prism select online - why use it

7/30/2019 PRISM Select Online - Why Use It

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Center for Applied Neuroscience 2002

PRISM SELECT ONLINETHE SUCCESSFUL RECRUITMENT FORMULA

If you were told your next major financial investment had a one-in-ten chance of succeeding, you would probably turn it down. If you were

offered four-in-ten odds for the success of a significant capital outlay, you would probably say no. And yet, a range of academic studies have

shown that those are exactly the odds for success you may be playing with when you use the traditional methods of recruiting people.

Many recruiters admit that they base a significant part of their recruitment decisions on interviews, yet in a University of Michigan study, 'The

Validity and Utility of Alternative Predictors of Job Performance , researchers analysed how well job interviews accurately predict success on

the job. They concluded:

Most people are still hired on the basis of their CV and an interview alone. Statistics prove that decisions based on interviews alone

are accurate only 14% of the time. That means we have the chance to be wrong 86% of the time in the hiring of top performing

individuals.

In other words the interview process alone only gets the recruitment recommendation right one out of seven times not a great average!

Moreover, according to Quintessential Careers, traditional hiring practices are only 10% predictive of a future employee's job performance.

A Changed Job Market

Its a sign of the economic times. Companies looking to hire often have a large field of candidates from which to choose, yet the market is

now flooded with job applicants, many of them desperate to get work doing something - anything - even if they arent remotely qualified.

That means a lot of extra work and added cost. Most businesses realise its just really too time consuming to look closely at everyones

application. The result? Recruiters dont have time to respond properly to most applications and organizations are looking to rewrite the

book on old-fashioned recruitment efforts to produce better results for less effort.

The upward trend in the number of job applicants is affecting both large and small businesses, sending them scrambling for new solutions tofinding the veritable needle in a haystack: the best candidate for the job. The question is: how?


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Job activities are the fundamental building blocks of business performance. Must-do activities have to be clearly identified in the job

description in order to ensure that employees are clear about what need to be done and that performance can be measured. It is important to

bear in mind that a good job description should, in reality, define the success formula for the job and the same degree of logic, rigour and

strategic thinking should be applied to recruitment decisions as to other business decisions.

Once you are clear about the job, the system identifies and measures the core behaviours, aptitudes and work environment preferences the

ideal candidate will need to possess. Then it calculates and prioritizes those factors and provides you with a job benchmark against which to

measure each candidate. By using PRISM Select Online, you can see at a glance where your candidate matches the job benchmark. If there

is a mismatch, you will easily identify whether the mismatch is significant - if it is in an area of crucial importance. The system will also

highlight how any mismatches will impact job performance and productivity. PRISM Select Online not only highlights those that are critical

for excellent performance, but also those traits that could, potentially, be counter-productive in the role. Having created a PRISM measurable

benchmark, it can be saved in the system so that applicants can be pre-screened against it.

The PRISM Successful Recruitment Formula is based

on data compiled from a variety of academic studies

which highlighted the significance of each phase of the

recruitment process, in the selection of people who will

become successful, competent, productive employees.

The studies showed that predictors of on-the-jobperformance increase as each of the factors listed

below is added:

Sources: The Psychological Bulletin Vol 96 No1, Michigan State University School of Business and Manchester University


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Let us now consider each of the six predictors listed above:

Eligibility Match(Interview, Background Checks & References, Skills & Abilities Testing)

The traditional approach to recruiting relates to factors such as CV, interview, references and skills assessments, and determines if a candidate

has the necessary education, skills and prior experience required to do the job to a high standard. Going through the process of defining

optimum eligibility is important. Normally, eligibility factors are defined in terms of minimum requirements - the must haves. However, a

much clearer picture of eligibility can be obtained by looking at both minimum required and ideal eligibility. This is must have and want

to have. For example, if two years is the minimum level of experience in a similar job, what is the ideal level of experience required? Twoyears is enough, but five years would be significantly better. A CV primarily addresses a persons eligibility and it is fairly easy from a resume

and interview to determine if an applicant has all the relevant levels of skill, education and experience for the job. For that reason, PRISM

Select Online does not focus on eligibility issues. Instead, it concentrates on those key issues that are all too often not taken into

consideration during the recruitment process. These are:

Suitability

Work AptitudeWork Environment match

Suitability Match(Job Benchmarking)

Is the degree to which a candidates natural behavioural preferences

are aligned with the requirements for high performance in the job.

For a candidate to move beyond mere capability to highperformance, he or she needs to be well-suited for the job: they

need the natural qualities that make them right for the job. It is

counterproductive for an individual to perform in a role that does

not match his or her behavioural preferences because, not only the

individuals level of enjoyment and job satisfaction decreases, but so

does job performance. When mandatory tasks make up more than

35% of a jobs responsibilities for which there is a poor fit, rolesatisfaction and performance will often suffer. Eligibility, in terms of

education, skills, knowledge, experience etc., indicates if the candidate is able to perform the role to a high standard. Suitability, in terms of


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behaviour preferences, indicates if the candidate is likely to perform the role to a high standard. Research has shown that when a person

enjoys more than 70% of his or her work activities they are three times more likely to succeed than those who do not.

