From Bud Haney's Desk
Remembering Jim Sirbasku
There are certain people who pass through this world who touch the
lives of everyone they meet. They have an energy, vision and enthusiasm
that inspire others. Jim Sirbasku, my friend of 40 years, was just such
a man. Jim brought out the best in all around him, as a motivator and
supporter, and left everyone who met him better for having had the
opportunity of knowing him. His smile was infectious and his hugs full
of warmth and love. On Tuesday, February 23, 2010, the Profiles family
lost a visionary, a mentor and a great friend.
In 1991, Jim and I had a vision of creating a great company to help
organizations around the world create high-performing workforces and
provide our partners and our clients with a competitive advantage second
to none. Jim was a business partner and a best friend who never stopped
dreaming of what we could do and how we could build up those around us.
He turned that passion into results and has helped thousands of people
lead happier, more successful lives.
Jim leaves behind a legacy to inspire all of us to reach high and
work hard and live up to the potential we all possess. Profiles
International, all our employees and partners, will carry-out this
legacy and continue the passionate drive that has produced great things
for so many. We will be stronger, work harder, and achieve more –
because we knew Jim Sirbasku.
I deeply miss my friend and my partner, but I am excited about the
future and what we will achieve in his honor. Because in the words of a
great man,
“Whatever you vividly imagine,
ardently desire, sincerely believe and
enthusiastically act upon
must inevitably come to pass.”
I encourage each of you to live a life with passion, be a visionary
not a day-dreamer, and take the action steps necessary to turn your
visions into reality.
Sincerely,
Bud Haney, President
Profiles International
Wellness Increases Creativity
The following is information gained from HRMarketer:
According to research by Right management, "Organizations that
promote employee health and well-being are 3½ times more likely to
encourage creativity and innovation." Right Management is the talent and
career management expert within Manpower, the global leader in
employment services.
The study reports that "fewer than half of the more than 28,000
employees who participated in our worldwide study reported that their
organizations actively promote health and wellness,” said Deborah
Schroeder-Saulnier, Senior Vice President for Global Solutions at Right
Management. “Yet we now have persuasive evidence linking health and
well-being to greater employee engagement, organizational productivity,
talent retention and — of utmost importance in today’s post-recession
economy — creativity and innovation.”
Seventy-two percent of respondents who rated their organization highly
for actively promoting health and well-being also rated it highly for
encouraging creativity and innovation. Among those who did not rate
their organization’s healthy and well-being efforts highly, only 20%
took a favorable view of their organization’s encouragement of
creativity and innovation.
Schroeder-Saulnier cites the top drivers for promoting health and
well-being at work:
–”I work in a safe and healthy environment.”
–”My organization allows me to maintain a reasonable balance between my
family and work life.”
–”You can balance work and personal interests at my organization and
still progress.”
–”I have an appropriate workload.”
–”The amount of pressure I experience in my role is reasonable.”
“In swiftly changing markets, creativity and innovation provide
organizations with the agility to meet new needs and make the most of
new opportunities,” advised Schroeder-Saulnier. “The true potential of
wellness initiatives can only be realized when wellness is embedded
within the organization’s core business strategy. Leaders and human
resource professionals would do well to implement wellness initiatives
that focus more precisely on yielding results that drive individual
behaviors essential to improving the effectiveness of the entire
organization.”
Right Management surveyed 28,810 employees across 10 industries in 15
countries. Participants were asked to self-report on attitudes,
performance and conditions directly related to the effectiveness of
their organization.
This press release was distributed through PR Web by Human Resources
Marketer (HR Marketer: www.HRmarketer.com) on behalf of Right
Management.
Saving Green Means Depending on More than Luck
Workers whose fingers fly over an Excel spreadsheet or who
immediately find the perfect Microsoft Office application to use for a
clerical project are not in their jobs by chance. Their skills helped
them arrive at their destination—making their leaders appear very smart
or very lucky.
Luck is fine as far as it goes, but at a time when technical skill is
critical to so many roles, relying on good luck is foolish and
irresponsible. Skills tests enable employers to hire smart and
adequately prepare for employee training and coaching.
Managers apply these tests just as they do other Profiles
assessments. They are effective in selecting employees, increasing
productivity, enhancing employee engagement levels, and reducing
turnover. Astute leaders also use them to give new employees a jumpstart
on their jobs, to reduce training costs and to assess the skill level of
a team.
Many of the tests are available at several levels, including
Standard, Basic, Advanced, Essentials, and Time Solver. The Standard is
the recommended test for most positions that use the applications
organizations test for. It covers the 30 to 35 most often used and most
critical tasks that a worker needs to be rated proficient, and provides
questions at the beginner, intermediate and advanced levels.
Here are some of the skills areas employers can get information about
when assessing job candidates:
• Excel
• PowerPoint
• Language proficiency
• Clerical
• Call Center
• Accounting and finance
• Medical and nursing
• Legal
• Industrial
• Computer literacy
• Retail sales
• Food service
• Information technology
Hiring managers who believe they can rely on a listing of resume
accomplishments need to consider this: HR experts believe about half of
all people lie or exaggerate their skills on their resumes.
