A $50,000.00 mistake

The Value of Employee Assessment

A friend of mine, Rob Wilson*, tells a story about how hiring an employee can be compared to purchasing an expensive copier. It goes something like this: "Would you ever make a $50,000.00 purchase on a copier when you never knew if it was going to show up and work or not, it is not going to get along with other systems, it has good days and bad days, be productive one day and not the other, and by the way, it could leave at any time. Now, how many of you would want to sign on to a $50,000 copier if that's the way it would produce, and yet that's what we do with employees all the time. We make a $50,000 decision based on 'Well tell me a little bit about yourself?' "

Michael Jordan
He goes on to ask "How many of you know the name of Michael Jordan? Yes? Great. Michael Jordan has an awesome resume. Tremendous resume. And if you were going to hire him as an athlete, there would be no question that he would be qualified... unless he showed up for the Chicago White Sox.  We all know that story, a supreme athlete, I mean the man can fly, and yet when he came to the Chicago White Sox the man was essentially fired."

It all comes down to Job Fit. Job Match.
Rob finishes by saying "Now how do we determine if somebody is going to have job fit and job match? We have to get below the surface. We have to get below the iceberg. We only see the tip and that's what they sell us. We need to get below the surface, and find out exactly what are their life interests, what are their capabilities? Maybe with our IQ test, and math and problem solving tests, those types of skills. But more importantly, where do they fall in line by matching to our people? You can be a terrific sales person in Manhattan Kansas, and fail miserably in Manhattan, NYC!  It's all based on culture and environment."

As the business environment becomes more competitive, people, not processes and technology, increasingly become the differentiators. As a result, it is more important than ever to implement the best possible assessment systems in order to select, retain and develop talented people.

The Value of Assessment   in this kind of environment is that it gets the "right people on the bus" and the "wrong people off," thereby decreasing the costs associated with bad hires and increasing revenue potential as a result of talented employees. In addition, assessment plays a vital role in employee development as it streamlines the development process by targeting KSAs in need of development.

At the Individual Level,  assessment systems increase the probability of job fit, provide a road map for development, and open the door for rewards and advancement.

Finally, HR needs to become more strategic in influencing the organization's decisions. Assessments can help in this regard because they quantify the value of HR programs and services. In order to demonstrate true value, HR needs to measure the impact of programs on the key metrics driving organizational success.

*Rob is Vice President at 360Solutions llc. Waco TX