Methods for assessing the professional and personal qualities of candidates. Assessment of personal qualities of personnel. General aptitude tests
Methods for assessing the ICR of candidates are:
- analysis of documents;
- interview;
- business game;
- professional test;
- psychodiagnostic examination;
- psychophysiological examination;
- medical examination.
Analysis of candidates' documents - applications for employment, diplomas and certificates of education, work books, reviews, characteristics and recommendations from previous jobs, autobiographies and resumes - in general, allows us to identify the compliance of candidates with formal requirements, which should serve as the basis for the formation (in past or future, in the process of learning or practical activity) or testify to the degree of formation (based on the results of past activities) of the necessary internal control rules.
As a rule, all formal and some informal data are reflected in a document such as the "Candidate Questionnaire", which is filled out by applicants for vacant positions. Each organization, and in some cases its divisions, include in the questionnaire those positions that they consider necessary. But most often the questionnaire contains the following items:
- consent to the provision and study of personal data;
- surname, name, patronymic and date of birth;
- residential address, email address and telephone number;
- education (educational institution, years of study, specialty and specialization);
- professional activity (organizations, positions, main responsibilities, years of work and reasons for dismissal);
- recommendations (names, positions and contacts of persons who can give them);
- work career goal and professional desires.
The employer may also need information such as: membership in professional associations; knowledge of foreign languages; computer skills; marital status, presence, gender and age of children; accommodations; the possibility of travel on business trips and their maximum duration; having a car and driving license, playing sports and sporting achievements; hobby; chronic diseases and bad habits.
If a shorter list of formal characteristics is required, then the candidate is asked to submit a resume, or otherwise curriculum vitae, which, in principle, is drawn up in free form. At the same time, a tradition has developed to include the following points in the resume: name, address, contacts; the position you are looking for; work experience; education; additional information (which the candidate considers it necessary to provide); the ability to provide recommendations. In general, the point of writing a resume is for the candidate to remember and correctly state all his important educational and professional achievements that correspond to the desired position.
In the practice of selection, the greatest disagreements are caused by the use of recommendations of previous employers, managers, representatives of professional associations. As a rule, HR departments require written recommendations and (or) contact numbers of four to six such assistants. However, firstly, recommendations are not always needed, and secondly, as experience shows, up to a quarter of recommendations are false.
The need for recommendations arises when candidates are hired for positions of middle or senior managers, as well as for positions that involve full financial responsibility. However, it should be remembered that recommendations are not a reliable selection tool. First, recommendations are taken from those who can give them in a positive way. The reason for receiving inaccurate information may be the reluctance of the former employer to “wash dirty linen in public”. A good recommendation can be given as a condition for dismissal at the initiative of the employer, etc. Therefore, it is difficult to obtain objective information, but all the same, recommendations should not be neglected. They should be checked whenever possible. Finally, it should be questionable when a candidate has failed to provide any recommendation.
An interview is the negotiation of potential cooperation. More specifically, an interview is a process of personal communication between a representative of an organization - a top manager, a line manager, an HR officer (psychologist), a security officer - with a candidate or simultaneously with several candidates for filling a vacant position in order to determine the compliance of candidates with the general requirements of the organization (organizational culture) and a specific workplace, as well as study the wishes of candidates for a new job. The communication process can be direct (face-to-face) or via the Internet ( Skype). The video interview mode is applicable to save time and in the case of a large territorial distance of highly qualified specialists.
The logic of the interview allows you to distinguish a number of stages in it.
At the first stage there is an acquaintance of the representative of the organization with the candidate and the candidate with the organization. At the same time, the representative briefly talks about the organization - the main types of its activities, products, achievements, the advantages of working in it, and then asks the candidate to also briefly tell the most important thing about himself and answer the question: "Why should the organization take you?"
In the second stage the personal qualities of the candidate are revealed, which make it possible to judge his compliance with the requirements of the organization and organizational culture (personal PVC). Since these requirements and values are specific to each organization, the issues can be different. However, most often the candidate is asked questions related to his attitude to work in general; motivation to work in the organization and in the desired position; life experience and character (life problems and ways to solve them, personal strengths and weaknesses, contact and behavior in a team). Specific questions in accordance with the organizational culture can reveal, for example, the desire of the candidate to show initiative and creativity, to improve qualifications, to achieve career growth. The similarity of the value orientations of the candidate's personality and the values of the organization facilitates the processes of adaptation and self-realization of the candidate at a new place of work.