If you don't have a lot of time or money to expend on training
employees on software programs, doesn't it make sense to know what they
know in advance? If you are an employer who wants to spend training
dollars in a targeted area, doesn't it make sense to know which
employees actually need skills training?
And the Award Goes To...
The entertainment industry produces an estimated 2,000 films per
year. Of those films only around 600 are released into select theatres
all over the globe, and of those 600 only a handful are captivating
enough to leave a lasting impression on audiences and the academy. This
year's 82nd Academy Awards nominated a whopping 10 films for the honor
of Best Picture. These nominated films were recognized for their ability
to tell a story unlike any other film, but at the end of the night "The
Hurt Locker" beat out blockbusters like "Avatar" and "Precious" for the
award.
This scenario could be likened to the surplus of American talent
currently seeking employment. The job market is still recovering from
the recession. The ratio of those unemployed to available jobs is
dramatic. Companies are struggling to process the volume of applications
received per available position. Like Oscar Night, only a handful of
applicants will impress enough to be considered. Choosing Best Picture
is simple. The Academy simply votes. But how do you ensure that of the
handful of qualified applicants you choose the best?
Pre-hire assessments enable hiring managers to narrow down their list
of applicants and select the applicant most appropriate for the job. If
two applicants have identical resumes, it can be difficult to decide
which one looks better. Assessments provide results that match each
applicant to the available position. This information can determine who
would be the overall best fit based on their skills, personality and job
fit.
Use assessments that measure skills, aptitude, behavior, thinking
style and personality to gather as much information as possible so that
you can make informed decisions about who is the best fit for the job.
Placing people appropriately the first time saves time, money and energy
and that calls for a standing ovation.
Beyond the Resume: A Look at Smart Hires
by Amanda Molleur
How much easier would hiring and management be if employees came with
an instruction manual?
You could have complete confidence in an individual’s ability to follow
through with an assignment by a set deadline. Conflict could be avoided,
miscommunications wouldn’t come into play, and there would be harmony
among coworkers.
However, people are complex. It’s hard to fully comprehend an
individual’s values and work ethic by reading their resume. Even after
hiring someone, you still may struggle to understand personal strengths
or limitations. In addition, other unpredictable issues may arise, but
there are tools you can use to assess talent before a candidate joins
your team. Through the use of assessments, your organization can gain
valuable insight into your most valuable asset – your people.
There are essentially three phases of assessment use, the first being
the pre-hire and placement stage. After reviewing an applicant’s resume,
you need more objective information on their qualifications,
personality, interests and communication style. Here, you’re asking
yourself “can this person do the job?” Assessments measure their
learning index as well as numerical and verbal skills and reasoning.
Learning style is not synonymous with intelligence. To demonstrate this
principle, think of an individual's learning style in terms of a bucket
as compared to a bottle. Both hold the same amount of liquid, but a
bucket can receive the input at a quicker rate than a bottle. Someone
with a “bottle neck” learning style could be just as gifted as a
“bucket” minded individual, but they just process information at a
slower rate.
To see the value in pre-hire assessments, take for example the
efforts of an enthusiastic candidate. Outstanding candidates will
conduct prior research on the company to stand out from other
applicants. They keep up with industry trends and further investigate
the skills needed to excel in a desired position.
Let’s be honest; you’re impressed with them. They’ve taken the time to
be realistic about their contribution to your company and they’re
already acquainted with your organization’s mission and goals. In the
same way, it is only appropriate for hiring managers and business
executives to invest time into researching a potential employee.
Once you have some background information on a candidate, it’s important
to look at behavioral traits that affect how well the person will do the
job. Certain skills can be developed, but there are many qualities that
can’t change. These include assertiveness, independence, objective
judgment and manageability. When you evaluate a person on this level,
you can reasonably decide whether or not you could manage this person
effectively.
The last level of employee assessments deals with succession planning.
This focus prompts you to ask, “will this person want to do the job?” An
individual may be qualified, but without an assessment you may not know
whether or not they have creative, technical, or enterprising skills –
until it’s too late. With long-term goals in mind, you can also use
assessments to plan for additional placement opportunities. Perhaps
you’re hiring someone seasonally or as an intern, but you see that his
or her occupational interests align with a full-time, paid position. You
can coach them effectively, knowing that they have promotion potential.
“Valid, reliable assessments provide organizations with in-depth,
objective and comprehensive information about its workforce,” said Dario
Priolo, Director of the Profiles Research Institute. “This information
helps managers to put people into the right jobs and manage them to
their fullest potential."
Profiles International provides employee assessments to help
organizations worldwide create high-performing workforces. Recently, the
company introduced a white paper document titled “The Executive’s Guide
to Employee Assessments” that gives expert insight on assessment use and
benefits.
“Assessments result in more satisfied and productive employees, and a
more efficient and effective organization,” Priolo went on to say. “Some
executives assume that assessments are tools for the HR department, and
they are very surprised when they discover how these instruments help
them make better business decisions.”
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