One of the biggest challenges facing HR professionals in the highly competitive and dynamic market of today’s business world is hiring top performing employees. Hiring “successfully matched” employees is a valuable asset for any organization.

The problem is, finding such top performing employees is more difficult than one might think. Many apparently great candidates have work style behaviors that may not be readily apparent. This is where cutting edge tools like employee assessments come into play. Professionally developed assessment tools can help you identify the top candidates who best fit your organization’s culture and job requirements.

According to the US Department of Labor’s report – Testing and Assessment: An Employers’ Guide to Good Practice, “The appropriate use of professionally developed assessment tools enables organizations to make more effective, employment-related decisions than use of simple observations or random decision making.”

With the help of a professionally developed assessment solution, you can better identify a potential candidate’s interests and abilities, values and work ethics, work style behaviors, and most importantly, the overall job fit.

Follow the best practices outlined below to hire the best candidates to meet your organization’s specific needs:

• Determine the Critical Job Requirements
• Formulate Relevant Job-Related Q&As
• Set Specific Goals to Manage the Interview Process
• Conduct a Behaviorally-Based Interview
• Have the candidate complete an Objective Assessment
• Make the hiring decision based on a “People – Job Match” Score

Once you make the final hiring decision based on the degree of fit score as indicated by the assessment process, you can be much more confident that you have hired a “successfully matched” employee who is going to yield value for your organization for a long time to come.

According to Chief Learning Officer magazine, a leading voice in the workforce learning and development industry, there are 6 best practices that are common to all highly successful leadership development efforts.

After two years of research, the best practices identified by CLO are:

• Strong executive engagement
• Tailored leadership competencies
• Alignment with business strategy
• Target all levels of leadership
• Apply a comprehensive and ongoing approach
• Integrate with talent management

1. Strong executive engagement

   The top leaders and managers need to be highly committed to the employee leadership development program for it to be taken seriously across the board and implemented successfully.

2. Tailored leadership competencies

   Effective leadership development programs are based on specific leadership competencies. The foundation for leadership development depends on successful identification of the leadership competencies that are vital for your business. The critical leadership competencies can be identified and tailored by utilizing cutting edge tools like employee assessments.

3. Alignment with business strategy

   Leaders are more than just managers. So the leadership development programs need to be heavily focused on the company-specific business strategies.

4. Target all levels of leadership

   Research shows that any effective leadership development program starts from the frontline. A program that is effected all across the organization has the greatest impact overall.

5. Apply a comprehensive and ongoing approach

   The finest leadership programs are heavily focused on experiential learning and are not just trainer-led education events. Successful programs provide a comprehensive experience that readies a leader for a variety of possibilities.

6. Integrate with talent management

   This involves building continuity in the leadership development process. Thus, the process must become a part of the corporate culture so that there are always effective leaders in the pipeline.

As exceptional talent grows scarce in the competitive marketplace of today, organizations that focus on comprehensive leadership development initiatives will be the most successful in the long run.

Tough economic times necessitate tough economic decisions. Economic conditions that would have been disregarded or brushed under the carpet when the going was good assume much greater importance when cost cutting becomes the norm in order to ensure continued growth and in some cases survival. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the Human Resource hiring process.

It is often noticed that organizations have a number of systems, standards, procedures and policies in place that are geared to optimize the work environment, but the hiring process is not necessarily always that scientific and systematic.

Although things are beginning to change, more often than not, many organizations still depend on only traditional guides like résumés, references, interviews and background checks to get all the required information about potential employees. Although these procedures are important as part of the selection process, unfortunately, time and again, these methods have proved less effective than when assessments are added to the above hiring processes.

According to Harvard Business Online, “The cost of replacing a “misfit” far exceeds the dollars in salary. Replacing an employee typically impacts morale, ongoing workload, and possibly re-training other employees. Be aware that the cost of replacing an employee could be two to three times the person’s salary in hours and recruiting.”

Making use of hiring assessments is vital to increasing the odds of making the right hiring choices. In fact, assessments become more of a necessity during tough economic times, as you don’t have the same luxury of making bad, or potentially weak, hiring decisions. The costs may be the same in good or in bad times, but the business implications in down times are much more devastating to the financial health of the organization. Using hiring assessments gives you a significant edge in your hiring process.

Assessments can provide you with a critical advantage so that you can hire top notch people and stay profitable during tough economic times and be well prepared to take advantage of the changing market conditions when the business cycle turns around. Assessments are the most scientific (and also economical) method for obtaining required information about an applicant, which can help you predict a candidate’s probability of success in any job role.

