When Should You Test?
When deciding whether to use a validated selection system to hire or promote employees you should be doing some mental calculus as to what your organization will gain from doing so. Among the questions you should be asking are:
- Does individual performance matter? If everyone in a particular job performs at about the same level, there is no economic value to testing applicants. If the best performers contribute significantly more than average ones, testing is a good investment.
- How long do people stay? If you have a lot of early turnover (<90 days) you need to address the underlying issue (testing will only help a little). If your turnover is low, valid tests will be of great value since the people you hire will contribute to your organization for many years.
- Do you have the luxury of choosing among your applicants? If you are in a situation where you barely have as many applicants as openings, using valid selection systems will only give you heartburn since being more selective may result in some positions going unfilled. Also, using a top down selection methodology would only prevent you from hiring the bottom of the applicant pool, so you would not be gaining tremendous value from testing.
If you have many more applicants than positions, a valid selection system will allow you to hire the most talented people in the applicant pool, which is to your advantage.
More often than not, the use of valid selection systems will improve the performance of your organization. However, like any other business initiative, be sure to perform your due diligence first.
If you’re interested in improving the performance of your organization through validated selection systems, please contact Warren Bobrow.
The Value of Concentration
In today’s hectic work environment, multi-tasking seems to be the expected mode of operation. Many people pride themselves on being able to juggle a number of tasks at the same time (talking on the phone while responding to e-mails, eating and talking on your cell phone during your commute, etc.).
However, research (and experience) repeatedly shows that humans just aren’t designed to handle vast amounts of complex processing. While you might be able to fold laundry and talk on the phone, it’s unlikely that you can do the level of analytical thinking and problem solving that are required at work (e.g., trying to create a project plan or draft a budget while sitting in your weekly staff meeting).
When time is tight, you can often be more successful by concentrating on one task at a time rather than switching back and forth, which requires you to constantly re-group or re-focus. By paying attention to one task, you can finish faster and are less likely to make mistakes (which will require additional time to correct – thereby eliminating the time you tried to save by multi-tasking).
If you’re interested in increasing performance and finding ways to save more time in your organization, please contact Kammy Haynes.
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