2. PERSONALITY PROFILE TEST QUESTIONS

100 ADJECTIVES - Many tests on the market employ a variety of different ways of gathering information from Applicants or Employees who may take the test.  Considerable time, thought, planning and effort went into the approach and choice of words used in the Hire Success Personality Profile.  The result was a single page test form consisting of 100 Adjectives.  Applicants or Employees simply rate themselves on a scale of 1-5 as to the "applicability" of each Adjective on the form.

REASONS FOR USING THE ADJECTIVE APPROACH  - When developing the Hire Success Personality Profile, we had to have a clear objective.  This means knowing both what we want to achieve, as well as what we wanted to try and avoid.  One element we wanted to avoid was ambiguous and what we call "third party" assumptions that could affect the understanding and accuracy of our test as well as avoid potential issues of discrimination.  Some tests ask questions of the applicant in the form of sentences.  Take for example, the question:  "Do others think you are 'thick skinned'?"  This example was brought to our attention on another test on the market where a Labor Union was challenging it on the basis of discrimination.

Hire Success chose not to go down the road where questions could be misunderstood, misinterpreted or based on what people think other people's opinion of them might be.  Instead, we wanted to develop a simple tool where each person could provide an accurate self-analysis of their own Personality Characteristics.  The vocabulary employed in our Profile was the first hurdle that had to be overcome.  Originally, literally hundreds of adjectives were compiled describing the various aspects that would be included in the Hire Success Personality Profile.  These words were reviewed by eighth graders, most enrolled in public schools, and were asked to provide us with definitions of what the words meant to them.  Words where they had no idea what they meant or couldn't provide a reasonable definition were rejected.  The objective of this exercise was to make sure that we had the best chance that employees with at least a reasonable education would understand the words and thus add to the accuracy of the Profile.

Choosing the "adjective approach" helped us accomplish two important goals:

1. The adjectives offered the best chance of being understood by the largest population and thus improve the accuracy of the Profile, and,
2. The test could be administered in a matter minutes instead of hours.  Not only does this make administration easier for the employer, but is doesn't surpass the attention span of most people and we believed would also increase the accuracy of the responses we would receive.  This translates into a more accurate report that becomes a more valuable tool for you to use in the Interview process.

BENEFITS:

• Tests can be administered in 5-10 minutes in most cases.
• Saves Time and Money!
• No complicated or provoking questions.
• Easy Access to test forms and supporting information.
• Increased Accuracy for both Applicant's responses and Test Results
• Low Cost of Test Administration.

BUILT-IN TOOLS TO ASSIST APPLICANTS  - The Hire Success software was developed to include two important tools to help Applicants when taking the test directly on the Hire Success software, and which we provide FREE to our customers.  These are:

1. Applicant's can right-click on any Adjective and a pop-up box will provide a short definition of the word.  This will assist people who may not know the proper meaning of the word or how it is intended on this Profile.  And,
2. Applicant's can use the Ctrl-Right Click on a word and an audio file included in the Hire Success system will SPEAK the word using the computer's sound card and speakers or headphones.  This option helps people who may be unsure of a word if their spelling, reading or visual abilities may be challenged in any way. 

Even our on-line test can provide Applicants with these tools if the testing computer and Internet Browser are setup to easily accommodate these features.  

Below is an example of how this can be accomplished even using an on-line, Internet/Intranet based testing form: (Click on the word "Skeptical" to see the definition box.  Click on the Question Number, 1), to play the audio file on your computer. Speed and Sound Quality will depend on your connection and the Audio Software/Plugin installed on your computer.)

BENEFITS:

• Applicants can have instant access to information to assist them in having a thorough understanding of each word
• Increased Accuracy
• Tests can be administered virtually ANYWHERE via the Internet.
• Visually impaired Applicants can hear the words read.
• Assists in accommodating Applicants and Employees with visual handicaps.

ADJECTIVES vs. DEFINITIONS  - Hire Success has conducted an on-line Study that has spanned over 18 months where Study volunteers were given the Hire Success Personality Profile using the Adjectives and then asked to rate the accuracy of the report.  They were then given the same test using sentences describing the same word, concept or meaning, not the adjectives and again were asked to review the results.  The overwhelming majority preferred the Adjectives and overall felt the test results using the Adjectives were more accurate.  This ongoing study confirmed the approach of using a simple, single page of Adjectives to provide speed, simplicity and accuracy of the test results.

BENEFITS:

• Increased Accuracy
• Simple, one-page test forms
• Available in English and Spanish and Japanese 

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