Should You Hire for Personality or Skill

Should You Hire for Personality or Skill Pop quiz, hotshot. You have two candidates coming in today for an interview. One is fairly skilled with solid experience, but has an attitude that is a little suspect. The other candidate, by all accounts, is warm and friendly but has less experience and accomplishments. Which do you hire? The answer, of course, is “it depends.” Sorry for the letdown, but it really is true…and you’ll see why in a minute. But first, let’s back up a second. What tools are you using to help evaluate these two candidates? There are several types of pre-employment assessments that are useful in the modern recruiter’s toolbox. A huge percentage of the Fortune 500 utilize one or more of the following in their Talent Acquisition efforts: Behavioral/Personality tests â€" Can assess whether a person has certain traits, perspective, is a positive vs. negative person, or predict the likelihood that an individual will react a certain way in specific situations. Emotional Intelligence/Psychological tests â€" An emotional intelligence test can help determine a person’s ability to understand his/her own emotions, as well as others’. Cognitive tests â€" Cognitive tests typically measure a degree of intelligence, such as reasoning, memory, mathematics or reading comprehension. Skill-based tests â€" Skill-based tests are purely focused on determining whether an individual has the very specific skills needed to perform a particular job. So, why are these tools important (and increasingly popular)? Simple. Finding the right talent is getting harder, even with the availability of more tools than ever before. Job seekers have more options, too, and culture and fit are increasingly important to both the job seeker and the employer. So, back to our two candidates waiting in your lobby. Remember when I said the answer of whom you hire “depends?” Well, here are the two factors it depends on. What type of company do you have? Option 1: A company with strong mentoring/management that can take the time to nurture and teach. Option 2: A fast-paced company that needs new hires to step in immediately and perform the task at hand. This company’s model is much more entrepreneurial than Option 1. What’s the nature of the job? Option 1: Customer-facing, or heavily involved with the community and/or people in some capacity. Needs to foster relationships with a warm smile, friendly disposition and strong team work. Option 2: Relationships are less important than the quality of the work. Could be an individual contributor or someone behind the scenes. If you’ve chosen Option 1 both times, then hire for attitude and train the skill. The personality is more important than the candidate’s hard skills or years of education. Why? Two primary reasons: Customer service is critical to your business Your employees are your employer brand Regarding customer service, check out these stats (taken from OneReach): By the year 2020, customer service will beat out price and product as the key brand differentiator. (Walker Info) If customers have a “very good” or “excellent” service experience, 97% of them are “very” or “extremely” likely to tell friends and family about it. (Survey Monkey) 89% of customers will start doing business with a competitor after a negative service experience. (VPI Corp) When was the last time you had a terrible customer service experience, but said “well, at least the sales person went to a good school”? Right. It doesn’t happen, because it doesn’t matter. And, to the second point, remember that you don’t control your brand anymore (consumer or employer). Your employees do. They are your front-line brand ambassadors. Their interactions with customers reflect your culture, your values and the way you do business. And with the ever-growing popularity of review sites, don’t you want those interactions to be positive? So, it’s absolutely critical to hire for attitude. How? Implement one of the first two tests listed above (behavioral/emotional intelligence), and score the individual’s innate, inner workings. (Don’t know where to start? Take a look at some of these: Myers-Briggs, Caliper Profile, StrengthsFinder, DiSC and The Predictive Index.) Now, please understand, I am NOT suggesting that you should turn off your brain and let these tests do all the work for you. They are another tool in your satchel as you play Sherlock Holmes and investigate the whether the candidate is hirable. Use the candidate’s test results in your interview. Did the test show that your candidate prefers a team environment vs autonomous work? Dig into that in the interview and make sure it matches with your work environment. Use the assessments to enhance your brain and your trained eye for talent, not replace it. But, it doesn’t just stop at the point of hire, either. Make sure to evaluate your new hires as they join your team. Touch base â€" frequently â€" with your company’s managers during onboarding, the first week on the job, the first 90 days, etc. and calibrate your expectations against the reality of how she is performing. Has he been a good fit? No? Adjust your earlier approach and look to better match the personality assessments to the real requirements of the job. It’s a bit of a see-saw to find the right balance of personality, attitude, skills and ability, but if you have any kind of customer-facing role, it’s crucial to hire for attitude and train the skill. [Featured image: Shutterstock]

