom to “Save” the changes.  Changing the date will remove the job listing from your career site and all job boards that the listing was posted to.

Job postings may take a few days to be removed from job boards that the job was listed to.

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.

Prevue APS PRO is a complete applicant processing system that gives a customer an online career center that is attached to their corporate site. It not only advertises and processes job applicants but administers Prevue Job Fit testing.

Prevue APS PRO includes complete back end management system which allows the customer to create unlimited job postings, add up to 25 unique screening questions to each job, assign a Prevue benchmark for the position, post job openings to over 1000+ Job boards and manage all applications through an easy online dashboard.

• 2. How does The Prevue APS PRO fit into Prevue’s overall product strategy?

Prevue’s direction for 2011 and 2012 is to provide HR Tools that support a company’s hiring efforts. Prevue Assessments provide the pre-employment testing portion of the hiring process but there are many steps to the process that occur before a company tests job applicants. A company must create and post a job advertisement on multiple job boards, and or social media sites as well as their own company website. Once a job is advertised applicants must go through a process of providing specific information that a company requires such as demographic details and work and education history. Many companies want applicants to answer screening questions such as whether the applicant has a valid driver’s license, will travel 50% of the time, enjoys cold calling etc.

The Prevue APS PRO provides companies with an easy to use system that supports job postings and data collection surrounding a recruiting campaign. The system also sync’s with Prevuonline which allows a company to integrate Prevue testing at the time of application. Essentially companies can now have a hands free career center that manages all aspects of the job application process.

Prevue APS PRO is the first and most obvious HR Tool that will anchor the development of the Prevue Hiring System over the next two years.

• 3. What are the key features of the Prevue APS PRO?

Prevue APS PRO provides the following key features:

A branded Career Website

• Your Logo and corporate colors

• Integrated with your corporate site or can be available as stand-alone site.

Centralized Job Posting

• Unlimited posting of job openings

• Capable of auto-posting to 1000+ job boards

Automated Online Applications

• Easy to use and friendly process for applicants

• Customized candidate data collection- what do you want

Candidate Screening

• Job Specific Screening Questions selected by you

• Prevue Job Fit Testing Technology – Applicants take Prevue Assessments and are matched against your customized Job Fit Benchmarks.

Easy Candidate Management

• Prioritizes candidates based on corporate screening and Job Fit testing

• Provides candidate tracking and organization

Account maintenance is an important aspect of ensuring that older data is still available without limiting access to current data. Below are some frequently asked questions that we receive from Customers.

Q:  I have over 1,500 candidates in my Candidate List, but I’d like to see only the most recent data.  Am I able to archive older candidate files?

A:  Currently there is no archive function, but some customers like to create Branches relating to past years and request that data be moved into the Branches for later access.  For example, you may create a branch with the name “ABC Company – 2010” from the Administration column and then request to have all your 2010 candidate data moved into this branch.

Q:  If I delete older data, will I be able to retrieve it later?

A:  No, once you have deleted data from PrevueOnline.com, you will not be able to restore or retrieve this information.  Prevue Assessments staff may be able to restore some data, such as candidates,  positions & accounts, however, it can take up to a week to complete the work and there may be a fee associated with fulfilling the request.

Q:  How does Prevue Assessments recommend I maintain my account?

A:  Customers should go through their candidate data and delete any pending and/or duplicate candidate entries that are no longer required.  This will speed up your access to candidate data and reduce the chances of producing an error message when you need to access the data.

NOTE: If you elect to delete candidates from your list, we do not recommend using the Check All box located at the top left side of the Candidate List.  Using the Check All box selects ALL the candidates in your list and not just the candidates displayed on the current screen.  The best way to determine which candidates to delete, is to first use the Search functions at the bottom of the page to obtain an Export to Excel spreadsheet of all the candidates in your list.  From this list identify which candidates need to be deleted and use the Search criteria to locate these individuals and delete them.

Alternatively, you may use the column titles to reorganize the list by clicking on the column title.  Note that this will only reorganize the list, as it is not intended as a Search function, so all of your candidates will still be in the list.

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.

Question  1.  Do you feel that the worst of the recession is behind us?

Answer 1:

Yes: 56.3%

No: 43.8%

Question 2: Have you shrunk, maintained or grown your business in 2010?

Answer 2:

Shrunk:  37.5%

Maintained: 40.6%

Grown: 21.9%

Question 3:  Do you see 2011 as a growth year?

Answer 3:

Yes: 68.8%

No: 31.3%

Question 4:  How would you rate your overall satisfaction level with Prevue Assessments, with one (1) being very unsatisfied and five (5) being extremely satisfied?

Answer 4:

1: 0%

2: 0%

3: 28.1%

4: 43.8%

5: 28.1%

Question 5: Please explain the reason for the rating you gave in question #4.

“Assessments have always provided us with an accurate of the candidates that we have interviewed and are considering hiring.”

“Quick response time, informative results, great customer service.”

“Good response on questions; the software works consistently, and when it’s being upgraded, you keep us informed on delays or possible issues; and the product is useful to our clients”

“The assessment is solid, but the report could use a bit more sizzle.  Lesser assessments turn prospects heads more, requiring a bit of education on why the Prevue is so good.”

“Combined with our own testing of skills, Prevue gives us a good profile of the candidates we are interviewing.  It is usually apparent whether they will be a good fit for us.”

Question 6: How Have you used Prevue Assessments in 2010?

“Recruiting/Selection – 95%; Personal development/succession planning – 5%”

“Making selections on college recruits”

“All candidates must complete the Prevue online.  Hiring teams use the results to assess job fit.

“Hiring and development in mid-to-upper-level positions; team building primarily with executive and management teams.”

“In 2010, I used the assessments the same as in previous years…as part of Training and Coaching programs.  This past year saw a return of other consultants’ businesses that access Prevue through me, which helped me, in essence, ‘sell’ more assessments.”

Question 7: Do you see your use of Prevue Assessments changing in 2011?  If so, how?

“Similar volumes unless we can get new reports and industry specific reports for an area such as health care.  This is a growth area in recruiting yet we do not have anything industry specific.  Clients have asked for “what does the industry do?””

“Succession Planning (more proactive; less reactive)”

“Possibly – would like to use it more in team and development vs. hiring which was a bulk of 2010 business.”

Question 8: If you could change one thing about the Prevue Reports, what would it be?

“Your changes seem to be ahead of the curve.”

“Show a composite graph page with multiple scores without having to generate a benchmark report.”

Question 9: What do you need from the Team at Prevue that currently is not available?

“Industry specific benchmarks for health care.”

“Quick users guide and some easy to understand reference material.  Every hiring mistake could have been avoided if we had a better understanding of the Prevue tool.”

“Comparison tool to allow us to show groups their complementary strengths.”

“You could offer some tele seminars on interpretation; unique applications for Prevue; marketing tips”.

Based on the feedback received, Prevue will take away the following action items to incorporate into our 2011 planning:

• Continue to develop tools to support hiring efforts;
• Develop a Benchmark Library;
• Develop industry specific offerings; and
• Prevue Reports will undergo upgrades.

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.