PERSONALITY/BEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENTS– THE NEW HIRING TOOL?
These days, just because you have your Masters or Bachelors degree from the right school with the right major, doesn’t necessarily make you the right candidate for the job. More and more companies are requiring potential employees take a personality or behavioral assessment to help identify a candidate’s work style and behavior.
According to an article in the CareerJournal, more than 80% of midsize and large companies use personality and ability assessments for entry and mid-level positions as part of a pre-employment or new employee orientation tool, says Scott Erker a senior VP at Development Dimensions International, a global human resources consultancy. Where they were used mostly in retail positions, they have now spread to other industries including finance, technology, health care and operations.
The main goal of these assessments is to help a company hire a specific type of person for a job that may require particular traits, or rule out traits that are most likely to lead to job failure. Further, some companies are using them to screen candidates as they apply; candidates won’t even get an interview unless they reach a certain score or result.
There are a few things you can do to be prepared for a personality assessment, namely understanding the organization and why they use that particular assessment. Do your research to give you more insight into the company’s rationale behind their assessment choices.
Another idea is: TAKE YOUR OWN ASSESSMENT WITH YOU. Go straight to the interview armed with your own behavioral assessment. For example, our company offers a variety of Behavioral Assessments that help you expand upon your work habits, interview preparation, communication style, management style, customer service, sales skills and more. We’ve had clients potential employers ASK for our numbers in order to be able to give these assessments to their own employees! For a minimal cost, you can have a complete portfolio of assessments at your disposal to impress a hiring manager and get a leg up on the competition.
Companies see the assessment as opportunities for individuals to better understand themselves and their value to the company.
For more information on the behavioral assessments we offer, call 1-866-793-9224 or email me at: ekennedy@proreswriters.com
Until next time,
Erin Kennedy