Using hiring assessments will ensure that you are able to correctly identify and evaluate a candidate’s behavioral work styles and competencies that are most useful and desirable for your workplace. You will be able to pinpoint and match how a candidate would fit into his/ her position, even before recruiting the person.

Recruiting on the basis of hiring assessments considerably maximizes the potential for productivity improvement in an organization over the long term. Also, when you consistently hire people who are a well matched to their jobs, there are various other possible advantages – increased productivity, less turnover, good employee relations, reduced stress, higher job satisfaction, fewer conflicts and substantial reduction in hiring expenses, all of which helps your organization succeed during both good and bad economies.

Assessment tools are increasingly being used by organizations to evaluate their employees’ knowledge and skills, interests, values, personality, work ethic and work styles to ensure a proper fit not only in a particular job role but also within the organization’s culture. But how can you be sure assessments will be useful and cost-effective for your organization?

Companies can measure the Return on Investment (ROI) of employee assessments in many different ways, but the basic formula for any organization is relatively simple:

ROI (Percentage) = (Total Benefits - Total Costs) x 100 / Total Costs, where

Total Benefits include money saved by the company, capital generated, and everything else that adds to the bottom line, both directly and indirectly. For example, if the use of assessments during the hiring process reduces turnover, savings would include the cost of replacing an employee (potentially up to 150% of their annual wages) multiplied by the number of bad hires avoided.

Total Costs include development costs, loss of work time, materials required, administration and coordination costs, promotion costs, meals/ refreshments, and cost of job coverage. Online courses will include certain additional costs like pre-production, graphics, servers, post-production, web development costs. When using online assessment tools, these costs could be as low as a few hundred dollars or less per employee.

In order to calculate the monetary Return on Investment, you need to identify all the various financial benefits your organization is drawing for the use of the assessment tools, and then subtract the total investment required for developing, producing and delivering the assessment program.

Initially, you may find it difficult to quantify each and every element associated with the process, particularly when you first begin using assessments. Once you do, however, you can easily check the total benefit you are getting from the use of the assessment tools on a regular basis. The savings is often quite substantial.

Assessment tools can be used for both hiring and developing employees. These tools can cut down on mistakes made during the hiring process and keep current employees engaged in their roles. When mis-hires occur or employees fail to live up to their potential, everyone suffers. The employee has to leave the organization and start their job search all over again and the organization must begin the costly process of replacing the employee.

The good news is that assessments can significantly increase your odds of making the correct hiring decisions. Assessments add valuable information about a person’s strengths and weaknesses that is not likely to be gained by any other selection tools.

Many of today’s assessments are easy to implement and very cost effective. In fact, assessments have been shown to more than pay for themselves and give your organization a leg up on the competition by consistently hiring top quality people who are likely to be successful working for your organization.

Organizations the world over are recognizing the benefits of offering career development and coaching to their employees.

It’s a smart move–such organizations measure the results in terms of  (1) better employee retention (2) enhanced talent management (3) and higher visibility as “an employer of choice“.

Online self-assessment tools are easy-to-use and offer employees a better understanding of their strengths and weaknesses–opening them up to opportunities they might have otherwise overlooked with their current employer–which benefits both the employee and the employer.

Here are 3 essential online developmental career development and coaching tools that can help you identify strengths your employees are underutilizing–which could impact their career path based on their interests, values, skills, personality, and work styles.

3 Indispensable Career Development and Coaching Tools

1. MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator)

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) assessment is a questionnaire designed to measure psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions, and was designed to help people identify the jobs where they are the most comfortable and effective.  The MBTI helps individuals learn more about themselves and make more effective career choices.

2. Work Style Assessment Inventory

Most companies are good at screening for technical skills; the biggest area of improvement is in developing people with the right personality characteristics and behaviors (“Work Styles”).  A Work Style Assessment is an evaluation of a person’s behavior at work – how they interact with others, how they solve problems, how they get things done, and other personality characteristics. The idea here is to help you align an employee’s work style strengths with the requirements of their job. The greater the match between a person’s work style strengths and their job–the more likely they’ll make successful career choices.

3. MAPP Assessment (Motivational Appraisal of Personal Potential Assessment)

The MAPP Assessment is a personal assessment that provides individuals with valuable information about the type of work they enjoy most –helping them identify their true motivations toward work, and providing guidelines to match themselves to job categories where they best fit. 

