Welcome to the February 2, 2005 issue of The Total View

Your resource for cutting-edge news, tips, and tools to help you hire, manage, and motivate top-performing employees.

If you are receiving this issue as a forward, and want your own subscription, visit
http://www.chrysaliscorporation.com/cgi-bin/arp3/arp3-t.pl?l=11&c=292

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In This Issue
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1. Personality Test Expert Answers The Most Common Questions About Employee Assessment.
2. Perfect Labor Storm Alerts #336 to #340.
3. Interview Questions and Job Interview Resources.
4. Nine percent of the public has been convicted of a crime!
5. How Much Is Employee Turnover Costing Your Company? Find Out Anonymously Online.
6. Have You Downloaded our Complimentary DISC E-booklet Yet?

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The Total View is written and published each Wednesday by Ira S. Wolfe, founder of Success Performance Solutions. (Yes, Ira writes every article, every week!) and is distributed with permission by The Chrysalis Corporation.

Ira S. Wolfe 2005 - All Rights Reserved. Reprints and other distribution by permission only.

To learn more about The Chrysalis Corporation or to read back issues of The Total View, visit our web site at
http://www.chrysaliscorporation.com/cgi-bin/arp3/arp3-t.pl?l=12&c=292

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1. Personality Test Expert Answers The Most Common Questions About Employee Assessment.
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Wouldn't it be nice to give a single test to job candidates that could instantly gauge their reliability, honesty, aptitude, and social skills? What would it look like? What questions would it ask? These are just a few of the questions we are commonly asked. What follows are a few of the most common questions - and our recommendations and advice - about personality tests.

If personality tests are used, can they replace the interview?
Definitely not. The U.S. Department embraces the "whole person approach" for all employment decisions. The "whole person approach" encourages the manager to factor in the results of a variety of accepted tests along with prior actual performance and interview results, to get the most complete picture of an employee or candidate.

Why not just improve the interview process?
Research has shown time and time again that the traditional interview alone is barely predictive of success. Compared to flipping a coin or rolling the dice, the interview gives you just slightly better odds. The structured behavioral interview improves reliability up to about 75 percent. But its success depends on the abilities of the manager to ask the right questions, and observe, listen and evaluate the answers without personal bias. Few managers are trained to do this and candidly, don't have the time or interest to invest in structured interviews for all the candidates.

Aren't personality tests considered risky in today's litigious environment?
To the contrary. In fact, according to the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures, any inventory or procedure utilized during an employment decision is considered a test. Much to the surprise of many managers, the interview must meet the same validity and reliability standards as personality tests, ability tests, and even background and resume evaluations. Taking that into consideration, an objective assessment like TotalView Assessment System offers an unbiased third-party validated evaluation of candidates and when used properly may protect the employer from claims of personal bias.

How do you choose the right tests?
There are literally thousands of tests available. Not all of these tests are recommended for use in the workplace. To be deemed acceptable, it must meet three basic criteria:

a. The test itself must be validated - that is, the test is examining what it says it is.
b. The test must be reliable - meaning the results must be repeatable over time.
c. The test must be job relevant and job specific.

Are tests approved by the EEOC?
The EEOC does not validate pre-employment assessments. Neither does the Office of Federal Contract Compliance. Their authority extends to auditing or investigating unacceptable procedures when a discrimination charge has resulted from adverse impact.

When do I need to be concerned with the validity and reliability of a test or interview?
Any time there is a change of job status or the opportunity for multiple people to apply for a position. To legally discriminate between one candidate and another, you must have documented job-related criteria.

Can't personality tests exclude qualified candidates?
That's true if the personality tests are used incorrectly. The best and fairest results occur when a personality assessment is used in conjunction with the interview, work experience, reference checks and background checks. By choosing the right pre-employment test and job-related interview questions, employers can quickly screen out high-risk candidates and select the candidate that best fits the job.

Can't candidates and employees fake their responses?
Absolutely, yes. Well....they can try. That is why it is critical that the personality test you use has what we call a "fakability" scale. Job candidates are asked a series of questions that determines the reliability of their responses. If their responses are too good (or too bad) to be true or inconsistent and random, a good personality test will flag the results. The fakability scale, also called social desirability and good impression, details how reliable the rest of the report will be and how much credibility you should give it when evaluating the candidate.

What's most important in choosing the right assessment for your workplace? Follow these four steps to improve your results legally and reliably:

a. Establish how the assessment is related to the job.
b. Test for critical job related activities.
c. Don't rely on personality test alone to hire or promote.
d. Evaluate the effectiveness of the test over time.

Need help in hiring or promoting the right employees? The Chrysalis Corporation provides behavioral interview questions, pre-employment tests and background checks for all size businesses and all employee positions.