Target third stage interviews - to determine the degree of professionalism of the candidate for the performance of his duties in the desired position (special ICR). Here the questions to the candidate are related to his professional experience and qualifications - what types of work the candidate did, what kind of work he likes and succeeds, and what causes difficulties. It is also possible to test his intelligence, resourcefulness, reaction speed and other qualities necessary for practical work. So, you can ask the candidate to perform simple mathematical operations, for example, calculate how much 30% of 300 rubles will be, or answer why the hatch cover is round.
At the main stages of the interview, questions are posed to the candidate (specified) in a form requiring specific answers ("give an example of how you ...", "tell us about your role in ...", "describe the situation in which you ... ").
Fourth stage is intended for the candidate to ask all the questions that interest him about the organization and position, leadership and team, his own prospects in case of getting a job, and the interviewer completed it by thanking the candidate for communication.
During the entire interview, it is important to evaluate the characteristics of the candidate's appearance and behavior, by which one can judge the qualities that are more or less necessary for any job. Such features can be neatness and smartness, poise and self-confidence, literacy, consistency in presenting thoughts, liveliness and quickness of reaction, resourcefulness, sincerity and interest in work. Finally, it should be emphasized that interviews with candidates applying for the same or the same positions should be conducted according to the same plan, include the same questions, in order to be able to correctly compare the information received.
Business games are a method of group work based on modeling the subject and socio-psychological aspects of the content of professional activity. The business game as a method of personnel selection allows you to determine:
- the level of business activity of candidates;
- the presence of tactical and (or) strategic thinking;
- the speed of adaptation to new conditions (including extreme ones);
- the ability to adequately assess their own capabilities and build an appropriate line of behavior;
- the ability to analyze the capabilities and motives of other people and influence their behavior;
- the ability to predict the development of processes;
- leadership style, orientation when making decisions "for oneself" or "in the interests of the team", etc.
As you can see, the business game allows you to evaluate many aspects of the behavior of individuals in a group, but most often it is used to select management personnel. The main feature of business games aimed at the selection of managers is to create situations of uncertainty, in the participants' solution of "vague" rather than rigidly structured tasks, in the formation of attitudes towards innovative, risky behavior. Thus, in the course of the game, it is possible to evaluate creativity, independence of thinking, responsibility and initiative of candidates, i.e. exactly those qualities that are necessary for decision-makers.
A business game for the purpose of professional selection is conducted under the guidance of a leader - a "master methodologist" in small groups of 6-12 people for one or two academic hours. The game can include instructions, the actual game and summing up its results.
Briefing begins with the acquaintance of the players and consists of communicating the rules of the game to them, announcing the theme of the game and the game task.
The game can be carried out using various methods and techniques of enhancing the mental activity of the players. So, to generate solutions, brainstorming techniques (brainstorming, brainstorming) and its modifications (635, utopian games, cybernetic sessions), synectics, control questions, F. Zwicky's morphological analysis, A. Mol's morphological matrices, and others are used. , including various combinations of the above, for example, the integral technique "Meter".
The algorithm of the game is developed depending on which specialists and with which PVCs you need to select. Here is an example of one of the algorithms that requires players to make decisions.
- 1. Before the game group (its arbitrary division into subgroups is possible) is given the task of placing investments, implementing organizational changes, personnel management, etc.
- 2. Each player independently makes a decision and fixes it on the form.
- 3. The decision is made in the game group (subgroups). Possible solution alternatives are generated, for example, by brainstorming, and then a group solution is developed during the discussion.
- 4. Each player again makes an individual, but already final decision, taking into account the results of the group discussion.
- 5. The group (subgroups) justifies its decision. Dissenting opinions of players are heard.
- 6. The results of group work are assessed. For example, the deviation of a group solution from the optimal one is estimated in points - from 1 (with the maximum deviation from the optimum) to 5 (with the closest to the optimal solution).
- 7. The minimum and maximum deviations of individual primary and final decisions from the optimum are estimated.
In addition to assessing the adequacy of individual decisions, other characteristics of the individuals who make them can also be assessed:
- the coincidence of the initial decision of the player with the group decision indicates his ability to convince others of the correctness of his decision. If the player made a good initial decision, but the group decision was worse, then this indicates that this player was not convincing enough;
- the ability to listen to the opinions and arguments of others is manifested in the ability to abandon his original decision in favor of the best solution proposed by other members of the group or developed by the group during the discussion. If the player, when making the final decision, returns to his original decision, which is worse than the group decision, then this indicates inflexibility of thinking and a certain amount of stubbornness.
In addition to these qualities, the compliance of candidates with the specific requirements of the organization for candidates for vacant positions is assessed.
Summarizing involves an exchange of views, disputes and summing up the overall results of the game.
Business games in this and other versions at various stages of their conduct include group discussions that allow you to observe and evaluate knowledge, creativity, the ability to form, express and defend your opinion, attitude to other people's opinions and criticism of your own, sociability and other qualities of candidates needed by the organization. Due to the high information content for solving a number of tasks of studying personnel, group discussion can be used as an independent selection method.