Using these career development and coaching tools, you’ll get a better understanding of your employees’ strengths and weaknesses–and will be able to offer insights and recommendations for specific actions that will help them become better at what they do, and match them with other opportunities you might have available, (or you might want to create, at your company).

You can’t run a successful business without the right employees.

Whether you’re big or small — especially in the present business environment — even one “bad fit” employee can quickly grow into a seriously expensive mistake.  Fortunately, there are several excellent ways to soundly evaluate and judge a prospective new hire.

5 Steps to Avoid Costly and Preventable Hiring Mistakes in Your Organization

1. Use Employee Assessments: While recruiting, companies generally tend to focus on the technical abilities and qualifications of the candidate. What is overlooked is the fact though a candidate may have all the qualifications for the position, he or she may not measure up on the non-technical aspects of the job. In order to make sure that a prospective employee is in sync with the objectives and values of the organization, you should consider the use of employee assessments, which are based on surveys that focus on the suitability of the person for the particular position. By assessing your candidate’s style of work, personality, and workplace behavioral patterns, these assessments help identify gaps between job requirements and the employee’s work style, and can also help with employee development and coaching.

2. Conduct a Thorough Background Check: Cases of resume falsification are not uncommon. According to a recent study, it was revealed that almost 10% of job applicants misrepresent their educational qualifications, work history, and responsibilities, and even their reasons for having left their previous jobs. Carrying out a careful background check can go a long way in preventing problems later on.

3. Get an Unbiased Judgment: All too often, employers rely heavily on the candidate’s self awareness. While it is true that an applicant may be extremely talented and skilled, it has also been noticed that more often than not, one is biased about his or her knowledge and experience. Thus they may project an incorrect idea of their actual abilities and aptitudes. It is therefore advisable to always get a professional, objective evaluation of an individual’s work style behaviors and competencies. And ask for project samples or demonstrations as evidence of the candidate’s proficiency.

4. Provide a Realistic and Clear Job Preview: During the hiring process for a particular position, care should be taken to ensure that position description and deliverables are explained in detail to the candidate. The requirements should never be exaggerated or modified in an attempt to make it the “dream job”. Neither should a candidate be left guessing about the respective job responsibilities. In either case, a candidate may develop his or her own ideas about the role requirements, and after on boarding, any negatives or unanticipated responsibilities may lead to a resignation. This would be very costly and entail starting all over with the hiring process.

5. Do Not Hire Mismatched People: Often, in a desperate situation, an organization may hire employees who are not qualified enough to meet the demands of the job role or whose work styles are simply not a good match for the job requirements or the organization’s culture. This is often done with the idea that even a marginally employee can be trained to deliver the same outputs. However, this can be a dangerous decision not only for the organization’s finances, but also for its reputation. The money, time, and energy invested in training under-qualified and mismatched people are hardly worth it. It is always advisable to take any steps necessary to make sure a person is a good “fit” for the requirements of the job and the organization’s culture.

Mis-hires can be very costly and have a negative impact on the morale of your organization and on the overall level of employee satisfaction.

If you follow the 5 Steps you see above you’ll increase your chances of getting the right people in the right jobs the first time, and avoid the costly and preventable hiring mistakes that result in financial loss and lost opportunities.

And you’ll be on your way to creating a much healthier, more effective organization–and ultimately–a more successful business.

The key to creating an effective workforce is to develop the top talent in your organization.

‘Employee development’ initiatives help employees work better and smarter, create greater employee loyalty, and boost your bottom-line.

To develop the key talent in our organization, follow these six steps.

6 Steps to Developing Key Talent in Your Organization:

1. Determine the required outcomes – What are you trying to accomplish? Write down your key requirements so you can focus on the critical issues. Determine how your people can help you achieve your goals. Help your key employees get on the same page so that they can work towards a clear and common vision.

2. Identify the gaps in performance expectations – You need to find the gap between desired performance and actual outcomes. What aren’t employees doing what they are suppose to be doing? Do they not understand what they should be doing? Do they not have the necessary skills to do their jobs? Are they not motivated to meet the performance standards that must be met to stay competitive? Has the communication of these standards not been clearly spelled out? It is very important to identify the gaps and work towards solving these issues. A chain is only as strong as the weakest link, so this step is critical to identify and understand why certain individuals are no measuring up to the organization’s performance expectations.

