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How does it work?

Skills, experience and knowledge can be attained over time, but personality tends to remain consistent – and is difficult, if not impossible to train. That’s why personality is the key to job matching.

Employers send candidates to our site to create a PersonalFingerprint - a private survey of their personality traits, coupled with an accounting of their experience and education. Our patent-pending technology then allows unlimited matching of people’s PersonalFingerprints™ with employers’ custom JobFingerprints™ - profiles built from the traits of their own top performers in that job.

The process to build either type of Fingerprint takes 20-30 minutes and is completely confidential.

An accurate job fit is the most valid predictor of future success

 

Employer FAQ

How can the right personality/motivation (“job fit”) survey help?

A candidate’s personality and motivation attributes are valid and reliable predictors of their career success. Hard skills, experience and knowledge can be attained over time, while personality tends to remain consistent – and difficult, if not impossible to train.

Recruit for cultural fit: Your company competes for top candidates by promoting your own unique job culture against that of your competitors. In other words, you are “selling” your company’s culture just as much as – or sometimes more than – a role’s compensation package. This means an accurate measurement of a role’s own unique “culture”, compared with how an applicant may fit that culture becomes very important to your success in recruiting the very best.

Top candidates are also more attracted to jobs and career paths that fit their own personality and motivation.

What does “unlimited candidate matching” mean?

Once you build a JobFingerprint, you can invite unlimited candidates to complete a free PersonalFingerprint and see their matching results compared with your JobFingerprint. It’s that simple.

You only pay if there’s a final candidate you want to generate a Candidate Hiring Guide or Employee Development Guide on (or any other report where pricing is clearly marked).

What types of employer is the Careerious solution best suited for?

Our solution is suitable for:

• All types of roles (sales, management, customer service, IT, administrative, etc.)
• All company sizes
• All industries
• Selecting for performance and retention
• Predictive sorting of large applicant pools
• Internal promotion/succession
• Change management/process management

Won’t this survey discourage people from applying?

Careerious should actually encourage MORE individuals to apply, because Careerious allows applicants to express themselves using their personality and interest attributes. Both the company and candidate also benefit from a more accurate job match.

Since the survey only takes about 15 minutes to complete, those with a genuine interest in your company should be very motivated to complete the survey.

How much time will Careerious add to the hiring process?

None. It should shorten the hiring process, because now you will have additional information on an applicant before someone spends any time with a resume or before they have spoken with the applicant. Careerious processes results instantly, so as soon as the applicant completes their PersonalFingerprint, their results are available.

How many Candidate Hiring Guides will I need?

The average number of reports required per hire is between 3 and 7. Your needs will depend on how many candidates you typically short-list before making a hire.

Can’t people manipulate the survey?

The probability of someone being able to successfully manipulate the report is very low, for several reasons:

• Candidates have no way of knowing what ranges within each attribute are desirable and therefore would not know what answers correspond with your own unique JobFingerprint.
• Further to the above, the questions are worded in such a way that there is no “right answer” that can be guessed.
• Most important, the survey tool incorporates several advanced internal checks for both intentional distortion (applicant is trying to answer as they think an ideal sales person would) and unintentional distortion (they were distracted or preoccupied when completing the questionnaire). Careerious notates these signs of distortion in the Candidate Hiring Guide on each candidate.
• If this is not enough, Careerious clearly warns applicants against intentional AND unintentional distortion on the instructions page of the questionnaire.

How do I avoid screening-out desirable candidates?

Your JobFingerprint was created using your own custom job information, so this will not be a problem. This is a problem when you are reviewing resumes, which do not validly or reliably predict future job performance. If someone does not fit the unique personality, motivation-based JobFingerprint, it’s most likely they will not be able to perform. So Careerious actually helps avoid screening-out desirable candidates.

How does Careerious differ from other “personality tests”?

The Careerious personality/motivation survey differs from other survey for a number of reasons:

• First, it allows you to create your very own JobFingerprint to compare all your applicants against, instead of obliging you to use the same standard industry benchmark your competitors use.
• Second, we use a very sophisticated type of personality/motivation survey called a “normative” survey. Normative surveys compare people to people (i.e.: an average range of top performer attribute scores to an applicant’s attribute scores). In other words, you can validly and defensibly compare people with jobs to help predict performance.

