NNFA Northwest Region

    People are responsible for the success or failure of every business. It is people who sell product, give customer service, manage the business finances and keep the store clean. Positive, motivated and productive people are the ones who managers desire as employees because they are the ones who will make a business thrive and grow. Employees who have a personal investment in the success of the business are the ones who bring peace of mind to the owner or manager-the kind of peace that allows the manager to trust that everything is OK when he or she is not in the store.

    Identifying and hiring the right people is one of the greatest challenges facing managers. Most managers rely on interviews and references, but both of these are purely subjective judgements and can result in costly hiring mistakes. Poor employees often find way to "look good" and are hired at least 50% of the time, according to personnel specialists.

    Even when good hiring decisions are made, it is still possible to place employees in the wrong position. When this occurs, the bad match of skills and aptitude can have disastrous results for both manager and employee. Many employees underachieve because their strengths are not identified and utilized, while weakness are often not understood and overcome. Most managers don't realize that this sad waste of human resource could be avoided if more objective measures were applied when hiring, placing or promoting employees.

    There are a number of tools available to assess a person's ability to perform on the job by giving consideration to their character development. Most people are aware of IQ, or intelligence quotient. Few would use it as a personnel tool, and for good reason. IQ scores, as it turns out, have very little to do with how a person will perform on the job, or how they will get along with people. There is another measurement, however, that has everything to do with how people will perform. This measurement is called EQ, or emotional quotient.

    Emotional quotient is comprised of characteristics such as emotional energy, ability to perform under stress, optimism, self-esteem, commitment to work, attention to detail, desire for change, courage, self- direction, assertiveness, tolerance, consideration for others and sociability. It is the various combinations of these traits that predict the conditions under which a person will perform at a high level.

    There are a number of companies that specialize in administering various types of emotional intelligence or personnel placement tests. One such company, Second Opinion, based in the Seattle area, uses the Simmons Personal Survey. This survey according to the principals at Second Opinion is the most powerful job-related assessment tool available on the market. Like an X-ray, the Personal survey allows managers to see just what each applicant is like, penetrating the faÁade that is often presented in the interview environment.

    Survey administrators claim that in just a few minutes time, managers will know more about the character of job applicants that they would by observing them for several years. The survey can also help managers to get more from their reference checks by helping them know about what subjects they should inquire. The survey only takes 30 minutes and uses a time-tested and reliable database of 720 responses to evaluate potential employees. The turnaround time for results is less than one minute via computer and 30 minutes to three hours by fax. The results can also be delivered via mail.

    The survey has standard norms for virtually every job, based on scores for top performers. Character qualities can be compared to one of the standard job norms or to a customized norm. This allows managers to accurately predict job performance and to consistently select the best people for the job. The information gained from the survey will enable managers to effectively hire, transfer, promote, or outplace.

Retailer, Dick Patricelli, co-owner of three Nature's Pantry stores in the East-Seattle area had nothing but high praise for the Simmons Personal survey. He not only uses the survey results when making hiring and placement decisions, but also says that the survey helped him to learn some very important things about himself.

For more information on the survey, contact Wes Crane, with Second Opinion,at (206) 783-8610.

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