By
Kate Lorenz, CareerBuilder.com Editor
Job candidates rarely admit to being fired for poor performance...and
they might just be telling the truth. A Harvard University study
found that for every dismissal based on failure to perform,
there are two dismissals due to personality and communication
problems. With the high costs of employee turnover, it's no
surprise companies are turning to personality and behavioral
assessments to help evaluate job candidates, build teams and
resolve workplace conflict.
The Right Fit
Ann Taylor Loft, the world's fastest-growing women's retailer,
recently began using testing to fine-tune its hiring process
and bring in top talent. Through a partnership with the Gallup
organization, Loft has developed a tool that profiles employees
who have been highly successful and identifies candidates
who have similar traits.
Desired characteristics vary by position. If you're applying
for a floor sales manager job at a Loft store, for example,
you would be asked to complete an on-line assessment gauging
your talents, traits, attitudes and behaviors related to assisting
and helping wardrobe clients. Your results would then be benchmarked
against profiles and test results of the stores' best performers
to help judge how you would fit into the organization.
"We want to learn more about candidates as individuals,"
says Wei-Li Chong, Ann Taylor Loft's vice president of organizational
effectiveness. "We want to know what makes them tick.
"Once a candidate is hired, this same information helps
us understand and maximize their talents specific to the role
they have," Chong adds. "And we continue to work
on developing employees' self-awareness throughout their careers
to help create an environment that ensures success."
Why Can't We All Just Get Along?
Hundreds of companies including Hewlett-Packard and GM use
testing to take advantage of existing staff strengths and
avoid personality-based conflicts. And though there are a
myriad of test instruments to choose from, the Myers-Briggs
Type Indicator (MBTI) remains the standard-bearer of all personality
assessments. According to its publishers, Myers-Briggs is
used by roughly nine out of 10 Fortune 100 companies and is
administered to more than 2.5 million employees a year.
Developed 60 years ago based on the theories of psychoanalyst
Carl Jung, the MBTI endures because it does a great job of
improving team relations by pointing out differences between
how personality "types" perceive and process information.
"People have different ways of making decisions and
dealing with stress," explains Lynn Ronchetto, human
resources administrator at New York-Presbyterian Hospital.
"The Myers-Briggs tool offers a conceptual framework
for understanding those who are different from us and helps
bridge differences between team members by showing there is
more than one way to get things done.
"The tool is also very valuable from a personal development
standpoint, as it gives individuals a revealing glimpse of
themselves as others may see them."
You Can't Study For It
What should you do when your boss or prospective employer
asks you to take a personality assessment? Experts advise
answering the questions truthfully, not the way you think
the company wants you to respond. There is often a validity
factor built-in where many questions are asked solely to determine
whether the subject is answering truthfully and consistently.
Even if you do fool the test, you'll only wind up in a job
or assignment that doesn't fit or will make you - and those
around you - miserable. According to Bonnie Bass, vice president
of Professional Dynametric Programs testing organization,
"When people feel the need to act unnaturally, they waste
energy, experience stress and become unhappy and less productive.
People are at their best when they're doing work that draws
on their natural strengths and allows them to be themselves."
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