Work Aptitude Match

Is designed to predict someone's potential to learn or acquire the skills to perform specific tasks. There are many factors to be considered

when designing a job specification,

but aptitude is one most often

overlooked. Although a candidatemay be able to do almost anything

they put their mind to, that doesnt

mean they will be able to do it to a

high standard. For example, the

individual who is good at working

with tools and machinery may not be

as successful in roles that require

them to be creative or artistic. Work

aptitudes help predict where that

natural affinity can best be applied.

One problem is that people often

confuse aptitude and skills. A skill is

the ability to perform a task.

Although a person can increase their

knowledge and skills througheducation and experience, their

innate aptitude is largely

unchangeable. It is also important to

bear in mind, that success in a career

is usually determined by more than one aptitude. For example, a person may happen to have a strong aptitude for working with the paper,

data processing and computer based aspects of work, but that person might also have a weak or low aptitude for conducting detailed

research and uncovering facts. This would probably indicate that they should think twice before deciding to apply for a job in accountancy.


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Work Environment Match

Is the extent to which an applicant will fit into or enjoy a particular work environment or organisation. As teamwork and group projects

become more common in the workplace, finding the right candidates to fit into corporate culture has become essential for success. Despite a

candidates promising skills and

experience, how can you tell if they

will be a good fit? Matching a

candidate to the requirements of the

job is one thing, finding someone

that can match the companys

culture can be an entirely separate

and distinctive consideration. For

example, a person who prefers to

work alone and to have sufficient

time to do his or her work to a high

standard will, almost certainly, not

enjoy or perform well in a busy teamenvironment in which there is

frequent change and tight deadlines

to be met. It is also important to

recognise that there are often sub-

cultures within organisations - the

work environment in a marketing

department can be very differentfrom the one in corporate finance.

Although research has clearly shown that job performance is definitely linked to job eligibility, suitability and aptitude, it has also been

demonstrated that if the person and environment fit, there is a significant increase in job performance, satisfaction and retention. PRISM

Select Online highlights those work environment factors that are likely to enhance a candidates performance and those that are likely to

inhibit his or her performance. A single green tick indicates that the environment is likely to enhance the candidates performance, whereas

two green ticks indicate that the environment is likely significantly to enhance the candidates performance. Conversely, a single red crossindicates that the environment is likely to inhibit the candidates performance, whereas two red crosses indicate that the environment is likely

significantly to inhibit the candidates performance.


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Career Development Needs

It is important to recognise, however, that even the best candidates will often require some additional development if they are to achieve

their full potential in a role. PRISM Select Online analyses each candidates assessment results against 26 key areas of work, ranging from

People Skills and Drive for results to Conscientiousness and Resilience. PRISM Select Online extracts the relevant range level required by the

job benchmark for each of these key

areas and matches the candidates

strengths against them. This report,

Career Development Analysishighlights potential development areas

that need to be explored to ensure that

candidates high potential is fully

exploited.

If you are considering a large number of

candidates for a vacancy, the system is a

great tool for side-by-side comparison of

applicants. PRISM Select Online has a

best fit facility which ranks candidates

in order of how well they match the

vacancy benchmark. It helps you to see

clearly key areas of match, so that you

can more easily decide which individual

is most suitable.

One of the most important things PRISM

Select Online offers is an unbiased

perspective. It provides you with facts, so

you do not get distracted by whether you like or dislike a candidate. PRISM Select Online will tell you whether the individuals key

characteristics are a match or a mismatch with your vacancy. The system points out strengths and challenges, things you need to consider if

you decide to employ this person. Getting this kind of objective third party input can be invaluable.


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Research has shown that top performers in specific jobs often share certain core behaviours, aptitudes and work environment preferences. We

also find they frequently have traits not found in middle or lower level performers. Our goal is to find the answers to two critical questions:

What traits do top performers in a particular job have in common?

What traits set top performers apart from others to make them unique?

Having your top performers undertake the PRISM Select Online is the first step.

Once your top performers have taken the assessment, you can start to understand their high performance blueprint. You can identify their

most prominent characteristics and see which ones are consistent from person to person. Maybe they only share one or two traits. Or

perhaps there are a number of qualities they have in common. Either way, you can pinpoint the type of individual you want to hire in the

future. You can then use this information to create job benchmarks with which you can compare your candidates.

In summary, PRISM Select Online can dramatically help improve the recruitment process for your business, improve staff quality and reduce

costs. Pre-screening assessments, such as PRISM Select-Online, have been proven to be up to 5 times more effective than traditional

selection techniques in the prediction of performance. In fact, one third of human resource managers recently surveyed by the American

Management Association were now incorporating pre-screening into their hiring decision-making process.

Sources:

Professor Mike Smith, University of Manchester;

John E. Hunter, Industrial Psychologist, Michigan State University, Testing as a Predictor of Training Success and Job Performance;

Validity and Utility of Alternative Predictors of Job Performance, Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 96, No. 1;Robert P. Tett, Douglas N. Jackson and Mitchell Rothstein, Personality Measures as Predictors of Job Performance: A Meta-Analytical Review, Personnel Psychology, Michigan State

Universitys School of Business

prism select online - why use it

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