Blog
Hired the Wrong Person?
Hired the wrong person? It has been known for many years that job interviews are not a particularly reliable way to predict future job performance due to the power of first impressions and our many unconscious biases. We all want […]
Cost of a mis-hire?
Hiring the wrong person costs a fortune. Putting a dollar figure on the cost of a mis-hire is difficult as it depends on the role. A poor hiring decision for an entry level administration position could potentially cost 20 thousand […]
6 Ways to Maximise Your Intellectual Capacity
The adult human brain is surprisingly malleable; it can rewire itself and even grow new cells (neurogenesis). Our behaviour and environment can cause substantial rewiring of the brain or a reorganisation of its functions and where they are located. One […]
The Number One Predictor for Success in the STEM Professions
The recruitment and staff selection process is about prediction – you are trying to predict how well a particular candidate will perform, technically and behaviourally, in the advertised position. To make predictions you need information and data. So what data […]
What are the Most Effective Ways to Study & Learn?
With the new school year having just started, and TAFE and university looming for many people, it is a good time to talk about effective learning techniques. What are the most effective ways to study and learn? Some study techniques […]
5 Ways to Boost Innovation & Creativity
Thought Experiment If the world as we know it ended but somehow you and a small group of people survived, and you could have one piece of workable technology to start rebuilding civilisation, what would you choose? My answer is […]
6 Ways To Be A Better Boss
More than likely there are many ways to be a better boss, especially given the volume of books published on the topic (4 a day) and the daily aphorisms we see, however, the following are some evidence-based ways to be […]
3 Ways to Motivate Staff & 3 Ways to Demotivate Staff
Motivating staff and keeping them engaged can be an ongoing challenge for many managers and leaders. What are some achievable strategies to motivate staff, and conversely, what are some things to avoid. Intrinsic verses Extrinsic Motivation is generally described as […]
What are the 7 Personality Traits of Top Salespeople?
The Harvard Business Review published an article in 2011 by Steve W Martin where he discussed findings from his research into the personality traits of highly effective salespeople. After administering personality questionnaires to 1000s of salespeople and then comparing the […]
The Best Book on Leadership & Management
70 000 I recall listening to a podcast on ABC Radio National titled, “Coping with the dark side of people at work” and in it the interviewee mentioned that there were 70000 books in the British Museum with the word […]
Top 5 Worst Behaviours in a Manager
One of the most important decisions any business or organisation makes is who they hire, however, of more importance, is who they appoint as a leader or manager. The main reason people leave a job is due to difficulties with […]
Hot tip for giving presentations or public speaking
For many people, delivering an important presentation or speech, starting on a new team, having a job interview or attending a networking event, can be an emotionally taxing process and one that many dread or avoid. However, avoidance is either […]
What is the best personality profile?
What is the best and most reliable way to describe people. We all use the word personality but defining it can be more problematic. We all have a “personality” and when people are surveyed about the most desirable characteristics they […]
“This Job Would be Easy If I Didn’t Have to Deal with Staff.”
I was talking to a friend recently who is the manager of a team of trainers in the IT industry. My friend described themselves as a “fire fighter” and by that they meant they were spending most of their time […]
General Intelligence
The research about which variables have the strongest predictive value for success in the workplace is unequivocal; general intelligence, or general mental ability, ranks as the single most important predictor. This, in descending order of importance, is followed by a […]
Accreditation
Much of psychometric testing in Australia is almost franchised. Consultants working in the area typically offer a product for which they have been accredited and then only use that product. This is referring to a consultant who is a “Myers-Brigg” […]
First Impressions
How quickly do you form an impression of someone’s personality simply by looking at their face? Research by one of the world’s leading researchers on first impressions, Alexander Todorov, Professor of Psychology at Princeton University, and has found that it […]
What is the Best Personality Profile?
The use of psychometric testing, particularly personality profiling, for recruitment and selection has grown significantly over the past 20 years. In line with that growth there has also been a proportional growth in the number of psychometric tools and tests […]
Psychometric Testing: Qualifications and Expertise
Do you know the qualifications and expertise of the consultants you engage to conduct your psychometric testing? If you are paying for a consultant to provide psychometric testing services it would be more than reasonable to assume that the person […]
Hard Wired Behaviours and Unconscious Biases
The industrial revolution around 250 years ago saw a significant change to our living conditions but the hard wired behaviours and biases remain. We went from a mainly agrarian society to an urban / city factory based environment. This is not a long time […]
Psychometric Testing and Personality Profiles.
Personality profiles are widely used for recruitment and staff selection decisions. What is the best one to use and what is the science say about them? Scientific American, Mind (July / August, 2013) reported the following: The goal of a […]
What is Your Leadership Style?
What is your leadership style? How do you regard your staff? Treat employees as a resource and not a cost was the conclusion drawn by Marvin Bower and Peter Drucker after working as management consultants for 60 years. Marvin Bower […]
Emotional Intelligence for Recruitment: To Measure or Not to Measure?
Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is a relatively new psychological construct and has gained a lot of attention and some firm supporters and adherents. A Google search on the topic will yield 11 million hits. The idea that we can measure a person’s ability […]
Why Learning & Innovation Matter
Learning to be innovative is within most people’s capacity. Innovation expert, Linda Hill, Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, said the following during an interview with Scientific American in early 2015: “I became a professor of business because without […]
Psychometric Testing: Interpretation Is Everything.
Psychometric tests must be administered correctly, which includes standardised conditions and supervision. Avoid unsupervised testing, especially aptitude testing, if possible. It is fundamental to the testing process that we know who did the test and under what conditions. There is an ongoing debate about […]
Leadership and 70 000 Books
There are 70 000 books in the British Museum with the word “Leadership” in the title. There are a large number of books, articles, blogs, podcasts, jargon, ideas and the “next big thing” released onto the market relating to leadership, […]
Recruitment and Training for Small Business
Small business recruitment can be a challenge given the need for them to be experts in many areas. Many SMEs do not have access to a department or team dedicated to recruitment and often make detrimental recruitment decisions that can have a dramatic impact […]
Training: Freeing Up Intelligence
All business need an ongoing staff development training program. There is a lot of information in the research literature on how to improve productivity, with many ideas and findings not needing to be costly. The following story demonstrates how external, […]
Is intelligence testing necessary in the recruitment process?
Is intelligence testing necessary in the recruitment process? Absolutely! Professor L. Gottfredson, Co-Director of the Delaware-John Hopkins Project for the Study of Intelligence and Society wrote the following: “Intelligence as measured by IQ tests is the single most effective predictor […]