Intelligence/Personality Testing for Hiring Selection

Good Morning,

Few things in life are more frustrating than doing all the due diligence on a guy, interviewing him thoroughly only to hire him and then after you’ve hired him realize that he’s going to struggle on most of the hundred dollar questions if he’s ever a contestant on “Who wants to be a millionaire”.

Now what do you do? Your HR Manager won’t let you dismiss the disaster until you document it, and that could take months. You’re stuck. No more golf for you this year, you’ll be fixing new guys work. You hired a dud.

You hired someone who was “not the sharpest knife in the drawer”. Or, maybe he’s smart enough but the fit is all wrong. Or, maybe he has a bad case of what Zig Ziglar calls “stinkin’ thinkin’.” A bad case of “stinkin’ thinkin'” can bring your whole team down. Few things in life are better than great employees and few things are worse than bad ones.

Here are two creative ways to avoid regretful hires:

The Wonderlic Personnel Test for Intelligence Testing

My friend and mentor John Adams, CEO of RCM Industries, a manufacturer of flow measuring instrumentation in Concord, California has hired 100’s of employees in his years. John likes the Wonderlic Test for intelligence testing.

Al Wonderlic was the founder of Wonderlic, Inc., he so enjoyed learning about people that he literally interviewed everyone he met. From food servers to Fortune 100 executives, Al had to know why they had chosen their profession, how satisfied they were with their choices, and what their plans were for the future. Virtually everyone Al met told him a story – and as he listened, he learned.

As Personnel Director at Household Finance, Al entered Northwestern University in 1932 and began doctoral work in psychology. To complete his degree, he wrote his thesis on the relationship between intelligence and job performance. So powerful were his findings that peers across the country began asking him for copies of his Wonderlic Personnel Test (WPT). By 1937, Al and his wife, Winifred, were filling WPT orders from the basement of their small suburban home. And thus, Wonderlic, Inc. was born.

Sixty-five years and more than 130 million test administrations later, Al’s original work remains a staple in the selection practices of thousands of organizations worldwide.

The Predictive Index System

A number of years ago I was attending the Young Entrepreneurs Organization Conference in Cancun. Some doctor was there to do a personality profile for all of the attendees. At the time I thought all this personality testing stuff was just physco-babble but I decided to try it along with 100’s of other entrepreneurs. When I was done I couldn’t believe how well the profile described my personality. The doctor then asked the room to raise their hand if test described them to a “T”. Not if some of the traits matched but if the profile was YOU. As I looked around the room 90% of the room was raising there hand, as I was.

Robert Ferrara of Praendex in San Francisco works with growing companies profiling personalities using the The Predictive Index System created in 1953 by Arthur S. Daniels. In use today at more than 4000 companies worldwide Mr. Ferrara believes The Predictive index gives companies a huge advantage in hiring right. One of his clients I talked to said “The few times I hired in spite of the test results, I regretted it.”

I have worked with both the Wonderlic and The Predictive Index and would recommend them both. I’d be interested in your feedback/experience/insight with regard to other hiring/testing tools.

Email me at jpelayo@josephmichaels.com and indicate if I can use your name and comments in a future issue.

Joe Pelayo

Joe Pelayo, C.P.C.
Joseph Michaels International
Global Recruiting Solutions
800-786-1099
Email: jpelayo@josephmichaels.com
Website: http://josephmichaels.wpengine.com
One of the top 75 Recruiters in the United States ~ Recruiter Life Magazine