Human Resources in the Modern Workplace

"When hiring for a position, taking into account thearound 12 years old and going with a friend, his
various interview techniques at the disposal of theyounger brother and their father to choose a puppy
average Director, Executive, HR Manager or Businesseach for Christmas, out of the same litter. My friend
Owner, we can expect that there is about a 70% was old enough to choose for himself, but his father
chance that the person employed will be an averagewas going to choose for his younger brother.
or good employee. "My friend chose the largest, most boisterous, most
Employees fall into four categories: Excellent, Good,energetic puppy from the litter, literally within seconds
Average and Poor. There is also a small group whoof walking through the door. His father, on the other
can be considered unemployable, but statisticallyhand, stood off to one side and watched the puppies
speaking, they number less than 0.5% of those seen ininteract with each other. After about five minutes he
the average interview process.made his choice and off we went.
Excellent Employees:The puppy my friend chose grew to be a really big
- Always go above and beyond the call of duty.puppy that chewed up everything in sight, dug up the
- Are a perfect fit in their chosen field.yard and in general ran riot. His brother's puppy grew
- Add immense value to the Company who employsup to be a great dog, following commands, learning
them.tricks and seeming to sense what you wanted of him.
- Are trustworthy and loyal.I remember making a random comment about the
Good Employees:difference between them at a BBQ a few years later.
- Will go the extra mile when required.My friend's father just laughed and said he knew
- Are generally good at their job.exactly how they would grow up. He noted the
- Are trustworthy and loyal.energy and excitability of the puppy of my friend's
Average Employees:choice, but looking at the joy on his sons face, he
- Perform all of the elements of their position asknew the battle was lost before it had begun. He then
required.paid close attention to the rest of the puppies playing
- Are generally trustworthy, but not always loyal.and noticed that while the rest were running, jumping,
- Work on a clock mentality. As soon as they are offchasing and playing, one of them just sat quietly
the clock their obligations end.watching the humans and ignoring its siblings. This was
Poor Employees:the puppy he chose as the signs of intelligence and
- Perform enough the required tasks of their position toeven temper were obvious. These were the traits he
stay employed.was looking for in an animal that was to share his
- Have no special loyalty to the company and can onlyhouse.
partially be trusted.Humans though are more complex than puppies, which
- Are clock watchers.makes it harder to judge intelligence and personality.
As the above chart shows, there is quite a goodAlthough it is harder and more time consuming to
chance you will end up hiring an average or goodcorrectly assess the human personality, it is quite
employee as most employees fall into theseimportant and indeed quite cost effective in the long
categories. But there is also a small chance of gainingrun to accurately do so and that is why we have
an excellent employee and unfortunately, a largerdeveloped an extensive range of psychometric tests.
chance of hiring a poor employee. This is simply due toAlthough there are many tests available, from broad
the fact that some people, although perfect for thepersonality tests to specific skills testing
position, do not perform well in the interview, while a(eg: MS Word Proficiency Testing), today we are
person who is an average or poor fit for the positiongoing to look at one of the most popular of them all.
will be hired because they are good at interviews. ThisThe OCEANIC Test.
happens all the time.THE O.C.E.A.N.I.C TEST
So the question for your business is simply this: "HowThe OCEANIC test, also known as the Big Five Factor
do I stack the odds in my favour?" The answer,test, can be used across a range of industries, for a
surprisingly, is actually quite simple. Psychometricrange of purposes. This test gives a surprisingly
Testing.detailed overview of a person's base personality, and
CASE STUDYcan allow us to predict with quite a degree of certainty
Let's take a look at Jan Goodman, who is the head ofhow they will react in a range of scenarios or if they
the HR department in a large National Retailer. Janhave the particular key personality traits we define as
was looking to hire a trainee for a mid-leveldesirable for a given position or role.
management position. The position package is 45KThis test is based on five key factors, each quite
plus superannuation. This means that hiring the wrongunique when compared to the rest. These factors are
person, for just the 3 month trial period would cost theexplained below:
company in salary, superannuation, workersOPENNESS
compensation and insurance, not to mention theThis can be best described as how open people are
wasted man hours of training.to new, or more specifically, unconventional ideas or
Jan, being very good at her job, narrowed the field ofways of thinking about things. People who score low
120+ applications down to a field of 20 based onon this component tend to be regarded as
previous experience and education. Jan thenconventional. Words used to describe this component
contacted Right People to conduct their OCEANICare: Feelings, Actions, Ideas and Values.
Test. As a direct result of the test, Jan was able toCONSCIENTIOUSNESS
narrow the field down to two candidates and afterThis component consists of traits such as
another round of interviews, made her choice. Ian, theCompetency, Organization, Responsibility and
chosen candidate from that selection process, hasDutifulness. People scoring high on this component can
since completed his traineeship and is well on his waybe described as reliable, hard working, organized,
to becoming a senior executive in the corporation.disciplined and efficient, while in people with low scores
This is the kind of success story that is repeated timethe opposite is true.
and again where Psychometric Testing is used in theEXTRAVERSION
candidate selection process. It's all about finding theThis is best described as a measure of how outgoing
Right People for the position.a person is. A person scoring high in this component
WHAT IS PSYCHOMETRIC TESTINGcould be describes as assertive, talkative, sociable, etc,
Psychometric Testing can appear under many names:while a low score could be described as shy, bashful,
Skills Testing, Aptitude Testing, Personality Test, IQeasily led, etc.
Test, Employment Testing, Career Testing, the listAGREEABLENESS
goes on. The important thing to remember is this.Interpersonal traits such as sympathy, compassion and
Psychometric Testing is a branch of psychologygenerosity are the main traits measured in this
dealing with the measurement of mental traits,component. This can also include modesty, trust and
capacities, and processes via written and/or verbalstraightforwardness.
tests. In other words, by measuring your responses toNEUROTICISM
a set of pre-formulated questions, companies such asThis measures people's likely-hood to suffer from
Right People are able to prepare an accurate reportneurotic episodes. These can range from very mild
on your personality, cross reference this totheexacerbations such as self consciousness, jealousy
requirements of a particular position and draw aand irritability, right through to full blown anxiety and
conclusion on your suitability for that position.depression.
While we are on the subject, I still remember being