NewsRoom
One-in-three people admit to telling a white lie on their resume.
So, how honest are they with personality and aptitude tests? Apparently, about 75% of large firms in the US use such tests. Do people lie on them, as well? Could these test results include 30% lies?
Of course, personality tests are great, really useful, and widely used. They are probably the best tools we have at the moment. Although, that may change.
But, self-assessment questionnaires can’t be producing good results if the input is faulty. That doesn’t add up.
You see, people operate in a social context. Are you recruiting the person who understands the implicit requirements of the job or the person who understands how to answer the questions in a way that best suits their self-interest?
In other words, are you recruiting the person who best understands the recruiting system or someone who is right for the job?
The psychological methodology associated with personality assessment is good, but the application is … not so good.
So, the results must be hit and miss.
Seriously. Can you afford that?
At MercurySays, we think we have a simple, brilliant solution. It involves focusing on change over time. Let’s see how their natural language is changing over the last two weeks or two months. That will tell us where they are and where they are going.
Can You Stop People Lying in Personality and Aptitude Tests?
Main answer: You can’t. They will.
Solution: Test them quickly, cheaply, and accurately. And, do it in a way that is incredibly difficult to cheat. Do it by testing messages they have already created.
At MercurySays, we have deeply considered this issue and we have produced a simple, effective, and brilliant solution.
Test them when they are not self-conscious and measure the change that occurs over time.
Because MercurySays examines someone’s emails or text messages, they are not trying to answer a personality test. And, because we examine the changes in moods, attitudes, and dispositions over time, we can report on those characteristics that are rising and falling … right now.
If you are a senior executive or manager, don’t miss a breakthrough that can help lift results. It’s inexpensive, easy to apply, and gives you insights that focus on now.
What Resumes and Interviews Don’t Tell You
How ambitious is that person who’s just been hired?
How flexible and creative is that person you’ve just appointed to that team?
How authoritative, focused, and open-minded is that person you just made chair of that committee?
Did you guess and hope for the best?
Resumes and psychological tests are glimpses into the past. Often, they are the best insights you have, but do you really know if that person takes responsibility for their actions? Are they ready to take advantage of sudden opportunities? Are they naturally empathic? Do they engage and motivate their work colleagues?
That’s where the extraordinary power of MercurySays comes into play.
Using MercurySays Corporate you can gain a deep, up-to-date insight that is hard to trick. You can see how ambitious, flexible, creative, authoritative, focused, or open-minded they are. Right now. You’ll know which characteristics are waxing and waning.
MercurySays Corporate is an essential new tool for your managerial toolbox.
A.I. is Not Ready Yet (Or, maybe, we are not ready for A.I.)
The idea that you can put a resume in a computer and the A.I. program decides if the person should be hired: that’s nuts. Especially, when the program doesn’t tell you why it made a decision one way or the other.
Of course, we all want to be rid of subjective judgments about recruits. But, measuring facial expressions and counting buzzwords, as some of the new technology does, will not help that much. It needs a lot more development. Even LinkedIn executives involved in recruitment support admit that.
Worse still, university students are taught how to talk and how to appear when they are interviewed on Zoom calls, and the like. So, we are back to the same old problem: people will try to cheat a system to benefit their own self-interest.
So, what can you do now?
Choose a simple, powerful, non-A.I. solution. MercurySays Corporate can give you up-to-date changes in people’s attributes. And, it does it in a way that is virtually impossible to fake.
Start with real facts. End with real results.
Personality Hires Are Alright By Me
What on earth?!? You are hiring people for their personalities?
My response is: Good.
You have taken the first step on the way to understanding what you are working with. A person with skills and a social presence.
Of course, they have to be able to do a job that needs doing. That’s obvious.
But, when you have five people who can do the job perfectly well, you may choose the one who is funny and bubbly and gets on with it … and encourages everyone else to do the same. It’s a no-brainer.
So, how do you know what they are like?
Never trust one Zoom interview or one self-assessed personality test. Never.
Check the last five text messages they have sent. Measure the changes that MercurySays Corporate identifies. Then, you’ll have an up-to-the-moment insight into their mood, attitude, demeanor, and intention.
We can present our findings in a reporting style that suits you. However, we will be measuring messages using our own protocols.
Take a step forward into a new world. MercurySays represents a breakthrough in communication management.
Team Building with TikTok Showoffs
Actually, TikTok showoffs could be high value. Think about it. Gregarious. Funny. Motivational. Caring. Visual. Video skilled. Plenty of people would want to work with them. They could easily become people’s friends.
More than that, they could directly lift your results (that’s a code word for “revenue”).
But, what does this tell us?
In every team, in every committee, in every leadership group, you need the right people working in the right way.
What is “right?”
“Right” is based on the goal you seek.
Sometimes, you’ll need creative. Sometimes, you’ll want rational. Sometimes, you’ll rely on discipline.
With MercurySays Corporate, you can test people before … and, crucially, as they work.
MercurySays Corporate can mentor each person to communicate in a way that is focused on achieving your goal. They would be doing it “right.”
