Want the job? Pass that test

Adults might think they left tests behind when they graduated from school.

But studies show most businesses apply work-force testing in some form, from simple skills assessments to complicated personality exams.

Statistics from the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology show that 68 percent of employers use some form of job-skill testing, while 29 percent of companies administer psychological assessments. Twenty percent of businesses test job applicants and employees for their cognitive abilities, and 13 percent apply personality tests.

Experts say companies quiz workers to raise the odds of making a good hire.

"Managers are really frustrated by the error rate with hiring, and how expensive it is to hire the wrong person," said Justin Menkes, author of "Executive Intelligence" and managing director of the Executive Intelligence Group, a recruitment consultant in New York. "It's frustrating to work with people when you know you've blown it. Employers are trying to get accuracy and insight. They find that the hiring process can be a coin flip."

Ann Marie Ryan, a psychology professor at Michigan State University, said that some tests can be more efficient than interviews at helping supervisors determine whether a prospective staffer meets specific hiring criteria.

"Interviews have difficulties and challenges," Ryan said. "They can take a long time, and depending on what you're screening for and how well-trained your interviewers are, there might be things they can't tap that would be better-assessed through valid tests."

Mars Retail Group, the company behind the Ethel M and ethel's chocolate brands, tests hiring prospects and existing employees using an assessment called the Predictive Index.

The Predictive Index is a five- to 10-minute online assessment designed to yield information about a person's work style, said Doug Waggoner, president of Resolution PI, a local consulting firm that administers the test.

It can determine, for example, whether a worker would prefer repetitive tasks to more open-ended work, or whether an employee would fare better with general instructions rather than a specific road map toward meeting a goal.

Delilah Martel, talent acquisition director at Mars Retail Group, implemented the Predictive Index at the Henderson confectionery after she joined the company in 2006. She's been using the assessment since 2001, when she was a regional recruiter for the Denny's restaurant chain. Martel estimated that hundreds of potential hires, as well as existing members of Mars' staff, have used the Predictive Index.

"It gives us a more well-rounded understanding of a candidate, and it assists our managers in understanding their teams," Martel said. "The Predictive Index is another tool that helps us empower our managers in hiring decisions and in building teams."

Ethel M doesn't use the index as its only hiring criterion, nor does it base firing or promotional decisions on the exam's results. Rather, it provides results to supervisors, who then use the data to improve relationships. One assistant store director is using survey feedback to help him understand the communication and recognition needs of his managers, Martel said.

It can be a smart strategy for businesses to assess existing workers, Menkes said.

As long as managers are up front about the goals they want to achieve and employees don't feel they're being secretly rated, tests can boost morale.

"They can open the lines of communication about important issues, and whether people are satisfied on the job," he said. "They also show employees you're interested in making sure they're in the right place."

Not every company has that kind of success with tests, though. That's because the hundreds of workplace assessments on the market vary widely in quality, Ryan said, and many businesses choose testing tools that don't actually measure the skills or traits they're after. A manager who wants to determine whether a hiring prospect will show up at the office on time every day won't find the answer through a personality test designed to diagnose mental illnesses.

Companies also must maneuver the legalities of on-the-job testing.

Legal considerations were paramount for Martel: She chose the Predictive Index because it's the only assessment tool she could find that meets all 13 requirements the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lays out for psychometric tests. Such assessments can't single out or discriminate against applicants based on race, gender or other protected status, for instance.

Businesses can limit liability further by ensuring screening isn't the only factor they use in hiring. Skip personality tests such as the popular Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, because many of them weren't made to be used for work. Plus, they're not predictive, and they can be illegal in the workplace, Menkes said.

Menkes said employers can legally test for two on-the-job personality characteristics: extraversion and conscientiousness.

Both attributes can predict workplace performance. You're on solid legal ground if you're gauging sociability in sales candidates, and it's also OK to administer tests that assess all prospects on virtues such as promptness.

Even though valid tests can be "very powerful" predictors of success, they're not perfect, Menkes said. You could be spending as much as $100 a candidate or employee to administer assessments, and a few additional considerations could help you get your money's worth out of the tests.

First, remember that interviews and background checks should take priority over test results in hiring decisions. It can be easy to fudge tests. After all, how many job candidates would cop to regular tardiness or missing deadlines? Ask them interview questions related to their history of completing projects on time. Check their references -- it takes just minutes.

Verifying résumé details might require just 10 minutes on the Internet, and that process can quickly uncover inaccuracies that allow the immediate elimination of questionable applicants. Finally, give hopefuls examples of real-life situations, and ask them how they'd react.

"The good thing about the interview process versus testing is that interviews imitate the job situation more," Menkes said.

"Work is not typically done in a multiple-choice format. Ninety percent of a job is verbal, real-time, people talking to other people. You want to imitate that."

Ryan urges companies seeking workplace exams to first consider what skill sets a job or industry requires. Lay out the traits and talents a position demands, and then find a test that fits those needs.

Too many businesses pick tests that examine interpersonal skills, for example, when the jobs they're filling don't come with much human interaction.

Companies should also consider the professional expertise of the test maker and seller. Anyone can create a test and market it, Ryan said, and the testing industry has operators with no experience in psychology and measurement developing Web-based personality quizzes. If a test vendor can't prove his assessment's validity, or provide details on the background of the exam and its development, skip the test, Ryan recommended.

"You want good technical information," she said. "You really do need to look at where a test is coming from, and whether the (vendor) has the expertise to support it for the needs you want to use it for."

Contact reporter Jennifer Robison at jrobison@reviewjournal.com or (702) 380-4512.