Professional tests should reproduce or simulate specific situations of professional activity for which an employee is sought. These situations can be key, determining the success of the activity, extreme or critical. The leader must be able to make decisions and give specific and clear instructions on them, but he may also need the ability not only to make decisions, but to respond quickly to new situations or situations of uncertainty, the project manager, in addition, must competently plan, organize and motivate the work of members teams, etc.
Distinguish between theoretical and practical professional tests.
Theoretical tests serve primarily to assess the knowledge and thinking of candidates. They can take the form of an exam or an individual case study. The last concept should be clarified. The Evaluation Center technology, the essence of which will be disclosed below, often involves the use of a so-called postage basket. The "basket" contains documents and data for their analysis. The candidate must study these documents and determine what problems need to be solved, in what order, by what methods, and substantiate his point of view. This situation can be “virtualized” and, in addition to the initial information, the candidate can be provided with the opportunity to apply for its clarification to a specially trained “competent person”.
A cross between theoretical and practical tests and business games is the imitation of specific situations. For example, a candidate for a managerial position is put in the position of a boss who must conduct a conversation with a subordinate. Possible topics of conversation may be reducing the performance of a subordinate, analyzing his complaint, preventing his dismissal of his own free will, etc. To prepare the conversation, the candidate is presented with information about the subordinate and his previous behavior. Based on the information received, the candidate thinks over the course of the conversation and conducts it. A specially trained person acts in the role of a subordinate, who must behave in the same way with all candidates who have received the same assignments.
Practical tests allow you to evaluate the candidate, as they say, "in action." Practical testing can be relatively straightforward. So, the selection of secretaries and clerks can consist in typing the text under dictation or in compiling it in accordance with certain requirements. Difficult tests include tests similar to those of leaders, for example, the ability of a future teacher or instructor to simply, clearly and comprehensively acquaint students with the subject under study. For some professions, practical tests - driving a car for a driver or laying bricks for a bricklayer - are the primary method of determining a candidate's aptitude.
The professional testing process is supervised by qualified specialists (experts) who evaluate the results of candidates according to established criteria, similar to test norms, and formulate their independent opinions. Then the final personnel decision is made on these conclusions.
Psychodiagnostics for the purpose of professional selection involves the study of the personal and operational psychological PVK of candidates. For each of these groups of PVCs, methods are selected that embody, respectively, subjective and objective psychodiagnostic approaches.
The tools of the subjective approach in professional selection are personality questionnaires. Questionnaire - it is a technique containing questions to which the subjects must answer positively or negatively, or statements with which the subjects must agree or disagree. There are no right or wrong answers - each subject chooses them in accordance with his subjective preferences, which reveals his personal characteristics. Personal questionnaires include:
- personality types - Minnesota Multidimensional Personality List (MMPI), Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ), Myers-Briggs Typology Questionnaire (MBTI);
- personality traits - 16-factor personality questionnaire by R. Kettel (16-PF), self-deprivation test questionnaire by V. Stolitsa and S. Panteleev;
- orientation of personality - the method of value orientations by M. Rokeach, the list of personal preferences of A. Edwards (EPPS), the questionnaire of achievement motivation by A. Mehrabian;
- personality states - the Spielberger-Khanin self-assessment scale, the SAN questionnaire (well-being, activity, mood);
- of interpersonal relations - T. Leary's method of diagnosing interpersonal relations, Q-sorting method, K. Thomas's questionnaire "Style of behavior in conflict".
In addition to the above questionnaires, there are others. So, the typological questionnaires should include those designed to diagnose the temperament and accentuation of the personality, and the personality orientation questionnaires - the methods of identifying their moral and social potential. In addition, the classification of questionnaires depends on the interpretation of the subject of diagnosis. For example, the phenomenon of leadership can be considered both as a type, and as a trait, and as an element of direction, and as a characteristic of interpersonal relationships of a person, and anxiety is usually understood both as a stable personality trait, and as an actual state of her psyche - situational anxiety.
In the domestic practice of professional selection, personal questionnaires are used the more often, the less algorithmic the activity, the higher the vacant position in the organizational hierarchy, and the more important it is for the organization to synchronize the value orientations of the candidate with the values of the organizational culture. In the West, the use of questionnaires is practically a mandatory procedure.
For example, in the United States, people applying for a job indicate their psychological type on their resume, which makes it possible to understand what kind of activity they are most inclined to and their compatibility with other employees. Most often, the psychological type is denoted by an abbreviation of four letters in accordance with the names of the dichotomous scales of the Myers - Briggs questionnaire, which makes it possible to identify in subjects various combinations of the following personality traits: extraversion - introversion, irrationality - rationality, ethics - logic, intuition - sensing.
