In Part 1, I explained that job skills walk around on two feet; past achievements are less important than the skills used to accomplish them; employers … Read more
R. Wendell Williams, Ph.D., is Managing Director of ScientificSelection.com. He specializes in helping organizations develop job competencies, measure applicant skills, implement performance management programs, develop performance appraisal systems, make promotion decisions, and develop Web-enabled hiring sites. Contact him at rww@scientificselection.com .
Like it or Not, You Use Tests (Part 1 of 2)
Two comedians are talking… “Do you test applicants?” “We don’t use tests.” “Oh. You hire everyone who applies?” “No … just the ones who pass interviews.” … Read more
The New College-grad Test Is Better Than GPA, But Proceed With Caution
As long as I have been in business, hiring managers have been trying to pin a magic number on job candidates in the hope it will indicate future job … Read more
Too Many Applicants, Too Little Time?
Some organizations are just lucky … they have a huge, Niagara-like, flow of applicants knocking at their front door. They hire teams of people to scan … Read more
The Problem With Personality Tests
It seems counterintuitive. Some people claim that personality has everything to do with job performance. Others know that every piece of serious research … Read more
The Big Data HR Fad
Nothing excites organizations like another fad. The latest one happens to be a thing called “Big Data.” Big Data refers to collecting so many … Read more
What Not to Ask In an Interview
You have read all about what to ask in an interview as well as magic questions that will solve all your hiring problems. What about what not to do? Make no … Read more
The Black Hearts and White Knights of Pre-Employment Testing
You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time. — Abraham Lincoln … Read more
Lessons from Great Coaches and Other Myths
Every so often someone publishes an article about lessons learned from great coaches, offering advice about how to select people. Sorry, this is useless … Read more
8 Questions to Measure Your Behavioral Interviewing Competence
If you think Behavioral Event Interviews consist only of questions, think again. Highly structured interviews have a long history of accurately predicting … Read more
Building an 80% Sales Force, Really!
I can’t begin to estimate the amount of nonsense used to select salespeople: show me your wage reports; sell me the pencil; what animal best describes you; … Read more
Is Your Hiring Test a Joke?
When something looks good on the surface, but completely without merit, it is called a joke. You might not have thought of this before, but many hiring … Read more
Lose a Good Salesperson: Gain a Bad Manager
It’s a common mistake. Promote your best salesperson, gain a bad manager, and lose both. Why does this keep happening? Sales were great and his/her top … Read more
Managers Need You to Screen Out the Weakest Candidates
Thus grief still treads upon the heels of pleasure; Married in haste, we may repent at leisure. —William Congreve, 1693 If you work from a job … Read more
360 Degree Feedback. Not.
You might have read about something called 360-degree feedback. Depending on who you read, it gets good, bad, or ugly reviews. People generally agree that … Read more
Bad Tests and Fake Bird Seed
An old Gary Larsen cartoon once showed a kindly old lady hand-feeding birds in her back yard. Off to the side was a sack labeled with words that read … Read more
Questions Every Corporate Recruiter Should Ask
Throughout the year I get many questions from readers, recruiters, HR, and vendors. In this end-of-the-year article, I’ll list a few of the most frequent ones. Read more
Ridiculist: More Silly Recruiting Ideas
I owe the term “Riduculist” to Anderson Cooper. Every so often he discusses something so silly it defies explanation. This article deals with an email … Read more
HR is Dead! Yes? No? Maybe? (Hint: It’s up to you)
Politicians claim they never let a good crisis go to waste. Reacting to crises is how people take advantage of opportunities that might otherwise be … Read more
7 Obstacles to a Dream Workforce
In this article, an abridged version of one coming up in the Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership, I’ll describe how and why hiring and promoting the … Read more