Employers Gauge Candidates' Skills At 'Real-World' Tasks
For years, hiring managers have wondered whether smooth-talking job seekers could walk the talk. Now, more employers are testing candidates' skills -- before making the hire.
An increasing number of employers are putting candidates for salaried jobs through a battery of mock assignments, stressful "day-in-the-life" job simulations and role-playing exercises. A senior-level candidate might spend a day in an office being bombarded with phone calls, emails and complaints from vendors or subordinates, while a would-be employer judges how well how well the candidate prioritizes and handles pressure. The tryouts supplement interviews, reference checks and written tests.
Hiring managers say the tasks let them see how a candidate performs. The exercises help employers judge a candidate's cultural fit, and "soft" skills like how a prospective manager directs and coaches employees. Advocates say the tests can help applicants, letting them better see whether they would be happy in the job. Some applicants drop out after completing a tryout; those who survive feel validated by the rigorous process.
"Everybody is looking for a crystal ball to predict what a person will actually be like on the job," says Scott Erker, senior vice president of selection solutions at Development Dimensions International, a human-resources consultancy in Bridgeville, Pa., that runs job simulations for companies. "With a job tryout, you're actually seeing a person perform part of the job." The company's clients including auto maker DaimlerChrysler AG and drug maker Sanofi-Aventis SA. Other employers, including the economic-development department in Virginia's Loudoun County government, have created their own tryout tasks.
Employers have long used small-scale tasks to evaluate lower-level hourly workers, such as call-center employees or factory workers. Mr. Erker says there is increasing demand for the tryouts for senior-level, white-collar positions. "There's a realization that executive failure is extremely costly," he says. "Companies want to get all the information they can about the person in order to make a good effective decision."
The tests and tryouts can be time-consuming and expensive -- a full-day exercise can cost thousands of dollars. Some skeptics doubt it is worth the effort and say similar insights could be gleaned from probing interviews and thorough reference checks. Some candidates balk at a tryout -- especially when they are at a senior level and feel their track record should speak for itself.
Employers who use tryouts say benefits outweigh disadvantages. Larry Rosenstrauch, director of the Loudoun County department of economic development, which runs tryouts on its own, says they help him assess whether someone with limited experience will be able to do the job. That is valuable, he says, because he hires people with diverse backgrounds, not just economic-development specialists. One job candidate was sent to meet with a director at a prominent area business and to report back to would-be co-workers at the county-government office. (The business director reported back on the candidate as well; she got the job.)
DaimlerChrysler's Chrysler Group has long asked candidates for hourly manufacturing jobs to perform tryout tasks, such as assembling parts. The company is applying the concept to professional and executive-level hires. During the past year, it has started asking some candidates for plant-manager positions to undergo "day-in-the-life" simulations, in which they juggle a barrage of mock memos and phone calls. Sandra Fiaschetti, a senior human-resources manager, hopes to spread the practice through the salaried ranks this year but says the decisions are left to hiring managers, who have to budget the time and money.
Some managers wonder if it is worthwhile. Gary Kajdasz, a senior manager in product development at DaimlerChrysler, thinks the simulations sound like overkill, at least in his area. He uses an extensive screening test that helps assess how candidates have behaved in past situations, as well as behavioral-interviewing techniques. "From a time standpoint, I think this is probably a good compromise, rather than saying 'OK, you're going to spend one or two days doing some product-development office simulation,' " he says.
But others have embraced it. A Dundee, Mich., plant that makes a joint-venture engine from DaimlerChrysler, Mitsubishi Motors Corp. and Hyundai Motor Co. used four-hour "day-in-the-life" simulations for all of its approximately 50 salaried hires, who include operations managers and plant engineers. In addition to the memo-and-phone bombardment, candidates had to talk with "employees" about a job problem, such as lagging performance, to test the candidates' coaching skills. Bruce Coventry, president of the venture that runs the plant, credits the process with identifying top-caliber, team-oriented employees and helping to keep turnover low.
Greg Schober, an operations manager at the Dundee plant, participated in a simulation when he applied for the job in 2004. He performed an "in-basket" exercise, in which he had to sift through a pile of memos to determine the day's priorities. In the simulation, he saw that the plant was out of a critical component, and the alternate component could be assembled only by certain workers with special training. So he scrambled to revise staffing schedules to allow production to proceed with the alternate part. Later, he coached an "employee."
He found the experience worthwhile. "It's very true to real life in a business environment in manufacturing," he says. "There are things you can't control and you adapt."
