sunny 2007-5-10 10:16 AM
Save Time Online
indeed—these Websites and others like them have changed the very nature of the hiring process. Employers today—even small companies in small towns—have the ability to recruit nationwide when they need to hire staff. With a few keystrokes, employers can post ads that will be seen by literally millions of job seekers.!Y q
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As with many things, this technology can be both a blessing and a curse for those doing the hiring. It’s a blessing because qualified candidates who live in far-flung places are made aware of job openings they wouldn’t otherwise see. But it also can be a curse because unqualified candidates who live in far-flung places are also made aware of the opening.
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Advertising online can result in thousands of email resumés, many of which will come from candidates who are clearly not right for the job. Pity the poor HR director or hiring manager who must open and sift through that haystack looking for the few valuable needles within.Cf+|(w:\?
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Jason Widing, Business Development Group Manager for Lincoln Heritage Funeral Planning in Portland, OR, knows all about that. Widing recruits online to hire staff, and can receive hundreds of resumés for each position.
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Lincoln Heritage specializes in helping people plan and pay for their own funerals, a concept that has caught fire as Baby Boomers age. The idea is to gain the peace of mind of knowing that loved ones aren’t going to be saddled with a large bill when the inevitable happens. More and more Boomers are taking this step, and as a result Lincoln Heritage has had to hire more and more family services counselors to handle the increased need. Widing was one of seven employees at the firm just a few years ago. This year, he hired 35 people out of a pool of hundreds of applicants.
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Widing’s problem isn’t just that he receives hundreds of resumés for each position because he advertises online. It’s also that the position he needs to fill, that of family services counselor, requires special skills and personality.
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“It’s a tough position to fill,” Widing explains. “Because it’s funeral planning, our people really need to be empathetic. But they also need to be driven sales people. It’s not an easy combination to find.”h4OZ2}!@#C|'R;`J
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A mountain of applications to compare to a specific and narrow set of qualifications could mean disaster for Widing, who could conceivably do nothing all day but sift through resumés.
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That’s why Widing and employers like him are turning to Internet-based hiring tools. The idea behind these tools is to use the Internet to streamline the hiring process, whittle that mountain of resumés down to a qualified few, and allow people like Widing to spend their time interviewing great candidates instead of ruling out those who aren’t. a!WQ$WW j%|3a
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Widing chose a combination of tools from Wonderlic—the WebApp® Service and two pre-employment tests, the Wonderlic Personnel Test (WPT) and the Comprehensive Personality Profile® (CPP®)—to help with this task. Candidates complete all three tasks online before setting foot in Widing’s office.
sunny 2007-5-10 10:17 AM
It works like this: When Widing has a position to fill, he places an ad with one of many online hiring sites like careerbuilder.com or monster.com. He describes the job that needs to be filled, including only the company’s Website as contact information.
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On the Website, candidates encounter an online application process that takes them through four steps.
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WebApp®.
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Candidates are asked to complete an online questionnaire, which gathers information about basic job requirements.m9m"S
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“We ask them some deal breakers,” Widing explains. “We ask if they have reliable transportation to get to work, whether they have a valid driver’s license, if they enjoy working with people, what their education level is, and other things designed to weed out those who are obviously not qualified for the job.”9s-r&^)c/X%pl*c9wY_ @
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If candidates answer incorrectly to any of those preliminary questions, they are thanked for applying but told, right there on the Website, that they aren’t qualified for the job.CJ r:|N"T
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“If they don’t pass the WebApp®, we don’t go any further with them,” says Widing.
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Resumé Creation.
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Still within the WebApp® program, candidates are asked to attach a resumé or create one right there online.
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“You’d be surprised at the amount of people who don’t have a resumé and don’t take the time to create one,” Widing says. “If they’re not going to put in that effort, what kind of employees would they be?”&b n:odb|8O
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Wonderlic Personnel Test—Quicktest (WPT-Q)
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Next, applicants take another short test, Wonderlic Personnel Test—Quicktest (WPT-Q), that’s designed to assess a candidate’s cognitive abilities or intelligence.
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“It’s just a quick test, taking only a few minutes to complete online, but it really gives us a sense of who is going to be right for the job,” Widing notes.
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Comprehensive Personality Profile® (CPP®)
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Finally, candidates take a personality test, Wonderlic’s Comprehensive Personality Profile® (CPP®), designed to give Widing a clear picture of whether the candidate has the traits necessary to succeed on the job. Wonderlic worked with Widing to analyze the position and determine the ideal test levels for candidates.q3g8_ va~e B9I
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All of these steps are completed by the candidates online, before Widing and his staff spend one moment on them._0?S K:k0a
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Widing then collects the information and, based on the test results, he chooses a pool of ideal candidates to interview.rCV1|4x`
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“We’re utilizing our time as efficiently as possible by focusing only on qualified candidates,” says Widing. “It’s been a great set of tools.”