Try Behavioural Assessments

While judging personality may well be the most critical component in determining whether someone is right for a job and for your IT organization, it's also the most elusive factor to identify. Some CIOs, like Arnold Logistics' Kautz, use behavioural or personality assessment tools to measure a person's fit for a job. Kautz has had success with a Web-based tool called the Predictive Index (PI), having hired six people with the tool since 2001, all of whom still work for him. Other personality assessments are The Big Five, which measures five facets of personality (conscientiousness, neuroticism, agreeableness, openness, and introversion or extroversion), and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, a more controversial test used to diagnose and treat personality disorders, and administered most often for lower-level employees.

Developed in the 1950s, the PI provides information about the working conditions that are most rewarding to an individual and that make the employee the most motivated and productive (see the test at www.piworldwide.com). When administered on a computer, the PI consists of two separate screens. The first lists 86 adjectives, including sophisticated, earnest, self-starter, loyal, passive, persuasive, obstinate and charitable. The individual taking the PI is asked to select as many adjectives from the list that describe the way he thinks others expect him to act. The second screen contains the same adjectives and asks the person to check off those that he thinks describes himself. The PI measures a person's optimum working conditions by comparing what he checks off on the first screen with what he checks off on the second screen.

Kautz admits to being a sceptic when his company first used the Predictive Index. He begrudgingly began administering it simply because it was a corporate initiative. He thought it would create a homogeneous organization of drones who never disagreed with one another. The fact was, Kautz didn't understand the purpose of the PI, which is predicated on the notion that organizations need to be diverse because different positions require different personalities and behaviours.

As he learned to use the test to his advantage, however, his scepticism waned. He found he was able to improve the quality of his hires while spending less time interviewing. Before he started using the PI, his hiring decisions rested solely on a candidate's skills and experience. Because the PI makes behaviours measurable, he now has a sound way to compare the required behaviours with a potential employee's actual behaviours.

Kautz uses the PI to create job ads that state the type of person and characteristics that are needed for a position. He gives people in the position for which he's hiring and others who interface with that position a form called a PRO (Performance Requirement Options), which includes an extensive list of activities such as sitting in front of a computer for most of the day and delegating authority to subordinates. He asks them to choose the most frequently performed activities. The PI translates those activities into behaviours and charts them. For example, if co-workers check off delegating authority, talking persuasively and selling ideas, those activities indicate that the job requires someone who's extroverted and possesses an intuitive sense of other's feelings. Kautz can then write in his ad that he's looking for extroverted, intuitive people.

He also uses the PI to screen candidates. For a systems analyst position that he needed to fill, he wrote a job description based on data he obtained from the PRO that noted, among other things, that the person applying had to be capable of multitasking and working in a fast-paced environment. After screening resumes and determining which applicants had the skills, he e-mailed them a link to the PI. When he received their results, Kautz matched them to the PRO. Kautz interviewed those candidates whose PI results most closely matched the PRO, and he hired the person who most closely matched what he was seeking.

The PI also helps him identify smooth talkers and those who respond to questions with answers they think will net them the job. One time when Kautz was hiring for a leadership position that required a lot of interpersonal work and direct management of small teams, he interviewed a candidate who looked great on paper and made a good impression during the interview. He answered questions about leading teams well. Meanwhile, however, his PI results indicated that he was passive and therefore might not possess the necessary characteristics. So Kautz probed deeper and asked the candidate how he would deal with confrontation and having to fire someone. After a few of these questions, the candidate realized he wasn't right for the job. Kautz then discussed with the candidate other positions more in line with his personality.

Finally, the PI helps Kautz speed the interviewing process. Before he started using the PI, he says, he interviewed more candidates and had to ask more to return for second interviews. He says the PI gives him the confidence to know when the right person is under his nose and which applicants not to bring in.