Common examples of test abuse
Most salespeople experience psychometric testing when changing jobs. Often, the experience is largely negative. It’s just one more hurdle to jump, it’s rare to be given meaningful feedback and ‘failing’ the test(s) is often the reason for your application not being successful. However, because psychometric test results are not supposed to be the only decision-making criterion, you’re not likely to be told this.
A typical scenario might be that you’ve attended first and second interviews and got on like a house on fire with your future boss. The job’s effectively in the bag, then HR insist on a final interview including a psychometric test (usually a personality profile). You fill in the questionnaire, go home and wait for the job offer. Except it’s not a job offer you receive but a ‘Dear John’, explaining that after careful consideration the company does not wish to pursue your application further. No explanation, just a brief letter of rejection wishing you every success in your future career. Been there, sound familiar? Yes, it happens more often than you’d care to believe.
But this is one of the worst examples of how psychometric tests should not be used. First, if the results are really that important, why weren’t you given the test at the first interview? It would have saved a lot of time for all parties concerned. The answer, usually, is that the company doesn’t want to pay for a test on a candidate they will reject for another reason during the normal course of the interview. Given the cost of tests nowadays, this really is a false economy. Another reason is that despite the widespread use of tests, many companies don’t actually place much faith in the results. Testing has just become part of the recruitment procedure and nobody pays particular attention to the results. Used under these circumstances, one must ask, ‘What’s the point?’ If you have no confidence in the results, why use a test in the first instance?
The truth is, many of the tests most widely used during the recruitment of salespeople in the UK are very poor at predicting how well suited candidates are to the sales role for which they have applied. This explains the rather indifferent attitude to the results exhibited by some employers. Equally, despite having no cast iron evidence to prove the test results can predict who will be truly successful in the role and who will struggle, some companies place total faith in the results.
The above are all examples of abuse of psychometric tests. However, used appropriately and effectively, they can be hugely beneficial both to employer and candidate alike. How can this be so?
Well, the basic principle of psychometric testing is to place people in roles for which they have both the required skills and appropriate characteristics. The former are covered by ability & aptitude tests, the latter typically by personality profiles. Examples of aptitude & ability tests include manual dexterity, numerical skills and verbal skills
Whilst it’s commonly stated that you cannot ‘fail’ a psychometric test, this is only true of personality profiles. In the context of aptitude & ability tests, extensive studies have typically been undertaken comparing on-the-job performance with employees’ scores on tests, which are relevant to the role. Such studies prove that there is almost always a minimum score below which performances are below par. Therefore, if an applicant for the role of assembly-line worker scores low on a test of manual dexterity (relevant to the job), it makes no sense for the employer to hire him/her. In this circumstance, one could argue that the candidate had, in effect, ‘failed’ the test.
But personality is a more complex issue. Indeed, what is personality? Simply put, it’s a set of enduring traits and characteristics that shape how an individual reacts and responds to people and situations. Hence, knowledge of these can be used to predict behaviour and likely job performance. In general, we tend to be good at things we like doing and not so good at those we don’t. It probably comes as no surprise that the latter often go hand in hand. In essence, personality profiling is all about matching people to jobs based on what they are well suited to, enjoy doing and are good at.
To explain, let’s return to our example in manufacturing. Assume we have two applicants for the position of assembly-line worker. Applicant A has excellent dexterity but an extremely low boredom threshold. Candidate B has slightly less good dexterity but an amazing tolerance of mundane, repetitive tasks. Candidate A has higher skills, but overall, candidate B will probably make the better employee. For, he/she will almost certainly be more content and stay longer in the role. Candidate A will probably get frustrated and quit.
An equivalent scenario in selling would be that the best trained and most experienced applicant (he/she with the best skills) may not prove to be the most successful and productive salesperson in a role involving lots of prospecting. For, whilst he/she KNOWS there’s a given level of prospecting activity that needs to be done every week and is skilled in the art, because he/she doesn’t like doing it, it doesn’t happen. As a result, the pipeline empties and targets are missed. A less skilled but more enthusiastic individual who enjoys prospecting will keep his/her pipeline full and enjoy the downstream rewards thereof.
Staying with prospecting, this is an important activity in any sales role involving new business generation. But, of the entire population of salespeople as a whole, only an exceptional few relish the task. Most salespeople do the minimum prospecting they need and some see it as something to be avoided at all costs (even, ultimately, their job).
Looking at the characteristics that underpin frequent and successful prospecting activity, these include confidence, the ability to shrug off rejection and tenacity. Different people have each of these characteristics to different degrees. So, for a role involving a great deal of prospecting such as that of New Business Executive (NBE), it makes sense to hire applicants with each of these traits in abundance.
In contrast, positions like Key Account Manager (KAM) often involve little or no prospecting. Much more important here are analytical ability, patience and relationship-building skills. The terms ‘Hunters & Farmers’ are commonly applied to the contrasting roles of NBE and KAM and the people who fill them. Indeed, the skills and characteristics that underpin success in KAM roles are drawn from almost the opposite ends of the spectrum to those that underpin success in NBE roles. Therefore it’s hardly surprising that good hunters rarely make good farmers and vice versa.
But KAM and NBE roles represent the opposite extremes of the sales spectrum. Most roles involve a combination of new business generation and account maintenance, perhaps with a slight degree of bias one way or t’other. The same is true of salespeople. Some are extremely well matched to NBE roles; others are ideally suited to KAM roles. Most fall somewhere in between. Achieving the best possible match between a salesperson and his/her intended role is good for the individual and employer alike. For, people well-matched to their roles typically enjoy their work and are the most productive. The skill, therefore, is in accurately gauging the balance of demands of the role, the natural bias of the salesperson and achieving the best possible match.
Responsible employers recognise this and will use a good quality personality profile capable of measuring the relevant skills and qualities for success in various sales roles. After all, what’s good for them (another well-matched and hence high performing, well-motivated salesperson in their team) is good for you too. As mentioned earlier, many of the tests in common usage are ‘general purpose’ and are unable to measure the degree of fit between each candidate and a specific sales role with any degree of accuracy.
So, next time you attend an interview and are rejected, especially if you completed a personality profile, ask for details about the test, for some feedback on the results and the reasons why you were rejected. If it’s a good test instrument, you can use the results to help target your job search more accurately and find your ‘perfect sales job’ – one that is well matched to your personality and uses your skills and talents to best effect. Not only will you find the job relatively easy and fulfilling, it will also maximise your earnings potential.
© Sales Team Focus Ltd
May 2002
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