Hiring the wrong people can wreak havoc on an organization in more ways than one. From a financial standpoint, the U.S. Department of Labor estimates that the price tag for a bad hire is around 30% of that person’s first-year earnings. Bad hires can cost a larger company millions of dollars in losses each year. For a small business, hiring the wrong person can threaten its very existence.
In addition to the financial impact, poorly performing employees can cost managers and owners a great deal of time. According to a Robert Half International survey, managers reported spending an average of 17% of their time (roughly a day each week) supervising underperforming employees. Additionally, other team members end up picking up the slack, leading to a higher risk of burnout for your higher-performing workers.
And then there’s the issue of morale. A disengaged team member can bring down the morale of a work setting and ultimately lower the bar for everyone else. Like dropping a big rock in a pond, the ripple effect from bad employees can reach well beyond the employee him/herself.
Many business owners are turning to pre-employment assessments as an effective, affordable way to screen out potentially bad employees. One of the best screening tools out there is The Achiever
What Does The Achiever Pre-Employment Assessment Measure?
As an in-depth pre-employment assessment, The Achiever measures ten personality dimensions and six cognitive aptitudes as they relate to the position for which the candidate is being assessed.
Personality Dimensions Assessed
Assertiveness: Find out whether the individual is a leader or a follower.
Communication: Find out how the candidate feels about meeting and interacting with others.
Competitiveness: Learn whether the candidate is individually competitive or team oriented.
Energy: This dimension measures the individual’s level of energy and drive, including how they handle stress and tension.
Emotional Development: Learn about the candidate’s level of self-confidence and how they handle working under pressure.
Flexibility: Here the potential employee is assessed for levels of reliability, integrity, work ethic, and dependability.
Mental Toughness: Find out the candidate’s ability to deal with life’s obstacles and persevere.
Motivation: Learn what motivates the individual (security, incentives, salary, etc.).
Organization: Learn how the individual is with planning and the ability to use time wisely.
Questioning & Probing: This dimension reveals whether the individual takes things at face value or if they have a desire to ask questions and learn more.
Mental Aptitudes Assessed
Business Terms: A basic assessment of the candidate’s knowledge of basic business terms.
Mechanical Interest: Shows the individual’s mechanical interest in different areas.
Memory Recall: Determines an individual’s knowledge of current events.
Mental Acuity: Measures the candidate’s ability to judge, learn, reason, and solve problems.
Numerical Perception: Reveals the candidate’s ability to quickly and accurately handle number-related tasks.
Vocabulary: Show’s an individual’s general English vocabulary.
Types of Jobs The Achiever Is Good For Measuring
The Achiever is utilized not only for pre-employment assessments but also assessments of existing employees who are being considered for different positions within your organization.
Job categories that are often measured using The Achiever include:
- Administrative positions
- Customer service reps
- Engineering and related professions
- Inside/outside sales
- Management/supervisory positions
- Technical positions
By using an assessment tool like The Achiever, you can make a small investment to bring on an employee who will provide great returns! Employees that are appropriately matched to their jobs have higher satisfaction, longevity, and productivity than hires who are not a good fit for their positions.
If your business is losing money on bad hires, we can help! Leadership Excellence offers pre-employment and employment assessments, including The Achiever, to help organizations get a better return on the investment of their employees and save the headaches and hassle of high turnover caused by hiring the wrong people for the wrong positions. Contact us today to learn more about our employment assessments. We serve businesses all over the country.