The tools of an objective approach in psychodiagnostics are standardized tests. They are systems of tasks, based on the results of which one can judge the psychological and psychophysiological characteristics of the subjects. Test standardization means the uniformity of the procedures for completing tasks, the correctness or incorrectness of their implementation, as well as the presence of test norms - a certain number of correctly completed tasks for different age, educational and gender categories of subjects.
In psychodiagnostic examination, standardized blank tests (pencil-paper tests) are mainly used. They are presented to the subjects in the form of forms or brochures, which contain instructions and examples of how to perform the test, test tasks and forms for recording the results. Quite often, the results of tests with a large number of items are entered into separate “answer sheets”. The following main groups of blank tests used for professional selection can be distinguished:
- intelligence - the test of the structure of intelligence by R. Amthauer, the scale of intelligence by D. Wexler, progressive matrices by J. Raven, the test of social intelligence by J. Guildford;
- creativity - tests by J. Guildford and E. Torrance, the method of “creative field” by D. Bogoyavlenskaya;
- research of cognitive (cognitive) mental functions - "Working memory", "Correction test", "Red-black table", "Compasses", "Complex analogies", "Identification of essential features";
- abilities and achievements - tests of general abilities (battery of tests of general abilities - GABT), tests of special abilities (sensory, motor, technical and professional - mathematical, literary, musical, etc.), broadly oriented tests of achievement for diagnosing the level of general professional readiness, narrowly focused tests achievements for diagnosing the degree of mastering of individual training courses and programs.
In addition to the objective and subjective approaches in psychodiagnostics, there is also projective approach, the implementation of which is carried out using projective techniques. The toolkit of projective techniques represents ambiguous stimuli that the subjects must order in a certain way or give these stimuli a certain meaning. Tasks to draw or play some characters can also act as incentives. A classic example of the projective approach is the first of the developed projective methods - the test of "ink spots" by G. Rorschach.
Working within the framework of the projective approach requires a highly qualified psychologist and his special training in specific techniques, therefore, they are mainly used for in-depth psychodiagnostic examinations. For the purposes of professional selection, the most standardized (of course, the concept of standardized ™ in relation to projective techniques can be used only conditionally) and least time-consuming testing techniques, such as the Test of Humorous Phrases (TUF), Non-existent Animal, Unfinished Sentences ", M. Luscher's eight-color test, with the help of which mental states and personality traits are diagnosed. The combination in one study of various psychodiagnostic approaches (methods developed within their framework) allows obtaining information that is most relevant to its goals.
Psychophysiological examination of candidates is carried out using the so-called instrumental tests. Hardware tests involve the use of special technical devices (devices) - electroencephalographs, reflexometers, reactometers, tremometers, etc. and allow you to obtain information about the central nervous system, higher nervous activity, sensory and psychomotor, cardiorespiratory system, physical performance of subjects. Research using instrumental tests, as a rule, I carry out in laboratory conditions by specialists in psychophysiology.
Currently, there is a tendency for the pairing of technical devices, which makes it possible to carry out complex research on one technical and software base. As a rule, in such complexes, information input / output is carried out through a computer. Thus, the hardware and software complex for psychophysiological research - "PACPF" with the help of 12 psychophysiological tests allows you to identify and objectively assess the speed of reaction and switching attention, intelligence, fatigue, endurance, mental performance and the level of anxiety of a person. A polygraph, also called a lie detector, can also be attributed to the number of psychophysiological complexes, which, based on the results of synchronous registration of the parameters of the cardiorespiratory system and electrical resistance of the skin, makes it possible to draw conclusions about the reliability of the information reported to the subjects.
Psychological and psychophysiological tests are also integrated. For example, the hardware and software complex of psychological and psychophysiological diagnostics "BOST-TEST" allows diagnosing both individual and personal characteristics (cognitive, emotional and motivational-volitional spheres, stress resistance and personal self-regulation, social and psychological characteristics of personality adaptation), and psychophysiological characteristics ( cardiometric, properties of the nervous system, sensorimotor and visual-motor reactions) of the subjects. In order to select and develop personnel, the complex provides forecasting of the success of professional activities in conditions of increased stressfulness, diagnostics of self-regulation strategies in a situation of uncertainty, conducting diagnostic and training sessions of stress management, trainings for the development of self-regulation skills, etc.
