Q. How does testing help in the interview process?
The critical thinking test is a test of whether the applicant can think deeply, can think strategically and can problem solve. It’s a series of questions that results in answers that they give and produces a report back to us — it’s a third-party test that we use.
We also do skills testing. For example, we’ll test for grammar, we’ll test for proper letter writing, we’ll test for Excel and PowerPoint skills, depending on the position they apply for. We want to make sure we don’t have to spend significant time training in these basic areas.
We’ve had some wonderful people apply who can’t write a business letter, and unfortunately, that speaks to who we are as a company. A poor business letter reflects very poorly on the company.
Many of these are computer-based, so we sit them down at a computer and let them go through and either take the test online, or we’ve got some internal things that we’ve done.
The DISC [dominance, influencing, steadiness and conscientiousness] analysis is really a personality profile that helps us understand how this person will operate within a specific environment. For example, there is a different profile test for management than there is for sales. It gives you really a full view of who this person is.
The way we use it for applicants is to figure out if there are some glaring problems here that we can’t get over. It also helps to support theories that we may have come up with during the interview process. Then, once hired, it helps us support them in areas they may be weak in.
Q. What questions have been successful for you in understanding the candidate?
One of the questions that I like to ask is why have they specifically selected our company, and how does it fit with their life goals? I can quickly determine whether they’ve spent time researching the business and have some reason that they want to work for us versus those that are just sending out resumes for a job.
An applicant, whether it’s higher level management or a staff employee, they are delivering their very best performance in an interview, and they should have done their very best prep work in advance. If they haven’t done that for their next career, then I’m not interested in hiring them, because if they don’t do it for their career, they’re certainly not going to do it for our employees here and for our customers.
How to reach: The French Co., (800) 321-8875 or www.thefrenchcompany.com