WHAT IS NEEDED BEFORE AN ASSESSMENT IS CONDUCTED?

Personal assessments are most effective when the assessor has an opportunity to know the company, the incumbent managers, and the specifications of the position in question. This enables the professional to look at specific issues rather than general competencies. To help ensure that a pre-hire or pre-promotion psychological test addresses the key issues for your situation, it is helpful to tell the professional the following information before he or she begins the evaluation process:

• Characteristics of the position in question
• Core competencies for the position and the company
• Possible barriers that could confront the successful candidate
• History of past incumbents
• Culture of the team surrounding the position
• Culture of the organization
• Expected short-term outcomes of the position in question
• Long-term expectations of the position
• Possible career path for the successful candidate

For developmental profiles, the following information is helpful before the assessment begins:

• History of successes and setbacks of the individual
• Relationships with peers and subordinates
• Possible opportunities to expand responsibility
• Recent performance reviews
• Special project opportunities
• Possible career path(s)

HOW IS A PERSONAL ASSESSMENT CONDUCTED?

• Personal profiles, as done by Dr. Lakin, are based on a two-hour online behavioral interview, a general intelligence test, and several personality questionnaires, for a total of about four hours with an individual.  This lets the candidate and HR department have enormous flexibility in scheduling.  People are able to talk to Dr. Lakin via Skype, Zoom or Facetime, making it possible for candidates to interview between meetings or after work hours in many cases.  While the science is far from perfect, the combination of a disciplined interview with valid, standardized testing provides a thorough and objective assessment of an individual's capabilities and personality characteristics. Because he has seen the increasing time pressures on hiring managers and candidates, Dr. Lakin can usually provide a written report within 24 hours.

WHAT DOES AN ASSESSMENT COST?

• Like any professional service, there is a wide range of fees for psychological profiling services. In a recent survey of the Chicago area, the range of fees was from $1900 to more than $6000 per assessment. Most personal profiles conducted by Dr. Lakin cost about $1800 for sales and supervisor candidates up to $2500 for executive candidates and developmental planning profiles of senior-level managers/executives.

BOTTOM LINE

You need to hire the right people, develop them effectively, and prepare them for their future and the future of your company. Personal pre-hire assessments give you important insights about your people and the people you may hire. They help you make better decisions.  They help you see more clearly the person you are considering for your company.  A quick look at the financial side of the selection process will tell you that if pre-hire assessments (tests and interview) can prevent you from making one bad hire, it probably saves you tens of thousands of dollars. (Remember--a bad hire costs you thousands of dollars in recruiting and hiring expenses, training, lost opportunity, salary and benefits, and termination costs!) From a development perspective, personal profiles focus your training and development dollars where they can be most effective. From an organizational perspective, there is no better growth strategy than using every tool available to hire and develop the best people. Ask Dr. Lakin to help you by providing personal assessment services for your business needs.