Finding the right employees for your agency has become critical in today's highly competitive environment. And that's why so many agencies have turned to testing services to help them with their search and, in some cases, to help them with current employees as well.
In the case of pre-employment tests, the objective is to find a candidate who is a match for the particular opening and who will fit into the culture at the agency.
In the case of post-employment testing, there can be a number of different objectives, according to Craig Sidler, vice president-Insurance Division of Caliper Human Strategies, Inc., Princeton, New Jersey. He lists three common reasons for post-employment evaluations:
--A diagnostic to determine if a person is in the right job
--A look at manager/subordinate relationships
--A step toward building a team
The demands on employment evaluations have become far more complex today. Some 20 years ago, when I first wrote about employment testing, the emphasis basically was on finding people who could sell. Successful sales people had two important characteristics that could be identified by testing--empathy and ego drive. Empathy is the ability to understand another person's feelings and, in the case of sales, to use that information to find the potential client's "hot button." Ego drive is a characteristic where the sales person gets a kick out of making a sale and needs to continually do so to receive ego gratification.
Today, tests need to develop a complete profile of individuals to determine not only if they will be good sales people but also if they will fit in with the particular agency's culture and if they can handle the numerous other responsibilities that many agencies expect of their sales people. The tests also have to comply with legal requirements mandated by such legislation as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). At Caliper, its Profile Instrument has been revised about 20 times.
Today, however, "there are at least five different sales types in the business," Sidler points out. "Agencies are combining jobs. Sales people may be asked to have a strong focus on service. The agency may be looking for people who are not only motivated to persuade but have the ability to act as a consultant as well. Problem solving skills could be needed as well."
Employee retention is key
"Equally important," Sidler continues, "is whether the person being considered fits with the agency's style. Retaining employees is very important in today's market, so the candidate needs to be a good fit all the way around. The process always involves job analysis and an understanding of the agency culture and management style before we start testing."
The result of these new demands is that testing services have changed significantly, going from being simply testers to consultants. "We have to understand the workplace even before we administer the test. We're not just screening out people who don't fit the particular job," Sidler says, "but are trying to positively match the candidate with the job and the environment."
Testing services also do follow-up to "make certain there is a rapport developing. The manager/subordinate relationship is key." The profile of the individual not only provides insight into a candidate's suitability for a particular job but also helps identify areas where problems might occur. This is particularly important in working with new employees and in post-employment evaluations as well."
"The evaluation helps us identify both strengths and weaknesses," Sidler points out. "For example, a sales person who is not motivated or not selling may not be well-organized. That can be fixed. You can build on strengths and compensate for weaknesses if you know what they are. By consulting with the client, we can help them build a team and create a support system. We know that there are things that you can't change about people, but you can modify behaviors with training. The profiles let us know where deficits exist so we can focus training on those weaknesses."
Caliper, which handles employment evaluations for approximately 3,000 agencies each year and is endorsed by the IIAA, also offers a screening test for customer service people. As opposed to the full profile evaluation that takes about two hours, the service profile takes about half an hour and results can be faxed back to the agency within two hours. *
©COPYRIGHT: The Rough Notes Magazine, 1999