TalentPen Recruiting Survey Explores Employers’ Inconsistency with Personality Screenings

White paper says inefficient use of screening tools – particularly personality assessments – can increase employee turnover.

Pleasant Prairie, Wis. (PRWEB) October 27, 2006 -- More than half (58 percent) of respondents consider personality assessment as a critical element in screening and hiring, but only 16 percent actually use this tool, according to TalentPen’s annual survey of recruiting professionals. A white paper summarizing this survey can be downloaded at http://www.talentpen.com/read_the_whitepapers.html.

“When asked what was most important in prospective new hires, respondents ranked them in this order: skills, personality, experience, drive / passion, and culture fit,” reads the white paper. Their application of screening tools did not match this order, however, but tended to be mainly criminal / reference background checks. The paper points out this disconnect between belief and practice.

In a recent webinar, TalentTrack’s Elaine Nicol recommended personality assessment as a pre-screening tool and said it’s “particularly useful for certain skill sets, like call center work and sales.”

The white paper offers suggestions to employers, including the development of talent pools and active communication with prospects. Personality assessments are also cited as key measurements for how an employee fits a company’s culture, which directly impacts their loyalty.

Employers who don’t follow this advice will pay a high price, according to the paper. “Conservative industry estimates put the cost of turnover at 1.5 times that of salary,” explains Michael Sproul, president of TalentPen. “Some companies report a six-fold expenditure above salary when hidden costs such as ‘chain reaction’ turnover and lost productivity are factored in.”

Most recruiting professionals who responded to the survey were from companies with between 100-1,000 employees. More than a quarter of these respondents were from service companies. Other industries represented include healthcare, manufacturing, education, and financial services.

TalentPen, a web-based candidate collection and matching tool, measures personalities, job preferences and qualifications, collects them into private talent pools and matches them to employers with appropriate cultures. Candidates don’t apply for a specific job, but instead complete personality profiles for placement into expandable talent networks.

The same personality methods used by TalentPen were featured in Inc. magazine’s August cover article, “The New Science of Hiring.” It compared modern scientific hiring options to older hit-and-miss tactics. Writer Stephanie Clifford wrote that personality fit cannot be determined by traditional job interviews.

About eBullpen, LLC
Based in Pleasant Prairie, WI, eBullpen, LLC helps employers and job seekers alike find better employment matches by putting personality matching up front in the candidate sourcing process. eBullpen created the TalentPen candidate collection and matching system to give employers an edge in talent acquisition and the tools for improving the hire – not just the hiring process. TalentPen allows employers to incorporate eBullpen’s proven assessment techniques and technologies into their existing career site or ATS. With either system, the end result is a streamlined hiring process and a faster placement of qualified candidates who fit a company’s culture.

For more information, visit www.talentpen.com.

Press Contact: Susan Govea
Company Name: eBullpen, LLC
Email: email protected from spam bots
Phone: 262-857-8184
Website: http://www.talentpen.com

More Information: http://www.prweb.com//releases/0/0/prweb464113.htm

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