Calling in the Xpert saves telling fibs to your boss

It's a dilemma dreaded by anyone who has ever changed jobs. How do you take time off from your job to go to an interview for another job without the boss finding out?

Do you take a long lunch break or leave work early? What if you're seen? And that's only getting there.

The New Zealand division recruitment firm Adecco is using Xpert Online - a computer program that allows the groundwork in the recruitment process to be completed almost anywhere using the internet.

The system is operating nationally and so far more than 15,000 tests have been taken by job-seekers.

Developed by psychometrics firm, SHL (formerly Saville & Holdsworth), Adecco says the Xpert system reduces the risks of recruitment through its ability to recognise the potential in people, thus improving productivity and performance.

The company says the costs of employment are lessened and staff turnover is reduced through the careful selection in the first round of recruitment.

Fleur Board, CEO for Adecco Personnel (NZ) says the company used Xpert for seven years before putting it online.

An Adecco regional project manager, Adam Simon, says employers can have the Xpert system tailored to their requirements so that the tests a candidate faces are as close as possible to what they are likely to face in the day-to-day application of their jobs.

This means that a warehouse packer may be tested on alphanumeric codes similar to those used to pick-and-pack in the actual job, or that a data entry operator could be asked to undergo tests with the screen images they would be using.

All the Adecco consultants have been trained in interpreting the data that Xpert produces. Board says the interpreting process goes beyond simply reading graphs or reciting results.