Why Older Job Seekers Are Being Rejected - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Why Older Job Seekers Are Being Rejected - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Once you reach a certain threshold of maturity, fewer job opportunities are available because you get stereotyped. It’s a fact in most cases. But why? There are several reasons. First, in today’s exponential advancement of technological developments, younger people seem to catch on and to be able to adapt much faster than older folks can. Employers know that, and if anything, the future will probably see the advent of more and more and faster and faster technology that will permeate our work lives and home lives. Second, mature people tend to resist change. They’re happy with the status quo and often struggle in learning new things. If you’re older and use a smartphone, remember how hard it was to convert to your new gadget and how much you envied the younger person who within minutes helped you originally set it up. And by the way, how do you react to periodic upgrades of computer programs you’ve been used to for a long time and now everything is different and rearranged and you can’t find anything. So, that’s my point. Third, it is known that with maturity comes complacency: you’re satisfied with the way things are; you don’t feel the need to make changes; and you’re not considering the danger or the cost of not adapting to new things. Fourth, the business world has become very fast paced. If a company does not include the expression fast paced in a job description, it may mean the company has not yet adapted to the twenty-first century. Older people like their own pace and resist getting on a work-related treadmill where the company or the boss regulates the speed control. Fifthâ€"and possibly not the last reasonâ€"certain physiological changes occur with the aging process. They’re of course normal, and they occur at different ages for different people. Examples are some loss of hearing (not being able to hear everything being said in a team meeting), impairment of vision (problems seeing fine print on the computer screen), general memory loss (difficulty in quickly recalling relevant and important job-related issues), and loss of energy and vitality (in a fast-paced organization in which both energy and vitality are prerequisites). Employers are aware of all of those impeding factors and naturally gravitate to younger people despite the fact that older people many times represent a much better value: older workers may have better work ethics; they can apply seasoned thinking; they make fewer errors because they’ve already made those mistakes and learned from them at earlier stages of their careers; and they offer an abundance of experience that younger people simply do not possess. You can’t fight city hall, as the adage goes, and therefore, more-mature people should consider doing other things that better fit their lifestyles. Oops, didn’t I just say older people resist change? So, what is one to do? Don’t panic. There are solutions. Seek out books that cover this subject precisely and provide answersâ€"for example, What Color Is Your Parachute? for Retirement, by John E. Nelson and Richard N. Bolles. Such books have terrific information on how to go about making a change. Bon voyage on your journey. Please send postcards and photos.

How to Wake Up Early (INFOGRAPHIC)

How to Wake Up Early (INFOGRAPHIC) If you’re one of those rare specimens known as  â€œmorning people,” you wake up with the sun, ready to face the day. For the rest of us commoners, getting going in the morning is an uphill battle. So if you’re like most people, you don’t wake up naturally. Instead, the ring of an alarm clock probably jerks you out of sleep. Good news: science is on the case as discovered by our friends at »  https://www.cashnetusa.com Courtesy of: CashNetUSA