Other popular personality tests focus exclusively on the individual, identifying the relative strength of individual characteristics within each person – as opposed to comparing people to people (Normative). Survey systems like this are designed to explain differences in personality for training, etc. – not predict job performance, as Normative does. As a result, Normative surveys typically take longer to complete and are more expensive than these other surveys.

What are the definitions of the match “types”: Strong Match, Match, No Match? And what does “distortion” mean?

Strong Match: A candidate is a Strong Match to the requirements of a JobFingerprint when the candidate satisfies the large majority of the 20 Worker Attribute requirements (i.e., at least 17 of 20), including at least 4 of the 5 of the Most Important Worker Attributes. The standard for Strong Match is chosen to be a very high standard that only a small percentage of candidates, 5%-10%, are likely to satisfy.

Match: A candidate is a Match to the requirements of a JobFingerprint when the candidate does not quite satisfy the requirements of a Strong Match but does satisfy the majority of the 20 Worker Attribute requirements (i.e., at least 15 of 20), including at least 3 of the 5 of the Most Important Worker Attributes. The standard for a Match is chosen to be a challenging standard that only a modest percentage of candidates, 10%-20%, are likely to satisfy.

No Match: A candidate is No Match to the requirements of a JobFingerprint if the candidate fails to meet the requirements of either Strong Match or Match. This means the candidate fails to satisfy at least 6 of the 20 Worker Attribute Requirements or at least 3 of the 5 Most Important Worker Attributes. This No Match standard will include approximately 2/3rds of all candidates, for any given role. This standard further reinforces the intent to set high standards for Strong Match and Match. Careerious is also designed so that any candidate who responds carelessly or randomly to any great extent will be a No Match for the JobFingerprint.

Distortion: Candidate has intentionally or unintentionally distorted their answers to the assessment. They may be presenting what they feel to be a socially acceptable view of themselves rather than an honest picture of how they really are. This can create a false picture, making their results misleading.

We do not recommend generating reports on candidates who distorted their assessment. Proceed with traditional behavioral interview tools.

How Does the “Distortion” Scale work?

The “Distortion” scale was designed specifically to assess whether a candidate is choosing only those answers that are likely to seem most favorable to an employer.

Special questions in the Careerious assessment are designed such that a certain answer is very likely to seem most favorable but also very likely to not be true of the candidate. If a candidate answers in the desirable but implausible direction on the large majority of these items, there is a strong indication this candidate is deliberately choosing answers believed to be favorable to employers rather than answering in an authentic manner.

The “Distortion” status can be earned by a candidate regardless of their Match status. A candidate is given a “Distortion” status if their responses to the Careerious assessment indicate they may not be responding in an authentic manner. Their responses indicate that are trying to guess at what an employer would want to see or are randomly providing responses. “Distortion” means employers should independently confirm the candidate’s Careerious profile by asking interview questions provided in the Careerious Candidate Hiring Guide specifically for this purpose.

If a candidate “Matches”, shouldn’t I just hire them?

The scores outputted by Careerious are intended to HELP you make a hiring decision, they are not making the decision for you. Careerious should not comprise more than one-third of your hiring decision.

Do I still get to see all my candidates? Or will you filter some out?

We always let you see the results for all the candidates you invite. Once you match them against a JobFingerprint, it will adjust the order, but not eliminate candidates.

Can candidates see my confidential JobFingerprint? Do candidates get to see their Candidate Hiring Guide?

No and no. This is your own confidential information.

If candidates choose to become individual members of Careerious, they can receive reports on themselves that are completely different from your Careerious Candidate Hiring Guide. The candidate-facing reports are general in nature: general career advice, not pertaining to any particular job. At no time is the applicant supplied any information on your JobFingerprint or what it looks like.

Candidates never see their Candidate Hiring Guide. This is your own confidential information.

How does Careerious help us with our diversity initiatives?

Our unique program is a diversity best practice because it treats every applicant in the same way – and bases their selection on unbiased performance predictors, not just subjective hiring manager criteria.

Aren’t we just creating “clones”?

