KEY POINTS:
When you apply for a job these days, you're likely to be asked to do a lot more than just complete an application form.
Today's candidates are put through a myriad of computerised tests on everything from aptitude, personality, behaviour and dexterity.
Sally Cannan, manager of HR solutions at Drake, says their Predictive Performance Profiling test or P3, measures personality traits formed in childhood which we use everyday at work.
"It has been suggested by psychologists that the 'primary profile' - your natural behaviour style - has already been embedded by around about the tender age of seven. But that's not to say it's carved in stone," says Cannan.
This 'primary profile' charts our innate levels of four characteristics - dominance, extroversion, patience and conformity.
"They are the four traits that best represent workplace-based behaviour. They're the best predictors of performance in a working environment."
The 15 minute online test asks the candidate a series of questions about how they feel they behave when they are with family and friends. Then it asks similar questions about how the candidate feels they behave when they are at work. It compares the results to show how differently you behave at work as opposed to how you behave normally.
"It asks you how you feel you really are - how you naturally would appear. And you're asked to describe how you feel you are when you're doing your job," Cannan says.
If these two graphs are significantly different then Cannan says your performance at work can suffer. For example, someone who measures high in extroversion and low in conformity would not make a good librarian because they would not like quiet solitude and having to deal with picky details. Cannan says they have come up with charts which reflect the personality types for various careers.
"High dominant people are going to want things immediately. They're not going to want waffle. They're going to want black and white. They're going to want key facts and figures with no messing around."
Cannan says your primary profile will very rarely change. The P3 can be used not only to identify if someone is a match for a job but also determine if someone is a match to work in a particular team. It can identify potential personality conflicts before the tension is evident.
"We can either use it to help us select the right people or we can use it to help manage and retain the existing staff," Cannan says.
The P3 is mandatory for every candidate seeking permanent employment through Drake. But Cannan says it is just another tool that complements aptitude tests, psychometric tests and others.
"We would never use this without actually having an interview with the candidate and actually talking to them about what they want and what they don't want."
The comparison between the two P3 graphs of how you are at home and how you are at work indicates your "working flex". This is the energy it takes for you to be a particular way at work and can vary from job to job.
"When you're under stress in an unnatural environment it gives you an idea of how much energy you're investing in being a particular way that you are not normally outside of work," Cannan says.
In essence, the P3 will show how much pressure you are under to act a certain way at work. It can measure your attitude, behaviour and whether you might fit into a company culture. But in order to measure your knowledge, skill and ability, aptitude tests are being used more and more.
Brian Noble, managing director of Achievement Discoveries, uses a test which measures 14 of your inborn natural abilities. This three-hour test is done face-to-face and uses one-on-one exercises.
"We get people to assemble a nine-piece wooden block. People who assemble this quickly are in careers like architects, engineers and people working in three-dimensional areas. It is the natural ability to visualise something in three dimensions before it's there," Noble says.
With the skill shortage and the continual rise in the cost of paying wages, the pressure is on for employers to get it right when it comes to hiring.
"It is more essential that we have people who are fitting exactly in the right type of roles. The retention of people within a company will determine how closely they fit with the job."
Various companies have asked Achievement Discoveries to come in and measure the aptitudes of everyone on a particular team. Noble says the results can be surprising.
"We will actually dislodge people who are dissatisfied with their job because they actually now have the information to realise what type of work they are naturally suited to."
Noble says the aptitude testing gives people the motivation to pursue their natural abilities.
"Most individuals don't actually know their aptitudes. When you know them then you can start learning skills in the areas that actually fit you."
Noble says that aligning careers with aptitudes will help increase the productivity of the country and increase worker satisfaction.
"We may be exposed to a new type of industry or profession and we become interested in it because our interests tend to change over a period of time. But our core aptitudes stay the same."
These innate aptitudes are, for a large part, genetically determined and are passed "cross-gender".
"Aptitudes tend to transfer from father to daughter and mother to son," Noble says.
Noble suggests pursuing a career based on whichever aptitude you test highest on. There is no point in chasing a career in accounting if your brain is geared toward verbal reasoning. The aptitude test can also be used by people who are seeking a mid-career course correction. But Noble says anyone seeking a tertiary qualification should make sure they're not embarking on a career in the wrong direction.
"I believe it's something that all of our college students should do. A large percentage don't know which career path to go down. They go and spend $30,000 to $50,000 on a degree and come out with a student loan. We get a lot of students that say they don't actually like their chosen area now."
Noble says everyone has aptitudes that fit certain types of jobs. He discusses the results of the test with candidates to try and match people's abilities with a career. But some people resist aptitude testing for fear of being pigeonholed or screened out of certain careers.
"There is certainly some reservation with people. But once we have explained what in fact we're doing, we actually find people are generally very comfortable with it."
Noble tells candidates that the testing is as much in their interest as it is their employers and for them not to get too wound up about it.
"What we're emphasising is the fact that it is in their benefit to actually be in a job they love."