More about understanding online personality tests and the Whole Person Approach to employee selection:
http://www.chrysaliscorporation.com/cgi-bin/arp3/arp3-t.pl?l=3&c=292

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2. Perfect Labor Storm Alerts #336 to #340.
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Fact #336: Since 1970 the percentage of U.S. households containing five or more people has fallen in half. In 1970, 21 percent of households had five or more people; in 2004 the number has dropped to 10 percent. (Source: US Census Bureau).

Fact #337: Since 1970 the percentage of U.S. households containing one or two people has increased from 46 percent to 60 percent. (Source: US Census Bureau).

Fact #338: The number of households consisting of single women 30 to 34 has tripled since 1970. (Source: US Census Bureau).

Fact #339: Mother's are juggling work and family: 5.5 million stay-at-home parents, 5.4 million are women and only 98,000 true stay-at-home dads. (Source: Current Population Survey).

Fact #340: 20 percent of stay-at-home moms lived in households earning $100,000 or more, while 2.3 percent were in households earning less than $10,000. (Source: Current Population Survey).

Don't be caught in storm without all the facts. "The Perfect Labor Storm Fact Book: Why Worker Shortages Won't Go Away" is a must-read leading edge forecast that predicts workforce trends for decades to come. Get a copy today - $7.95 includes shipping. Follow this link to learn more:
http://www.chrysaliscorporation.com/cgi-bin/arp3/arp3-t.pl?l=7&c=292

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3. Interview Questions and Job Interview Resources
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--Online Pre-Employment Tests.
Check out these online pre-employment tests that include Fr*e interview questions with each report:
http://www.chrysaliscorporation.com/cgi-bin/arp3/arp3-t.pl?l=24&c=292

--What Interview Questions Can You Ask?
Ever wonder which questions are legal to ask and which ones increase your probability of landing you and your company in court as a defendant? Download our Interview Guide:
http://www.chrysaliscorporation.com/cgi-bin/arp3/arp3-t.pl?l=25&c=292

--TotalView Assessment System.
TotalView Assessment is a proven selection assessment for hiring, promoting, coaching and team building supported by a simple automated system for creating and managing job specific benchmarks. Each TotalView Selection Report includes personalized job-specific behavioral interview questions. To view samples, go here:
http://www.chrysaliscorporation.com/cgi-bin/arp3/arp3-t.pl?l=23&c=292

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4. Nine percent of the public has been convicted of a crime!
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According to the US Department of Justice, more than 59 million criminal-history records are on file at state repositories nationwide.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that the number of prison releases is growing, with more than 500,000 ex-offenders rejoining the community each year.

Three job categories are typically require greater scrutiny and “duty of care” before hiring:

1) Employees who work with “vulnerable” populations: childcare, eldercare, teachers, security, and some healthcare workers.

2) Handlers of money, financial, or other sensitive data.

3) Employees with significant public exposure, especially those who go into clients’ homes (e.g., service people).

We now offer Pre-employment Online Background Checks. To learn more visit:
http://www.chrysaliscorporation.com/cgi-bin/arp3/arp3-t.pl?l=9&c=292

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5. How Much Is Employee Turnover Costing Your Company? Find Out Anonymously Online.
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The facts may surprise, or worse yet, scare you.

A conservative estimate of the cost of turnover for hourly employees is 25 percent of the annual salary. Personally, our experience places the actual cost closer to 50 and higher when you consider lost opportunity costs, lost productivity and even theft, absenteeism, and other counter-productive and disruptive behaviors.

The costs for salaried employees has ranged from 1.5 times annual salary to upwards of 14 times annual salary.

But high turnover costs are not isolated to big business. A small business paying an employee an hourly wage as low as $5.25 per hour incurs the minimum cost of $3,528.58 (25% x $14,114.10) every time an employee turns.

Other examples of turnover costs are:

$7.00 per hour = $4,704.70 in turnover costs $10.00 = $6,721.00 $15.00 = $10, 081.50 $20.00 = $13,442.00

Follow this link to anonymously calculate your company's cost of turnover:
http://www.chrysaliscorporation.com/cgi-bin/arp3/arp3-t.pl?l=27&c=292

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6. Have You Downloaded our Complimentary DISC E-booklet Yet?
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If you are new to DISC, or just want to brush up on your DISC knowledge, we invite you to download our complimentary e-booklet Teamworks: 42 Tips to Help Teams Thrive & Survive.

This easy reference pocked guide will provide you with a solid understanding of the DISC model in clear, concise language. You will learn:

--Four ways that people approach their work.
--Secrets to reading a person like a book.
--How to predict a person's behavior.
--What motivates your boss and coworkers

Follow this link to download Teamworks: 42 Tips to Help Teams Thrive:
http://www.chrysaliscorporation.com/cgi-bin/arp3/arp3-t.pl?l=2&c=292

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Contact Information:

The Chrysalis Corporation
2001 Hammock Drive
Valdosta, GA 31602
229-257-0665