Welcome to issue 222 of the ukrecruiter newsletter.
Researchers
Tips by Chris Malcolm of deAnsa
Once a month we give a quick tip
on managing a successful research project.
Question 5. What specific auxiliary skills should my candidate posses?
Remember our most important rule - Be specific and don't throw the net too wide. Auxiliary skills can be defined as those skills on our clients "wish list". They are skills that every perfect candidate would posses, but unfortunately are ones that more often than not may have to be viewed with a more liberal attitude. For example one client may view membership and accreditation within a professional body as something absolutely necessary whilst another may view it solely as a bonus with the best candidate. Other examples could include language and education. Communicate with your client and always determine before you start your search, which are the auxiliary skills. As well, always view with some scepticism skills your client is asking for. Don't be afraid to ask your client to rate the importance of a certain skill and if indeed the client would accept a candidate perfect in all other respects but without that specific skill.
deAnsa is a research company for
headhunters, executive search consultants and recruitment
professionals who require target specific research to find the right
candidates on a worldwide basis. They can be contacted on +44 (0)
7074 449 449 or by e-mail at enquiries@deansa.com.
My Favourites will be back next
week. Why not submit your 3 favourite web sites. See the
guidelines at http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/articles.htm
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Article
One: Psychometric Product Review: Personal Profile Analysis (PPA)
Company Name: Thomas International (UK) Limited
Product Name: Personal Profile Analysis (PPA)
Website Address: http://www.thomasinternational.net
Description (provided by Thomas International): PPA provides an insight into how people behave at work.
Cost: A typical first report to clients would cost between £20 and £33 with subsequent reports for the same candidate at £11 each. If using the bureau service, the cost for the first report is £75. All reports provide a candidate feedback report free of
charge.
Do you have to be qualified to interpret the questionnaires:
If you are not British Psychological Society Level B trained you will need to attend a Thomas two day course to learn how the system operates and how to interpret the PPA profile.
Candidate Experience (guinea pig candidate was Nick):
This questionnaire was quick and easy to do; it just took a few minutes. The format of the questionnaire was groupings of four words from which I had to select which was most like me and least like me. I found this quite hard at times. The words were not all adjectives or adverbs but a mixture which made it more difficult to compare like for like. There were times when I didn't want to click on any of them, but as the assessment is based on forced choice effectively I had to enter an answer which didn’t seem appropriate - or there were two answers that I really couldn't chose between which made me feel that my answer was a lottery.
Thomas International gave me a feedback session that was extremely helpful and was based around the profile charts rather than on the text in the report. The feedback I was given was fairly accurate but as it apparently refers only to the present time, doing it again in several months could produce different results.
Overview of Feedback Report: The PPA report is a DISC based profiling tool ((DISC measures four factors of an individual's behaviour: Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Compliance). This means the report doesn’t look at individual personality scales but instead looks at some general behavioural areas. The reports cover areas such as self image, self motivation, behaviour at work under pressure, etc) as well as providing the DISC profile graph. My training has been in personality scale based products (such as Saville & Holdsworth OPQ) and I have only touched on the DISC based tools. As a result I would require further training to understand how to interpret the PPA profile. Never the less the narrative part of the report is straightforward to read and use.
The report is written in a clear and direct style. Maybe this was a reflection of Nick’s personality, although previous PPA reports I’ve seen have been similarly written. This gives confidence to the reader as it makes the report seem more factual (unlike some which could be described as reading like a horoscope), however, as with all psychometric tools the report states that it is “a guide” and as such should not be used in isolation.
Some of the areas the report covers are things such as motivation, management compatibility, communication style and delegating style. I was sent four separate reports and as a result found a lot of repetition. However, just one report might seem a little sparse.
The reports also contain suggested interview questions that could be useful. Some were fairly standard and quite basic but there were a number of good probing questions as well.
Summary
This style of report is obviously better suited to a user trained in DISC based products. With my background I didn’t feel I was making best use of the product. Thomas are a well established company with a strong user base, however, I didn’t feel the report had the sort of depth I would hope for when interviewing senior or middle management candidates. The price is OK though and probably makes this a good choice for the more junior management or sales roles.
