Tom Gorman asked about "Hiring for Attitude" so I thought
I would share my article on Job Fit, i.e, hiring for attitude.
Bob
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Job Fit:
Skills are necessary, but not sufficient to predict future
success on the job. What is missing? The answer is Job Fit--
does the applicant have the right combination of mental
abilities, personal interests and personality traits to
allow success on the job? Very few managers can do this
type of assessment without very expensive professional
assistance, until recently.
These ideas are derived from ???RIGHT PERSON-RIGHT JOB;
GUESS OR KNOW, The Breakthrough Technologies of
Performance Information??? by Chuck Russell.
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| Company Fit |
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|| | */////||*******|****
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|| * || *
|| * || Skills *
|| * || Match *
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|| Job Fit ||
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1 - COMPANY FIT may be determined by:
1 - Drug Testing
2 - Integrity Testing
3 - Honesty Testing
4 - Interviewing
2 - SKILLS MATCH can be assessed through:
1 - Educational Background
2 - Work History
3 - Objective Skills Testing
4 - Reference Checking
3 - JOB FIT is determined by three elements:
1 - Cognitive Ability
2 - Interests
3 - Measurable Dynamics of Personality
///// Indicates job applicants who have
///// Company Fit, Skills Match and Job Fit.
Few managers can determine Job Fit so what they evaluate
is the applicant???s qualifications, education, etc., but
not Job Fit. On page 25 of RIGHT PERSON-RIGHT JOB; GUESS
OR KNOW, The Breakthrough Technologies of Performance
Information Chuck Russell writes:
???Job Fit is the degree to which the candidate???s
cognitive abilities, interests, and personality
dynamics fit those required by???the???position.???
You can see by the overlapping three boxes, see above,
that unless we consider Job Fit our pool of acceptable
candidates will include many applicants who will not be
successful because they lack Job Fit. According to the
Job Fit concept only about 1/3 of the otherwise qualified
applicants have Job Fit based on the success traits
required for most positions. The other 2/3 include
the obvious misfits and the less obvious
future non-performers.
The misfits and non-performers are about equal
in number (1/3 each) but only the obvious misfits
are readily excluded in the screening process.
Therefore, we have reduced the pool of acceptable
applicants by 1/3, i.e., the obvious misfits, and
we are left with the 1/3 future non-performers and
the 1/3 with Job Fit. Or stated another way, the
pool of acceptable candidates consists of two equal
sized groups: applicants with Job Fit and the
future non-performers. Since most managers cannot
distinguish between the two groups the failure
rate in hiring is 50% or more with some studies
indicating failure rates approaching 70% for
critical positions.
Now consider the Peter Principle and the tendency
of managers to hire and promote people who are like
themselves and we see that the percentage of applicants
with Job Fit gets smaller and smaller. Companies must
break out of this downward spiral and start hiring and
promoting and selecting people who have Job Fit for
the job. Unless the right people are selected for our
positions there is little hope for improvement.
Finally, the best technical employees seldom make
the best managers, therefore a sea change in thinking
must be accomplished in most companies. Be forewarned,
however, that it may be impossible for some managers
to admit to themselves and others that they may have
been selected for their position based on inadequate
criteria, i.e., technical excellence and speaking ability.
+----------------------------+
| Robert F. Gately, PE, MBA |
+----------------------------+-----------------------+
| GATELY CONSULTING (508) 473-0955 |
| 115 Dutcher Street Fax (508) 634-0670 |
| Hopedale, MA 01747-1006 Toll Free (800) 478-8117 |
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http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/gately/ |
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