3. Simplify organizational processes – Often, individual performance is hamstrung by unnecessary organizational processes. Find out how the processes can be simplified to make it easier for employees to deliver optimal performance. Make sure that all employees have the resources to do their jobs to the best of their abilities. Remove any obstacles and roadblocks that are slowing your employees down and hindering their performance.

4. Ensure the right job match – Your key talents can only shine if they are properly matched to their jobs. When an employee’s work style is not aligned with the requirements of his or her job then problems will eventually arise. Use employee assessments to assess employee’s key skills, interests, attitudes, work ethics, values, and work styles so that you can determine the best fit for every individual. This will result in a streamlined organization that can meet even the most difficult of challenges and still be successful.

5. Enhance individual performance – Organizational productivity is a sum of individual productivity. So focus on each individual’s development so that your organization grows as a whole. Key employee development contributes to individual effectiveness by providing each person with a comprehensive assessment of their strengths and weaknesses. Assessments can provide focus on employee developmental issues by building specific plans of action, creating a coaching relationship with a mentor, and providing an opportunity for follow-up evaluations of an individual’s progress in terms of continually improving performance levels.

6. Quantify the results – Measurement is a must. Unless you can measure your benefits, you cannot determine how much you’ve achieved or how much still needs to be done. It also shows what is working and what is not.

How you develop your human capital is the single greatest predictor of your organizational performance. The quality of employee talent directly contributes your organization’s ability to gain and maintain a competitive advantage.

Focus on these 6 steps and you’ll be well on your way to developing the key talent in your organization, and towards creating a competitive advantage in your marketplace.

“The best way to be sure you have a lot to look forward to in life is to work to create a future you want to live in.” ~ Charlie Eitel

For real career success you need a plan.

I often hear the “statistic” that the average worker can expect to change careers seven times in a lifetime. While no such statistic actually exists, the truth is that you probably will change your job or career at least once or twice in your lifetime.

So ask yourself: are you really happy with what you are doing right now?

And if not, “Do you have a plan to become the best in your chosen career field?”

You’re competing in a dynamic global marketplace–and you cannot afford to stagnate.  Life is too short to continue doing something that makes you unhappy. To maintain your competitive edge and to pursue a career that makes you truly happy–you should follow these Three Essential Steps of Successful Career Planning.

The 3 Essential Steps of Successful Career Planning:

1. Understand your strengths and weaknesses

To accomplish the most in your career, you should work in a job that you find satisfying. You will perform your best in a role that you enjoy–your job satisfaction is largely determined by how good you are at it. The better your job responsibilities “fit” your work style and personality characteristics, the more likely you are going to be happy in your job.

One of the biggest problems–particularly when you’re getting started–is identifying a career in which you would have the greatest fit. The problem is you may not be aware of the opportunities where you could succeed the most. Also, you don’t know how good you are at various tasks, since you may have never tried them. Doing a self -assessment can help you in this regard; these tools help you understand your strengths and weaknesses so that you can identify the jobs that best match your talents.

Some examples of these assessment tools are: The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), StrengthsFinder 2.0, and PsyMax’s very own WorkStyle Assessment (WSA).

2. Study the latest career and job trends

A career that looks promising today may not hold as much potential just a few years down the road, so you need to be constantly aware of the latest developments that are taking place and determine how best you can fit in to the changing scenario. In order to make long-term decisions to your career, you should know what kind of job growth is expected in the future, particularly in the field that interests you the most. If you plan ahead, you will be ready to take the leap when the situation demands, and not run the risk of missing out on taking advantage of an opportunity that presents itself to you

3. Establish specific career objectives and work to achieve them

As the old saying goes, “If you don’t know where you are going and don’t care, then any road will get you there.” If you do not have a roadmap for your career and you don’t care where you end up, it will be difficult for you to achieve your long term career goal and you may not be happy if you even get there.

To sum up…

Goal-setting is a critical requirement for effective career planning. You need to determine both your short-term (1-2 years) and long-term job and career objectives. Once you set this process in motion, you should continually review and adjust your actions and plans based on your progress. As soon as you achieve one goal, you need to identify and move towards the next… being on a dynamic journey of continual growth and adaptation.

If you work to understand your strengths and weaknesses, study the latest career and job trends, continually review and adjust your job and career goals, and follow through on your plans–your strengths will naturally show, the people you work with will recognize your passion for your work–and you will naturally rise to choosing a job you not only perform extremely well, but also truly enjoy doing.

Then you’ll be in a position to have a very successful career.