A medical examination of the professional suitability of employees (candidates for positions) is carried out according to the written direction of the employer by specialist doctors - occupational pathologists (a medical commission under the guidance of an occupational pathologist). Its purpose is to determine the state of health of the employee and to issue a medical opinion on his suitability or inability to perform specific professional duties. To carry out an examination of professional suitability, an employee submits to a medical organization a list of documents on preliminary and periodic medical examinations. These examinations involve: an assessment of individual risk factors for the development of occupational diseases; identification of bad habits and determination of contraindications to work in harmful conditions; assessment of the state of reactivity and resistance of the body to the effects of harmful occupational factors; identification of pathological disorders indicating the inadequacy of the state of health of the work performed.
The most common methods for assessing the professional suitability of workers are external examination (somatoscopy), anthropometry, radiography, laboratory and instrumental studies: general analysis of blood and urine, fluorography, examination of biological media for the use of psychoactive substances. Medical examination may involve a combination of medical expert methods with psychological testing, for example, examination of a candidate by a psychiatrist.
In conclusion, considering the methods of professional selection, it should be noted that sometimes there is no strict boundary between a business game and a practical test, psychodiagnostic and psychophysiological examination, psychophysiological examination and medical examination.
The game can involve the implementation of practical tasks, the study of cognitive mental functions (attention, memory, thinking, etc.), can be carried out within the framework of both psychodiagnostic and psychophysiological examination using blank tests, the study of psychophysiological functions using instrumental tests can be part of a medical examination , medical examination may include psychological testing.
31. Effective methods for assessing the professional and personal qualities of a modern employee
The main principles of effective assessment focus on improving work is considered; thorough preparation; confidentiality; a comprehensive unbiased discussion of the results of the work (or test), business and personal qualities of a person, their suitability for the position, prospects for the future; a reasonable combination of praise and criticism; reliability and uniformity of criteria, reliability of methods. Assessment methods should correspond to the structure of the organization, the nature of the personnel's activities, the objectives of the assessment, be simple and understandable, provide for the use of quantitative indicators (optimally 5-6), combine written and oral assignments. 1. Method of standard estimates consists in the fact that the manager fills out a special form, describing every aspect of the employee's work. This method is simple and easy to use, but since the manager's assessment is always subjective, in order to increase its validity, the form can be filled out by a personnel service employee who thoroughly discusses the work of the person being certified with the manager in advance.
2. Method of questionnaires and comparative questionnaires in its simplest form, it is based on a set of questions and descriptions. The evaluator ticks each characteristic or leaves a blank space. In a complicated version, each position is assessed on a scale from “excellent” to “poor”, and the sum of the assessments becomes the overall assessment of performance.
3.The forced choice method lies in the fact that experts choose the most suitable characteristic for the employee from a given set (for example: sociability, work experience, ability to plan, organization of personal work, observation, etc.). 4. Descriptive method assumes a consistent detailed description of the strengths and weaknesses of the employee and can be combined with the previous one. 5. Decisive Situation Method, used mainly in evaluating performers, it is based on descriptions of the "right" and "wrong" behavior of workers in certain situations, and then categorizing them depending on the nature of the work. 6. Behavior Observation Scale Method also based on his assessment in decisive situations, but involves fixing how many times and how a person behaved in them. 7. Behavioral Attitude Rating Scale Method involves filling out a questionnaire containing 6-10 most important characteristics of the work, formulated by both the assessed and the expert based on the analysis of 5-6 decisive situations. The expert evaluates the qualifications of the employee based on these characteristics, and informs him of the final rating.
8.Evaluation method of committees is that a person's work is discussed in a group. nine. Independent Judge Method is an assessment of a person by persons who were not previously familiar with him (5-7 people), on the basis of "cross-examination". ten. 360 degree assessment method with The point is that the employee is assessed by everyone with whom he contacts in the course of work. In this case, the general and special forms for each expert level are filled in.
11.Assessment interview method. O but it has the form of a focused interview, in which the following are checked: intelligence (criticality, consistency, quick wits, imagination, productivity); motivation (interests, values, hobbies); temperament (persistence, determination, self-control, sociability, isolation, emotionality).
12.Situational interview consists in the fact that applicants are offered descriptions of the same situations, and then questions are asked about their possible actions.
13.Situation modeling method, most often used in assessment centers, it makes the assessment more reasonable and objective. He. is to create artificial, but close to real conditions of work and management situations.
14.Group discussion method assumes that the employee is encouraged to participate in the discussion of the problem and defend his point of view in a group of 9-15 people.
15.Interviewing method - the subject is asked to conduct an interview with several "job candidates" and, accordingly, solve the issue.
Studying a person is not easy, because personality is an extremely difficult object to analyze. In addition, the difficulty of such a study is due to the fact that a person, being an object of study, is able to analyze the actions and motives of the researcher himself, and build his behavior during meetings and conversations accordingly.
