Assessment

1.  Why or whether a person will do a job

The first tool is an inventory of personal interests, attitudes, and values—the “hidden motivators” that are not readily observed, especially in interviews when job candidates typically have their “game face” on. PIAV helps illuminate and clarify those motivating factors, and then build on the strengths that one brings to a job.

      2.  How a person will do a job

We use the largest-selling behavioral assessment in the world—a four-quadrant-style analysis of observable behavioral, emotional, and communication styles. Using over 40,000 built-in variables to generate more than 60 different profiles (versus only 16 for Meyers-Briggs, for example), this tool delivers far more individualized and dead-on accurate results. It’s been in use and continually refined for over 80 years—created in the 1920s by renowned psychologist Carl Jung and Harvard professor Howard Marston. 

 What Assessment Is and Is Not

Remember, these assessments are not an intelligence test, a personality profile, or a psychological evaluation. What they do measure is

•  neutral,
• observable, and 
• universal.

That is, the results apply equally to an IT outsourcing VP in Hong Kong and to someone in the same role in the New York tri-state area.

Note: In respect of a person’s privacy, our commitment to confidentiality, and EEOC hiring standards, we never share the actual results of either assessment until after a person has been hired. If you’d like to see the actual 30+-page computer-generated report, we’re happy to provide it—after the person’s on the job. In fact, these results can serve as a valuable foundation for transition coaching or ongoing development of the new hire. Until then, what you do receive are Cage Talent’s summary and interpretation of the assessment results, as they pertain to the position at hand.

 Using Assessments: The Gift That Keeps on Giving

Cage Talent’s assessment package plays a significant role in all phases of a person’s work life:

• Before a hire—to dramatically reduce the risk of a bad (and costly) hiring decision       
• During the transition—to assure a great fit in the new role, thus increasing the likelihood the person will stay in the job  
• After placement—to help a person communicate and interact with colleagues successfully, resolving differences before they turn into major problems

Such matters are highly significant when we realize that studies indicate that fully 50% to 90% of people might currently be in a position that does not suit their values or style and thus do not perform to their full potential.

Ernst & Young has estimated the cost of replacing a poor performer as at least 150% of that person’s salary. Other researchers cite numbers as high as 10 times the employee’s salary.

Research into the use of assessments has verified their value on the job. For example:

• After comparing the job performance of 40 employees who had been promoted partly through the use of assessment and 40 others who had not, AT&T found that two-thirds of the assessment group had a better performance, versus just one-third of the latter group.
• A 1993 study looking at executives’ use of assessments to formulate development plans reported that 98% of these leaders regarded the assessments as “vital or very important”; 49% went so far as to say that the assessments were the “single most important” type of developmental tool.