Absolutely not. It is not designed to target attributes that are identical. It is only looking to identify applicants who fall within a range of specific characteristics that were discovered as attribute patterns that lead to success in our most successful representatives. Some of these attributes may be invisible on the surface, but are very important for all top reps to possess.

Moreover, Careerious was created to operate in a multicultural environment, where recruiting diversity and employee productivity is very important. Resumes and key words, by their very nature, are inherently biased. Careerious circumvents this potential bias by assessing key predictive, unbiased attributes in advance of the resume review.

What do “validity” and “reliability” mean?

Validity: The survey is measuring what it claims to measure. For instance, if the survey describes an applicant as being high in the attribute “Influences Others” it’s because that person’s past behavior has actually been effective at influencing others in the past – and not simply the applicant self-describing themselves as being able to “influence others.”

Reliability: Someone’s survey results should not change much – if at all – even if they were to re-take the survey.

What is the science behind the Careerious solution?

Other top quality normative psychometric surveys are more expensive and require 1-2 hours to complete. Careerious is unique because it delivers the same high level of robustness in only 15-20 minutes. Other normative surveys target senior management and executives, whereas Careerious delivers the same high quality robustness much more efficiently to any level of candidate and any size employer.

The science of Industrial Psychology has shown that people have certain types of stable personal attributes that consistently predict their behavior at work. For example, people who have a high need for achievement are more likely to complete work on time and with high quality. Also, this science has learned how to measure these personal attributes in a reliable and valid way. The Careerious survey is based on this scientific foundation.

The Careerious survey was deliberately and carefully designed to measure specific personal attributes (dispositions, temperaments and interests) that have been demonstrated in published personnel selection research to predict actual work behavior across a wide range of jobs from entry level jobs such as sales and service to executive leadership jobs. Each item in the Careerious survey was closely patterned after a certain type of item that is known from personnel selection research to predict certain work behaviors. The close similarity between the Careerious items and other heavily researched surveys means this scientific evidence of validity applies equally to the Careerious items.

Careerious is a relatively short survey process because of the manner in which the Worker Attributes are measured. In spite of this short length, the Worker Attributes measured by Careerious are measured with high levels of reliability. Careerious accomplishes this by assessing two layers of attributes. The first layer of attributes, called core psychological attributes, consists of 15 narrowly defined psychological traits such as Affiliative, Detail Orientation and Optimistic. Each of these core psychological attributes is measured by 6 Careerious items, which are relatively short scales. The second layer of attributes consists of 20 more complex, broader work-oriented attributes called Worker Attributes. Each is created from some combination of 2, 3 or 4 core psychological attributes. For example, the Worker Attribute, “Service Orientation” is the combination of four separate core psychological attributes that represent the traits underlying the meaning of service orientation. As a result, each Worker Attribute is based on 12-24 Careerious items. Trait measures consisting of more than 10-12 items are known in Industrial Psychology to be highly reliable. By measuring core psychological traits, then constructing Worker Attributes from combinations of core psychological attributes results in reliable Worker Attributes derived from a relatively short survey tool. All Careerious Reports are based on Worker Attributes. As a result, all suggested decisions and reported information about candidates are based on highly reliable attributes.

Can candidates I invite take the personality/motivation part of their PersonalFingerprint more than once?

Careerious can identify whether a candidate has already taken their survey. If Careerious locates pre-existing results for a candidate, it alerts the applicant that an survey has already been completed and cannot be re-taken within 30 days. We do this to ensure your candidate results are stable and to reduce the risk of candidate manipulation. (If an survey is older than 30 days, the applicant is given the option to re-take it.)

Should I ever re-assess applicants to get a better match score?

You should avoid re-assessing applicants to get a better match score. This is akin to “coaching” applicants on how to properly respond to the survey after they have already had an opportunity to complete it in a frank manner.

There is a high likelihood these applicants chose answers they thought would create a more desirable profile to the hirer, avoiding the more frank answers that would present a truer, more valid profile. You may wish to have applicants who have a “Distortion” status retake the assessment.

Might managers question the accuracy of the report if they have applicants they feel were strong candidates, who then took the survey and were No Matches?