10 Questions to Answer Before Asking to Telecommute - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

10 Questions to Answer Before Asking to Telecommute - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career There’s no doubt that telecommuting is growing. Nevertheless, many managers are reluctant to allow employees to work at home, usually because of a lack of knowledge of how telecommuting can benefit everyone. Before asking your boss if you can work from home, prepare a written proposal that outlines your value to the company, your proposed schedule and work duties, and benefits your employer can get from allowing you to telecommute. Here are 10 questions you need to answer in preparing your work-at-home proposal. Would you hire you to work from home? Do you have the work ethic to get things done without the external cues that come from commuting to an office? Can you make yourself accountable to others who rely on you to do your job? Can you focus and avoid distractions? How valuable are you to your company? Telecommuting is a perk, not a right. Perks are earned. Identify areas you make a difference in your company. It helps if you can quantify your value such as how much your work has increased business or special recognition you’ve earned for a job well done? Does your company offer flexible work options and who, if anyone, takes advantage of them? Some companies already offer flexible work, but not everyone may engage in or know about it. Check your company’s HR manual for information on flexible work options already included. If your company doesn’t offer telecommuting or other flexible work option, it doesn’t mean it won’t consider it if you can make a persuasive argument in your proposal. Does your industry engage in flexible work options? While your company may not offer flexible work, other companies in the same industry might. Do some research to find out if other companies offer telecommuting and if possible the benefits they’re receiving from offering flexible work options. What duties of your job can be done at home? Is your job or parts of your job conducive to working from home? What does your telecommuting day look like? What days and schedule do you want to work? What equipment do you already have to work from home? What equipment would you need your boss to provide. The less your boss has to do or provide, the easier it will be to convince him to let you telecommute. How will the office be able to stay in touch with you? A lack of communication is a common problem in telecommuting programs. Staying in touch with colleagues and your boss will be crucial to your success. How will your work be evaluated? Telecommuters can’t be judged by how many hours and days they sit at their cubicle. In fact, manager fears about telecommuters goofing off instead of working is the prime reason many say “no” to telecommuting. Instead, you need to quantify or find other ways to show your work is being done. What benefits will the company reap by your working at home? There is a great deal of research that indicates telecommuters can save companies up to $11,000 per employee. You can show the benefits for your company by identifying problems areas your telecommuting will fix, such as reduced wait and strain on resources (i.e. parking, computers or the copier), reduced overhead, and increased productivity.