招聘新手段：模拟演练
多年来，招聘经理们一直想知道巧舌如簧的求职者能否说到做到。如今，更多的雇主在作出聘用决定前开始测试求职者的技能。
越来越多的雇主要求那些申请全职岗位的求职者通过一系列任务模拟、“一天”工作再现和角色扮演练习的考验。某个申请高级职位的求职者可能得在办公室呆上一天，轮番接受各种电话、电子邮件和来自供应商或下属的抱怨，而潜在的雇主会由此来判断这位求职者在区分工作重点和应付压力方面的表现。这种试用是对面谈、背景核实和书面考试的补充。
招聘经理们表示，此类任务使他们能够看到求职者的具体表现。这样的演练还有助于雇主判断求职者和企业文化的匹配度以及他们的“软”技能，如未来的经理将如何指挥和指导员工。支持者称，此类测试同样有益于求职者，使他们能够更好地了解对所申请的职位是否满意。一些求职者在完成一轮试用后退出了；那些通过试用的求职者则感到自己被这种严格的程序认可了。
“大家都在寻找能够预见求职者上岗后实际表现的水晶球，”宾夕法尼亚州人力资源顾问公司Development Dimensions International筛选解决方案部门的高级副总裁埃克尔(Scott Erker)说。该公司负责为企业进行职位模拟测试。“通过试用，你实际上看到的是求职者在履行部分职责。”Development Dimensions International的客户包括汽车制造商戴姆勒克莱斯勒(DaimlerChrysler AG)和制药商Sanofi-Aventis SA。其他雇主，如弗吉尼亚州Loudoun县政府的经济发展部则自行设计了试用任务。
长期以来，雇主们一直在使用小规模的任务来评估低层时薪工人，如呼叫中心的员工或工厂工人。埃克尔称，对高级白领职位的试用需求正不断增长。“人们意识到，选错管理人士的代价将极为高昂，”他说。“企业希望尽可能获得有关求职者的资料，以作出明智而有效的决定。”
此类测试和试用可能耗时耗财──一项全天演练的成本可能达到几千美元。一些人士怀疑这种努力是否值得，他们称，通过面试和背景核实同样也可以洞察求职者的技能。部分求职者拒绝进行试用──尤其是在他们已经担当高级职务并认为过去的记录完全可以说明自身能力的情况下。
选择进行试用考试的雇主们表示此举利大于弊。Loudoun县经济发展部的主任罗森施特劳赫(Larry Rosenstrauch)说，他们自行设计的试用任务有助于他评估经历有限的求职者是否能够胜任工作。他说，这非常有价值，因为他聘用的人具有不同的背景，并不只是经济发展方面的专家。
戴姆勒克莱斯勒旗下的克莱斯勒集团(Chrysler Group)长期以来一直要求申请时薪生产岗位的求职者完成试用任务，如装配零部件。该公司正将这种概念运用到专业和管理人士的招聘工作中。过去一年来，克莱斯勒开始要求部分工厂经理职位的申请人进行“一天”工作模拟，处理接二连三的模拟备忘录和电话。高级人力资源经理菲亚斯凯蒂(Sandra Fiaschetti)希望今年将这种做法推广到全职岗位的招聘工作中，但她表示，最后的决定仍取决于招聘经理，他们不得不考虑时间和成本。
一些经理怀疑这种做法是否值得。戴姆勒克莱斯勒产品开发部的高级经理Gary Kajdasz认为，此类模拟听起来有点过头，至少在他的部门是这样。目前，他利用一个涉及面很广的筛选测试，帮助评估求职者过去的表现，同时他还运用行为面试技巧。“从时间的角度，我认为这可能是一个良好的折衷，而不是说'好，你将花上一两天的时间进行部分产品开发办公室的模拟工作，'”他说。
但其他人则对试用大加支持。戴姆勒克莱斯勒、三菱汽车(Mitsubishi Motors Corp.)和现代汽车(Hyundai Motor Co.)在密歇根州Dundee合资成立的发动机制造厂便要求其全部50个全职岗位的求职者都须参加历时四小时的“一天”工作模拟，其中包括运营经理和工厂工程师。除了面对备忘录和电话的轰炸外，求职者还必须与“员工”讨论一个工作中的问题──如表现落后，由此来测试求职者的指导技能。运营这家工厂的总裁考文垂(Bruce Coventry)对这个程序赞许有加，称它发现了才干出众且富有团队精神的员工，使员工流失率保持在低水平。
Dundee工厂的运营经理肖伯(Greg Schober)在2004年申请这个职位的时候参加了一次模拟演练。他进行了“篮中演练”，其中，他必须浏览一堆备忘录并决定当天的工作重点。在模拟演练中，他发现工厂的关键零部件缺货，而其备用零部件只能由经过特殊培训的部分工人来装配。因此，他匆忙修改了员工的工作安排，以使生产得以在使用备用零部件的情况下继续进行。后来，他还指导了一个“员工”。
他发现这种经历非常有意义。“这和制造业的业务现状非常接近，”他说。“总是有些你无法控制的事情，你必须适时调整。”
