Assessments – When is Knowledge a Good Thing?

Some clients want to learn as much as they can regarding how the assessments work; what makes a candidate hirable, where the findings come from, how their profile impacts the hiring decision, what is the OMG criteria, etc. Some clients crave this information because of their need to know stuff. Others want it to figure out how they manipulate the test to get more hirable candidates. One group wants to know if they can deploy candidates that aren’t recommended in some other meaningful way.

For instance, we’ve recently seen several very strong candidates that weren’t recommended because the clients were hiring for remote offices and the candidates were not recommended for remote locations because of either their inability to self-start, work independently, work without supervision and/or take responsibility for their results. However, a client who understands that this is the only reason a strong candidate wasn’t recommended, can assign this salesperson to an office where there is a manager.

A strong candidate could not be recommended if it’s clear he/she won’t prospect for new business. However, a client who has a strong existing customer base can use this strong salesperson to grow the existing business.

Knowledge in the wrong hands can be deadly but to the person who can use the information in a meaningful way, this knowledge can be priceless.

(c) Copyright 2006 Objective Management Group, Inc.