12 Best Career Paths for Introverts - CareerMetis.com

12 Best Career Paths for Introverts The belief that extroverts make the most successful professionals is long out-of-date. Introverted people have their unique abilities and strengths that make them just as valuable on the job market as extroverts.Sometimes it’s more important to get a job that fits our preferences and personality, not the one that pays best.evalIf you have got a personality test done or just know that you have introverted personality traits, you don’t need to worry. In fact, the more you know about your personality and preferences, the easier your job search will become.Here are best 12 career paths for introverts looking for suitable jobs that match their personality.1. PilotevalIf you decide to become an airline or commercial pilot, you can be sure that you’re the one in control â€" and that’s a feeling most introverts like. Pilots get to see many new places and travel all the time, meeting new people but also having a lot of alone time.To get started as a commercial pilot, you will need a h igh school diploma and some on-the-job training together with a commercial pilot license you can get from the Federal Aviation Administration.If you’d like to spend time navigating through the skies as an airline pilot, you will need at least a bachelor’s degree and a certificate. Note that the median pay for pilots is quite high and amounts to over $100,000 annually. Not a bad job for someone who doesn’t like to mix with people all the time, right?2. Technical writerSource â€" Pexels.comAnother fantastic job for introverts is technical writing. If you understand technology and know how to present complex information understandably, consider becoming a technical writer.As a technical writer, you will conduct independent research and collaborate with expert teams to produce instruction manuals and support documentation for software and digital products.evalMost of the time, technical writers work in the IT and engineering industries, but you can find other industries that requi re technical writers as well.3. Community managerJust because you need some space fromsocializing, it doesn’t mean that you’re antisocial. In fact, many introverts thrive in virtual social environments because they can connect through online conversations without the exhaustion that comes as part of being around people for too long.If you like the web and social media, you can easily become a social media manager for a brand you love or freelance and manage the communities of different brands.Social media managers interact with followers and help create a schedule, and publish promotional materials to boost customer engagement with brands.4. Blogger or authorevalAnother fantastic career path for introverts is becoming an author or a blogger. Introverted people generally tend to look for opportunities to be alone with their thoughts. Becoming a literary author with that type of imagination is the first step to success.You will be able to channel your thoughts and create unique st ories that can be either published traditionally or through self-publishing.As a blogger, you will be able to deliver valuable content to the readers in your niche and make money bloggingabout things that you love.5. Software developerevalIf you have a knack for technologies and the idea of spending days behind the screenwriting code sounds great, consider becoming a programmer. As a software developer, you will be responsible for developing code and building amazing digital productsand applications.Most of the time, you will need a degree in computer science a considerable knowledge of programming languages that are used in your target industry.6. AccountantSource â€" Pixabay.comBeing an accountant means that you will be spending more time dealing with numbers than people. Sounds like a great job, right? If you’re an independent professional with strong organizational skills, accountancy can be an empowering career path.Accountants and auditors are responsible for examining state ments and records, financial operations, and preparing tax documents for clients. If that sounds like fun, consider that line of work.7. Film or video editorIntroverts don’t want to be involved in the chaotic process of filming a production. However, postproduction is another story. After all, someone has to make sense of the content and edit it into a whole that makes sense.If you prefer to work at your own pace and independently, becoming a film or video editor is a smart move. You will simply get raw footage and add your creative touch to the piece in the comfort of your office.8. ActuaryevalIf you like to work independently and have a good head for numbers, you might be excellent material for an actuary. An actuary basically analyzes the cost of risks with the use of statistical models, typically for the insurance industry 10. Political scientistAs a political scientist, you will be conducting independent research and analysis of government policies and trends visible in polit ics, both on a national and international scale. That type of work is usually presented as reports for politicians who need that information to make important decisions.However, to enter that line of trade, you will need at least a Master’s degree or even a Ph.D. Yet, if you’re successful, you can count on a salary at around $100,000 per year.11. Truck driverSource â€" Wikimedia.orgAnother exciting career path for introverts is a long-haul truck driving. If you love driving for long periods of time while listening to the radio, it could be a dream job for you.You will get to travel long distances, get out on the open road, and visit a lot of different places. The only thing you need to do this job is a commercial driver’s license and high school diploma.12. Lab technicianAnother fantastic opportunity for introverts is becoming a lab technician. Working in this role, you will help in diagnosing patients in behind-the-scenes analysis at a healthcare facility or laboratory.You wi ll run tests on samples of fluids, tissues, and other substances collected from patients. Being a lab technician isn’t an option for those who are squeamish, but if you can deal with blood and you like working in solitude, a quiet lab setting will be a perfect work environment.These 12 careers are just perfect for introverts â€" if you’re an introverted person, you get to choose from some inspiring jobs.