How can you investigate the personality of an individual, using what methods and tools? To analyze such a complex object - a human personality - an equally complex instrument is needed, the role of which in the context under consideration can only be played by another person - a researcher. Today, there is a widespread misconception that a person's personality can be comprehensively studied using special tests and by involving computer technology in research. However, the test is just a task, a test, this is how the word test is translated from English. In fact, the accuracy of assessing a human personality is determined by the ability of the researcher to draw clear, adequate conclusions based on observing the behavior of the person being assessed during a conversation. The test is a set of some tests, developed in turn by another person - a researcher and based, thus, on his subjective system of criteria for assessing certain parameters and qualities of the subject.
Traditional tests aimed at the study of different aspects of personality (Kettel questionnaires, MMPI and the LN Sobchik questionnaire revised on the basis of the latter, Luscher's color test, etc.) assess the manifestation of certain psychological qualities of an individual. However, the psychological characteristics of a person are only an intermediate link between the person himself and the results of his activity, that which lies on the surface. Since the individual is a complex, multivalued system, different sets of psychological qualities can give the same results in the activities of different people. In addition, after testing, it is necessary to translate the results obtained from the language of psychology into a language understandable to the head. However, the main reason for the inconsistency of the approach, which consists in assessing a person's abilities on the basis of his psychological characteristics identified through testing, is that there is no and cannot exist unambiguous evidence that a specific combination of psychological qualities of a person is reflected in a certain way on the behavior and activities of a person. ... For a reason, psychologists argue that it takes many years of practice to become a good testologist: assessing an individual through testing is a task that requires a lot of professional experience from the researcher. The selection, training, "growing" of such specialists, in turn, leads to a significant complication of the assessment procedure and an increase in its cost.
The competency assessment method, which is fashionable today and is perceived by many personnel specialists as a panacea, is just another step towards improving the personality assessment procedure, and, unfortunately, is not yet able to provide tools for a comprehensive assessment of an employee. When applying the approach based on the assessment of competencies, i.e., behavioral manifestations, an intermediate link is not taken into account - the psychological characteristics of a person. The researcher directly studies what is required to be assessed: performance, diligence, creativity of the employee, etc. However, such an approach, unfortunately, does not allow to completely exclude subjectivity, because different people have different views on what is diligence, creativity, obedience and so on, and often the differences in understanding the behavior of other people are very significant.
The question arises, "Is it possible to objectively evaluate another person with the help of subjective thinking?" As practice shows, it is possible: there are specialists who are able to correctly assess and predict the behavior of other people.
For the most accurate assessment of the candidate in the recruitment process, it is recommended to adhere to three rules.
Rule 1. It is necessary to assess not the psychological or other qualities of a person, but the behavior and results of his activities.
Rule 2. It is necessary to take into account not only the results of the candidate's work, but also the conditions in which he achieved results.
Rule 3. Remember: it is not a test that evaluates. Only an experienced recruiter, a socially and psychologically mature person with rich experience, both professional and life, can give an accurate assessment of the already existing and forecast of the future results of the candidate's activity.
Let's consider what methods can be used to evaluate a candidate. Journalists conducted * a survey of HR managers and expert consultants in order to determine the reliability and approximate cost of the most popular valuation tools. Evaluation of one method or another was carried out on a ten-point scale, then the estimates were averaged.
Competency interview
The main advantages of the method are its low cost and versatility: it is possible to develop various modifications of assessment interviews. For example, a leader can conduct conversations in narrow areas - behavioral or professional competencies, evaluate work results. However, the most popular are complex interviews, based on the results of which assessment sheets (questionnaires) are filled out. As a rule, the interview is conducted by the immediate supervisor of the employee; the HR manager may be present during the conversation. Reliability - 6.38 points.
Professional testing
The test is the simplest tool for determining the level of professional qualifications of an employee (for example, there are tests for accountants, engineers, etc.). Tests aimed at identifying abilities are especially popular. Testing is convenient as an additional assessment technique: the information obtained is easy to process. The disadvantage of this method is that the test results cannot give a complete picture of the individual. Most often, testing is used in conjunction with other methods, such as interviews. Reliability - 5.06 points.
MBO (Outcome Measurement) Techniques
The MBO (Management By Objectives) assessment system associated with the allocation of Key Performance Indicators (KPI) is becoming increasingly popular in Russia. The assessment is carried out according to the following scheme: at the beginning of the reporting period (year, half year, quarter, month), the manager together with the subordinate employee determine the set of goals that the latter needs to achieve. The results of the assessment, as a rule, are summed up during the conversation between the specialist and the immediate supervisor.