Contact Details: Kate Kerridge is the contact at Thomas International. She can be contacted on 01628 475 366or by email at
katek@thomas.co.uk
Louise Triance is a British
Psychological Society level A&B trained assessor, conducting
psychometrics on behalf of recruiters. For more information call
Louise on 01635 254881 or email louise@ukrecruiter.co.uk
or visit http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/tests.htm
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Why
not be a ukrecruiter contributor?
We're looking for a number
recruiters who wish to contribute to the newsletter on an ongoing
(and unpaid!) basis. At present reviews and articles are
provided for the newsletter mostly by suppliers to the industry (job
boards, ad agencies, web design companies, etc) and we want to
encourage more of our readers (agency/consultancy recruiters and HR
professionals) to contribute in order to broaden the content of the
newsletter.
Here are some of the ways you
could help:
Review a training course,
seminar or event
If you are due to attend a training course in the next few
months why not write a review on it? Share with other
recruiters an overview of the course content and the benefits you
got from the training. Some course providers will provide a
"ukrecruiter reporter" with a discounted place so if you
are interested in attending a specific course just let us
know.
Share some knowledge and
skills
Chris Malcolm of deAnsa is a great example of a reader who is
sharing knowledge via the newsletter. He has produced a series
of tips for researchers. If you feel you would like to
share your knowledge on subjects such as candidate management,
client retention, interviewing skills, job advert writing, or any
other element on the recruitment process please let us know.
Review CV databases
For a while now we've been looking for a contributor who is an
"expert" on CV databases or who is keen to become
one! We'll help you set up free access to a different CV database
each month so you can review it. For this topic we're looking
for someone who can make a commitment to produce one review every
month or two over the course of a year.
Review a recruitment specific
book, DVD or video
We've done a number of book reviews in the newsletter in the past
and it'd be great to run some more. A review of any book that
you think is relevant to a recruiter or researcher - at any level of
the organisation - would make a good article. In fact we've a
few copies of Gavin Inghams "Objections! Objections!
Objections!" book to give away to potential reviewers so please
drop me a note letting me know if you are interested in reviewing
it. If there is a specific book or DVD you'd like to
review we might even be able to get a free review copy for you.
Write a review on the
recruitment database your company uses
We'll provide the article format for you to write a review on the
recruitment database that your company uses. We'll need you to
be completely impartial, write objectively and to not be affiliated
with the provider in any way.
Article Guidelines
- Articles we run in the
newsletter must have relevance to an audience of UK recruiters.
- They should be around 400 - 600 words in length.
- Whilst articles will always be published with an acknowledgement of the author and company we will not include articles where there is explicit
promotion of your own, or an affiliated, company.
Why Contribute
- Having an article published can help position you or your company as experts in a particular field.
- The newsletter can give you a forum if you've got a particular message or opinion that you would like to air.
- You might just like writing articles!
- Depending on what you review you could get a free or discounted
place on a course, free access to CV databases or free DVD or book.
If you want to talk about writing
an article or review for the newsletter email louise@ukrecruiter.co.uk
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Don't
Miss This
12th August 2005, Free afternoon seminar on behavioural assessments, London
Rod Cornwell, London Director of Thomas International is running a four hour session talking about how, through the use of job and behavioral assessment, you can raise team performance, improve recruitment and retention, add value to candidates and clients, and "ultimately increase company profits". For more information or to reserve your place, contact
alanb@thomas.co.uk or contact Alan Brown on 0207 257 2800
UK Recruiter Discussion Forum
- Are you using it?
Don't forget to visit http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum. Current topics on the site
include "Split
Fees", "The
Great Cold Calling Debate..again" and "Candidate
Squabble".
It is free to use the discussion board and you don't have to
register to view messages. Visit the site; ask questions and
share your knowledge
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Statistics
Hitwise top 10 Recruitment
Sites, week ending 9th July 2005
The most visited UK recruitment sites last week, starting with the
most popular, were www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk,
www.jobsite.co.uk, www.reed.co.uk,
www.totaljobs.com, www.monster.co.uk,
www.jobs.nhs.uk, jobs.guardian.co.uk,
www.jobserve.co.uk, www.eteach.com
and www.jobsgopublic.com. For more information about Hitwise, visit http://www.hitwise.co.uk
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complete the form below.
Regards
Louise Triance
UK Recruiter http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk - 01635 254881 (UK)
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