This is not bad – it’s actually quite normal. Careerious was engineered to measure different things than what you are capable of measuring using an interview – so you can come to different conclusions using both. Careerious’ benefit is not solely helping you cut the number of interviews, Careerious also helps you make a more accurate decision: the survey knows things that you do not know in the interview (that may be impossible to know from an interview).

I don't see how a "formula" can be used to select and deselect candidates – I feel you can only assess if someone is a good fit when you talk with them.

Interviews are still an important part of the selection process. Careerious complements the interview by providing the interviewer with more insight into the candidate – some of this insight is very difficult, if not impossible, to assess in-person. Careerious should help hirers perform a more focused interview, ultimately saving time and reducing the overall number of interviews (only interview individuals who fit the your own pattern for success.)

What are the Careerious attributes and their descriptions?

The 20 Worker Attributes are:

1. Stress Tolerance. The aptitudes necessary to maintain a steady level of performance and energy in spite of stressful circumstances.
2. Learning and Problem Solving. The aptitudes necessary to gather information quickly and to apply it accurately to new problems, obstacles or objectives.
3. Innovativeness. The aptitudes necessary to be insightful about problems and to develop new solutions, processes or strategies different from the past.
4. Takes Leadership. The dispositions and aptitudes that enable and motivate one to take on successful leadership roles in a wide variety of situations.
5. Reliability and Consistency. The dispositions and aptitudes necessary to work dependably, to actually achieve what one said would be achieved, and to be consistent across diverse situations.
6. Openness to Change / Ambiguity. The dispositions to accept and adapt to change and uncertainty without resistance.
7. Team Orientation. The willingness and aptitudes to work effectively with others within the formal or informal structure of teams or groups.
8. Independence. The interest in and enjoyment of working on one’s own without close interaction or interdependence with others.
9. Drive. The inner motivation and confidence to achieve successful results and be effective in all one does.
10. Organization. The dispositions and aptitudes to attend to detail, organize complex information and create effective plans from that information.
11. Accountability. The willingness and dispositions to acknowledge personal responsibility and accountability for one’s own work and results.
12. Recovery from Setbacks. The ability to sustain performance and quickly recover positive energy and motivation immediately following a negative outcome.
13. Risk Tolerance. The dispositions and willingness to risk failure in return for an opportunity to achieve a greater success.
14. Preference for Structure. The interest and preference for working in highly structured environments, including clear work rules and direction and organization hierarchy.
15. Conscientiousness. The disposition to behave in the interests of the whole group, to keep commitments and be considerate of the needs of others,.
16. Service Orientation. The dispositions and desire to provide others such as clients, customers and co-workers the information, solutions or service they want and need.
17. Influencing Others. The dispositions and aptitudes to influence the actions and opinions of others in a desired direction.
18. Interest in People. The enjoyment and motivation to work with other people.
19. Interest in Data. The enjoyment and motivation to work in activities that involve the analysis and handling or complex, abstract data.
20. Interest in Things. The enjoyment and motivation to work in activities that involve the operation, construction or repair of tools, equipment vehicles or other inanimate objects.
21. “Distortion” scale. The tendency to deliberately respond to Careerious items in the manner expected to be favorable for potential employers.

How do I know it works? Do you have any statistics?

Individuals …	Employers …
1. Job satisfaction contributes to depression: 27.2 days/yr. lost productivity for depressed workers	1. 15-20% of all hires are errors: $225,000 cost = wrong sales person* $55,000 cost = wrong admin person* 295,000 cost = wrong manager*
2. 40-60% increase in my productivity: 55-60% more productive as a sales person* 40-45% more productive as an administrator* 45-50% more productive as a manager*	2. 40-60% increase in new hire productivity: $105,000 more revenue = right sales person* $16,000 more revenue = right admin person* $95,000 more revenue = right manager*
3. Wasted time & money: Other validated personality survey tools cost $100 to $250 per use and can take hours.	3. 20-30% of salary is cost for agency/recruiter $5,000 to $50,000 to hire a candidate from a 3rd party agency/recruiter
* Figures derived from research by Kessler, RC et al., McKinsey Consulting. Contact info@careerious.com for more information.	* Figures derived from research by US Dept. of Labor, McKinsey Consulting. Contact info@careerious.com for more information.