The merit of the MBO methodology lies in the transparency of the assessment system and the ease of measuring achievements. The disadvantage of this method is considered by HR managers to be indirect costs: it always takes a lot of attestable time to set goals. In addition, KPIs must be easily measurable, which requires significant financial and time costs for their development. If the business has a complex structure, it is extremely difficult to identify KPIs. Reliability - 6.38 points.
Case Methods
In order to identify the employee's ability to solve specific problems, sets of cases are developed. So, during the assessment at Sberbank, employees had to answer the question "What to do if the client scandals?" It was necessary to describe the algorithm of actions in the given situation step by step: “I smile, then I propose a solution to the problem,” etc. To get a score of “five,” it was required to correctly name five compulsory actions. The results of the application of this technique provide a fairly complete picture of the professional and personal qualities of a person.
The disadvantage of this technology is the need for constant updating of cases, because if this is not done, the correct answer options will quickly become known to all employees. In addition, the ability of an employee to tell how to act under certain circumstances does not at all guarantee that in a real situation like this he will behave exactly as described. Reliability - 6.25 points.
Personality questionnaires
Unlike tests aimed at determining abilities, personality questionnaires allow you to get a complete picture of the personality. Often, the information obtained as a result of filling out personality questionnaires becomes decisive in determining the prospects for the development of a specialist. However, according to experts, it is better to use personality questionnaires only as an additional assessment tool. When applying this technique, difficulties often arise: firstly, some candidates are so perspicacious that they can easily calculate the optimal, "correct" answer option; secondly, the applicant may have an internal predisposition to certain activities, revealed in the course of applying the methodology of personality questionnaires, but this predisposition is often not supported by real skills. In this regard, the results obtained in the course of using this method must be checked using other methods. Reliability - 4.13 points.
Assessment Center
This is a complex method that includes several assessment procedures at once: testing, interviews, role-playing games. The assessment center is one of the most effective tools in the arsenal of an HR manager: the adequacy of the assessment of employees by this method by specialists is practically not questioned.
The use of assessment center technology is expensive, and therefore this method is elitist: it is used, as a rule, when assessing middle managers. Reliability - 8.33 points.
According to the author, from the point of view of both reliability and cost of the assessment procedure, which affects the total cost of recruiting, the most optimal are the following assessment tools, which the author recommends to recruiters to use in their work:
- interview:
- by competencies;
- personal;
- business interview;
- professional tests;
- analogue of the MVO method;
- case methods;
- verification of recommendations.
Among the assessment methods used in the selection of personnel, the author deliberately did not indicate the technology of the assessment center. Let's consider this method in more detail.
Assessment is a method for assessing the potential of a specialist / manager. Today this term is used somewhat more broadly, denoting the procedure for assessing not only the potential of the employee, but his motivation to work and suitability for the position held.
An assessment center is a complex procedure implemented by a group of qualified experts and includes:
business stimulation;
interview;
ability testing.
As a result of applying this method, experts form an opinion about the level of development of the studied competencies of the participants. The assessment center lasts 3 days for a group of 10 people assessed.
On the first day or in the first 1.5 working days - depending on the total number of assessed competencies - business games are held. Ideally, 6–8 competencies should be assessed, in which case the business games will take 1 day.
A group of ten requires the participation of five experts: one observer for two participants and one facilitator for the entire group. On the second day, individual interviews are conducted. The third day is allotted for writing a report and agreeing on the assessment between all experts.
The features of the assessment center method are as follows.
It is necessary to have standard profiles or specialists who can develop them in accordance with the requirements of a particular customer.
A team of qualified expert observers is required, as well as a project manager.
Today, in Russia, recruiters in the selection of personnel more often evaluate candidates using the above five procedures, rather than using the technology of the assessment center. The above five methods make it possible to assess an employee with acceptable accuracy, while their use is cheaper, and the procedures themselves take less time than conducting an assessment center.
For the correct conduct of the assessment procedure, it is necessary to have a profile of the professional and personal competencies of the candidate. When recruiting lower-level employees, if the profile is well developed and the indicators are well understood, the assessment is relatively easy.
When recruiting top-level personnel, the profile of professional competencies alone is not enough. In this case, the most important qualities that need to be assessed are business competencies: deep motivation for work, stress resistance in critical (emergency) situations and in relation to unfair behavior of subordinates, understanding of market development, the ability to understand the organization's business processes and attitude towards owners.
