Pre-Employment Personality Tests
Pre- Employment Personality Tests
A Look In To an Employers Options
Composition II
8/10/08
In today’s fast paced society employers are trying all they can to ensure they hire the right person for the job. After all “time is money” and turnover consumes a lot of time. One method some employers use to attempt to find the right employee is using the pre-employment personality test. These tests use a series of questions to determine what a prospective hire’s personality is like; which in turn, allows an employer to determine if the person would work well in their institution. While pre-employment tests may appear to be a great way to weed out the candidates with the wrong type of personality, these tests are not without flaws.
Pre-employment personality tests have grown in popularity over the years. Their popularity has been fueled by company’s desires to keep costs down. Studies of several companies across the country found that turnover is one of the most costly business operating costs. The cost is in not only training, but also in loss of customer loyalty and mistakes made from lack of experience. One study showed that the cost to replace a supermarket cashier earning $6.50 an hour was as much as $3,637.00 (Hawkes, 2001). With costs this high to replace a position that takes very little skill or training, one could imagine what turnover costs of a supermarket manager might be. Other sources provide these estimates: It costs you 30-50% of the annual salary of entry-level employees, 150% of middle level employees, and up to 400% for specialized, high level employees (Blake 2006). With this much money on the line it is no wonder that companies are doing all they can to ensure that they are hiring the right person for the job. The purpose of a personality test is to determine if an applicant’s personality is congruent with they type of job being applied for.
There are several different types of pre-employment personality tests. Some have simple
A Look In To an Employers Options
Composition II
8/10/08
In today’s fast paced society employers are trying all they can to ensure they hire the right person for the job. After all “time is money” and turnover consumes a lot of time. One method some employers use to attempt to find the right employee is using the pre-employment personality test. These tests use a series of questions to determine what a prospective hire’s personality is like; which in turn, allows an employer to determine if the person would work well in their institution. While pre-employment tests may appear to be a great way to weed out the candidates with the wrong type of personality, these tests are not without flaws.
Pre-employment personality tests have grown in popularity over the years. Their popularity has been fueled by company’s desires to keep costs down. Studies of several companies across the country found that turnover is one of the most costly business operating costs. The cost is in not only training, but also in loss of customer loyalty and mistakes made from lack of experience. One study showed that the cost to replace a supermarket cashier earning $6.50 an hour was as much as $3,637.00 (Hawkes, 2001). With costs this high to replace a position that takes very little skill or training, one could imagine what turnover costs of a supermarket manager might be. Other sources provide these estimates: It costs you 30-50% of the annual salary of entry-level employees, 150% of middle level employees, and up to 400% for specialized, high level employees (Blake 2006). With this much money on the line it is no wonder that companies are doing all they can to ensure that they are hiring the right person for the job. The purpose of a personality test is to determine if an applicant’s personality is congruent with they type of job being applied for.
There are several different types of pre-employment personality tests. Some have simple
Cited: Hawkes, Rod (2001, January) Retaining Good Employees Is Smart Marketing The Vegetable Growers News Blake, Ross (2006, July 24) Employee Retention: What Employee Turnover Really Costs Your Company Retrieved August 8, 2008 http://www.webpronews.com/expertarticles/2006/07/24/employee-retention-what-employee-turnover-really-costs-your-company Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia (2008) Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Retrieved August 8, 2008 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers-Briggs_Type_Indicator Trainor, Linda (2008) Personality Testing: Benefits and Risks Galore Business and Legal Reports. Retrieved August 8, 2008 http://www.vault.com/nr/newsmain.jsp?nr_page=3&ch_id=400&article_id=52960&cat_id=1083