Should You Change Careers 5 Important Questions - CareerAlley

Should You Change Careers 5 Important Questions - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. A rising trend has emerged in the job market since the recession, and its not really that surprising. Millennial workers love to change careers. The Wall Street Journal reports that the average American worker will soon have 7 different careers in a lifetime a statistic that seems astounding, even in the current job market. Still, career changes arent necessarily a bad thing, whether theyre a result of young workers trying to find their niche or older workers deciding to follow their passion instead of continue on an unsatisfying path. Today, work satisfaction is valued much higher than it was in the past. If youre prepared before you choose a new career, you can reduce the number of changes you make because youll be able to find that satisfaction. Here are the questions you should ask yourself. Suggested Reading:Lifes a Bitch and Then You Change Careers 1. How much does your new career pay? You might be perfectly happy taking a pay cut to pursue something you love, but you also need a realistic grasp on how your lifestyle might change if you had to survive on a much different income. If you have kids, this is a particularly important issue. What will your family need to forego? How long will it take you to earn the highest income possible in your new profession? You may be entering a career thats much more lucrative than your last, but you have to understand what that means for you. 2. Do you have the right training? Changing careers can mean much more than a pay cut. If you have to go back to school or enroll in training programs, you could incur even more costs, and you need to be prepared. Youll have to figure out how to fit learning new skills or expanding old ones into your schedule. Luckily, its never been easier to achieve a higher level of training in most careers that require it, and it may only come down to planning for when youll be qualified for the right jobs. You just have to be willing to make the commitment. 3. How is your new career better than your old one? The answers might be obvious, but it still helps to really look at what you hope to gain from a new job. Is it work youre more passionate about? Is it a better schedule? Higher pay?Opportunities for travel? Understanding what your goals are will help you make the right decision on how they are achievable for you. Sometimes falling into a rut at your old job doesnt mean you need to deconstruct your entire career plan. Could changing companies or departments help just as well? 4. What are your values? Not everyone wants to change the world, but having some idea of what youd like to do with your career can help you narrow down what you ought to be doing. If you want to help other people, there are a myriad of options. If you want to be creative, solve problems, or simply be recognized for your hard work, you should look for a job that will fulfill you on a psychological level. Careers are about more than skills and passions, theyre about what kind of worker you want to be. 5. Will you regret staying where you are? Changing careers can mean starting from the bottom rung again and overhauling your life, but if its really worth it, youll know. If youd look back in a decade and sincerely regret being stuck in the same career youre in now, then its time to try something new. If youre only entertaining the change because of an economic downturn or a lack of opportunities, ask yourself if the move is only temporary or how much change you really want to make.The goal shouldnt be to change careers seven times in a lifetime, it should be to make every change count. Its very common to work for a number of different employers in your lifetime some day the average is climbing to nearly 20. But choosing a different career is not the same as getting a new job. In todays world, what you do has become intrinsically linked to your identity and happiness, which is why so many workers are willing to jump ship and try again if they arent feeling satisfied. Whether you stay in the same field or move to an entirely new one, make sure youre prepared for the journey. It could be the most important one youve ever taken. Career Tip of the Day:10 Signs You Need a Career Change We are always eager to hear from our readers. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or suggestions regarding CareerAlley content. Good luck in your search,Joey Google+ What's next? Ready to take action? Choose the right tools to help you build your career. Looking for related topics? Find out how to find the opportunities that help you grow your best career. Subscribe and make meaningful progress on your career. It’s about time you focused on your career. Get Educated Contact Us Advertise Copyright 2020 CareerAlley. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy + Disclosure home popular resources subscribe search

Using Resume Writing Services For a Job Application

Using Resume Writing Services For a Job ApplicationIf you are applying for a job in Ohio, then you may have some additional assistance that you may need to help you with your resume. Job seekers often do not have the time to check out each and every company that they come across on their resume. Even if you do have the time, it may be hard to find the time to visit each and every company that you would like to include in your resume.However, if you are able to provide a sample of your resume to an employer, you may be able to do so without spending too much time or money. As an employer, you may be able to find a person who has written resumes for the company you want to work for.When looking for a resume writer, keep in mind that you are probably going to need assistance when it comes to your resume. You will need to be able to access their skills and knowledge so that you can provide more examples of your resume to make it easier for the employer to read. The more examples you can provide, the better chance you have of being read. Therefore, it may be necessary for you to ask if the person writing your resume has done this before.It is very important for you to give as much information as possible so that the employer can have a complete picture of your abilities and talents. Do not hesitate to include any educational information that you feel is necessary. For example, if you are a mother who works in a nursing home, this information may help the employer to get a better idea of what you are capable of doing.The next step in the process of creating a resume is to review the information that you have provided on your resume. As you review your resume, pay close attention to the particular information that is located on the letterhead or in the upper left hand corner of the page.Do not overlook any section that the future employer may need information from. In fact, you may want to go into great detail about the specific sections of your resume.If you are able to write a resume by yourself, then that is certainly going to be easier for you. However, if you are having difficulties, consider enlisting the services of someone who knows how to write a resume. Since there are many companies out there that provide resume writing services, it is unlikely that you will have to spend a lot of money to do so.So, if you have spent a lot of time creating a resume, why not seek out the assistance of a company that provides resume writing services. They will be able to get the job done for you quickly and efficiently.