Psychological Selection Two Atlanta psychologists have created an online testing service to help companies hire the right people
By Pamela D. Blackmon, Contributing Writer
Atlanta Business Chronicle
August 25-31, 2000

Joseph Evans still laments a hiring mistake he made years ago. He needed to hire a replacement quickly for someone who held a key position, so he hired a long-time acquaintance.

An evaluation of the person's subsequent poor performance revealed weaknesses overlooked during selection.

"The person had relocated his family to take the position with us," recalled Evans, president and CEO of Century South Banks Inc. "I felt very badly that his entire family experienced disruption that could have been avoided with a more thorough evaluation process."

That incident led Evans to resolve to improve Century South Banks' selection process for all positions, which made the company a prime candidate for ComputerPsychologist.com.

The company offers an online pre-employment testing system developed by Atlanta psychologists Frank M. Merritt and David M. McCord. The system helps companies - including such clients as PaineWebber Inc., Cousins Properties Inc. and National Service Industries Inc. - see how applicants compare with their top performers.

Making Smarter Choices
Star performers are tested on 16 personality traits and cognitive abilities. The results generate a Peak Performer Profile spotlighting the characteristics that engender success for a position.

An applicant then takes a 45-minute test on the Internet. The company is chargerd $100 to $150 per test, depending on the number of tests.

For business people like Evans, the price is small compared to the expense of making a bad hire.

"I can think of few errors as costly as the hire that does not work out," he said. "We do not, nor does anyone I know, bat 1,000 in employee selection. I am confident, though, that our success ratio is significantly better than it would be without the program."

The report generated after someone takes the test highlights the applicant's personality traits, strengths and weaknesses, and recommends resources for further development. An interview guide suggests questions to further probe the applicant's limitations.

A similarity index, which indicates how closely the candidate reflects the Peak Performer Report, is also available.

The hiring company can access the results on a secure website. Those results can be viewed online, printed or archived for future review.

"Our experience has shown that particular personality traits prove successful time after time in a given job," says Merritt, president of ComputerPsychologist.com. "Profiling job applicants lets employers pursue those candidates with the best chance of success, saving time, effort and money."

The test also provides a deeper understanding of a person's strong and weak points, Evans said. "Interviewers are human - things like going to the same school, dressings professionally and being well-spoken can create a level of comfort between interviewer and interviewee that may result in weaknesses not being probed as deeply."

ComputerPsychologist.com's system is consistent and unemotional in its analysis, he said.

Testing only?
Despite ComputerPsychologist.com's effectiveness, Merritt cautioned against basing hiring decisions solely on test results. "We consider this a tool in the toolbag," he stressed. "We want to use testing in an appropriate context as part of the process along with a good interview and reference checking."

As long as everyone in a specific job category is tested the exact same way, pre-employment tests are invaluable, said Price Harding, CEO of Bell Oaks Co., an executive level search firm with offices in Atlanta and Boston.

"[Testing] can give you the assurance that you're either making the right or wrong decision on a candidate," Harding said.

Harding emphasized that "the ultimate test is the interview and the candidate's ability to positively express frustrations that they've encountered and successes they've had in terms of previous employers and projects."

Multiple interviews and reference checks are also part of Century South's selection process. "If all three evaluation techniques show the same pattern of strengths and weaknesses, we can be highly confident that we see the real person," Evans said.

Merritt said many clients initially test for specific job classifications with high turnover, such as telelmarketing or sales. "If we're effective in helping them lower their turnover rate and improve the quality of their employees, then they start to use it for other positions as well," he said.

Evans said his company has also begun using the system to assess the ability of current employees.

"We have become more aware of the 'hidden talents' of our people," he said, citing the promotion of an employee from an administrative position to management. "Her profile indicated that she had a high level of aptitude for the position. This has been a very successful decision."

Moving forward
ComputerPsychologist.com grew out of Merritt's consulting business. His clients wanted a cheaper way to test potential employees outside the executive level.

Merritt partnered with McCord, now the company's executive vice president, to develop a paper-and-pencil test, which developed into modem-to-modem testing. The current internet based version debuted two and a half years ago.

Future plans
Since its start in 1993, the company has grown, spilling into international markets, including South America and Central America. Spanish and Portugese versions of the test are already available with imminent plans for translation into Chinese and other languages.

Additionally, portions of the test, including the resources section, will be customizable.

ComputerPsychologist.com is also launching more customer-oriented products this fall. They will include personality and job-suitability tests, as well as a tool to help college students select a major.

Merritt predicts continued growth for his company. "We're having good market acceptance. We think there's a worldwide audience for this."