As practice shows, the most effective and convenient recruiting tool should be called the methodology professional interview , the most optimal from the point of view of the ratio "reliability - labor intensity". A professional interview cannot be short and superficial. Its duration is determined by the level of the position for which the employee is selected and the experience of the interviewer. Depending on the position, a professional interview may include:
interviews on competencies (accordingly, the applicant is asked questions such as “Please tell us how you meet visitors?”, “Tell us exactly how you organized the work of your subordinates?”, etc.);
assessment of the results of activities at previous jobs - an analogue of the MBO method (the candidate is asked questions such as “What results did you manage to achieve while working in the position ...?”, etc.);
case methodology (questions such as “What will you do in a situation ...?” are asked, etc.).
If the candidate is promising, then he goes through several interviews. At the first stage, the correspondence of what is written in the applicant's questionnaire to reality is checked. Even an inexperienced recruiter can conduct such an interview. Then comes the turn of the competency and face-to-face interviews, which should be conducted by a highly experienced recruiter. And only after that a business interview is conducted, aimed at understanding the candidate's attitude to the company, his career, and the owners of the enterprise. Business interviews should be conducted by the most experienced interviewer - headhunter, head of recruiting department.
Let's dwell on the question of how long the interview should take. Of course, the specific duration of the interview with the candidate is determined by the position for which the selection is carried out, but it is worth noting that the interview cannot be shorter than 45 minutes in total. When recruiting middle managers, the total interview time with a candidate is from 2 to 4 hours, when recruiting top managers - from 4 to 8 hours.
Interview evaluations of middle and top managers and specialists are beyond the power of an ordinary employee of a recruiting agency or HR department of a company. An accurate and adequate assessment of managers and key specialists requires the participation of independent experts who know the specifics of the business and are able to conduct interviews at the VIP level. During interviews with candidates for top management positions, interviewers can also be people who have their own experience of successful business and work on assessing managers and specialists. Today these are headhunters / partners from Executive Search companies, i.e. recruiting organizations specializing in the selection of top managers, or appraisers with many years of experience.
In addition, it is worth emphasizing the importance of obtaining recommendations and feedback on the business qualities and performance of the candidate, which are, in fact, his assessment by immediate supervisors at previous jobs. The positive characterization of the applicant by the former management provides extremely significant information about the candidate for recruiters, because the ability to get along with the management, while maintaining high performance indicators, is the most important competence of a mature specialist. You shouldn't waste time on immature employees: the results do not compensate for the costs.
Unfortunately, this practice, in spite of its high efficiency, has received little distribution both among external recruiters and among customers when self-recruiting is carried out. The difficulty lies in the fact that those who provide recommendations and feedback about the specialist, i.e. his assessment, have no incentive to provide such information to outside organizations. In addition, today companies are growing and developing very quickly, and therefore it has become even more difficult to give recommendations to employees: it is often not clear whether the business has achieved high efficiency as a result of the manager's activities, or whether the company's success is due to investment injections from the owners.
As for the specifics of conducting a recommendation interview, it is worth noting that the collection of recommendations should be carried out by the most experienced evaluators. In the case of an independent search for personnel by the customer company, recommendations about the applicant should be collected by his potential future manager after appropriate training or HR director.
Here are two examples.
An example from an interview with Mikhail Bogdanov, head of the personnel group "CONSORT":
“Recently, I was tormented by a telephone consultant of one of the Russian recruiting agencies for about 15 minutes about our former employee, whom they represented in a client company. I can say that the “interrogation” was worthy of the highest professional assessment, and from me alone the consultant received a significant part of the information he needed to make a confident decision ”.
An example from the practice of the staffing company IMICOR:
The project team leader was fascinated by one of the candidates: Smart, not inclined to change jobs too often, the programs of activities in the departments led by him were excellent, the behavior in interviews was confident. The managing partner of the firm sensed something wrong. She called one of the executives of a juice company from which the candidate had recently quit, and everything fell into place. The applicant was indeed smart and positive, but with an incredibly challenging personality. The consultant, understanding who the client needs, made the right choice after that.
Checking the reliability of the candidate (2 SD)
Many HR managers complain that recruiters do not thoroughly screen candidates. Of course, there are grounds for such conclusions, but do not forget that a recruiting agency is not a security service or an in-depth testing center equipped with all kinds of equipment.
The tendency to theft, betrayal, drug addiction or alcoholism in an applicant is not easy to identify. In any case, this kind of verification cannot be available to recruitment agencies working for a fee of 15-20%: the latter simply will not have enough financial resources to develop such a service.
The task of a recruiter is to collect and then correctly interpret information not about the candidate's intentions, but about the real facts of his past that are directly related to his performance of official duties in a potential future job. To accomplish this task, such measures as conducting a professional interview and collecting recommendations from former colleagues of the candidate are quite sufficient. Deeper verification of the applicant's past and his real motives is no longer the task of a recruiter, but rather a private detective.
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*Vyrkovsky A. The price of reliability // The secret of the firm. - 2004. - No. 46 (85).