Competency in an area is the result of many factors working together, which include innate characteristics (natural ability, personality) and learned characteristics (knowledge, experience and skills) as is presented in the following chart. People who have the right competencies or who have a good potential for developing these competencies will be able to do the right things (behaviors) to produce the desired results (effective outcomes).

The following report provides detailed results and judgments about how these innate characteristics may facilitate or hinder the display or development of the desired competencies and, ultimately, job effectiveness. Also provided is a competency-oriented interview protocol to use to evaluate the skills, knowledge and other learned characteristics important to this job, as well as a general model for making a good decision from all sources of information.

The following results are based on your performance on standardized ability tests. They are presented as percentile comparisons to professional norms (people who, for the most part, have an education at or beyond the college undergraduate level) and to general population norms (people who, for the most part, have a high school education).

• The EAS7 (Verbal Reasoning) is a measure of his ability to quickly analyze verbal information and deduce logical conclusions from that information.

• The Thurstone Test of Mental Alertness is a measure of his language skills and his quantitative skills. It also provides an indication of his ability to shift quickly back and forth from one problem type to another.

• The Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices (Abstract Reasoning) is a measure of his ability to reason through complex, abstract, nonverbal information and to grasp new ideas. This capacity includes the ability to solve problems in new situations where one has little experience upon which to draw.

General Population Norms:   0%   100% Verbal Reasoning       Mental Alertness       Abstract Reasoning        Professional Norms:         Verbal Reasoning       Mental Alertness       Abstract Reasoning

 

He should have no difficulty reasoning through most verbal and quantitative information to quickly solve problems.

He should have no difficulty solving problems that involve complex, abstract information. He should also be quick to grasp new ideas and solve problems that are outside his usual experience.

Decisive Judgment Making good decisions in a timely and confident manner. Championing Change Taking action to support and implement change initiatives effectively. Planning And Organizing Effectively organizing and planning work according to organizational needs by defining objectives and anticipating needs and priorities. Driving For Results Challenging, pushing the organization and themselves to excel and achieve. Managing Others Directing and leading others to accomplish organizational goals and objectives. Coaching And Developing Others Advising, assisting, mentoring and providing feedback to others to encourage and inspire the development of work-related competencies and long-term career growth. Relationship Management Developing and maintaining positive relationships with individuals outside their work group. Business Acumen* Understanding general business and financial concepts, understanding the company's business, and using both general and specific knowledge to be effective. Integrity* Upholding a high standard of fairness and ethics in everyday words and actions. Written Communication* Having the skills to communicate to others in a written format.

• For each personality characteristic, a distribution of possible scores (from less to more) is displayed in deciles (1-10% = 1st decile, 11-20% = 2nd decile, etc.) using ten graph blocks.

• This distribution is based on a professional norm group of approximately 40,000 respondents.

• The candidate's score on each personality characteristic is represented by the graphic character .

• Overlaid on the normative distribution, the colors and shading on the graph represent desirable and undesirable ranges on each characteristic for a particular competency.

• Ranges in which a characteristic may hinder are marked with least shading ( ).

• Ranges in which a characteristic may be a potential concern are marked in intermediate shading ( ).

• Ranges in which a characteristic may help are marked with most shading ( ).

• You will notice from the pattern of shadings that low scores are not necessarily bad and high scores are not necessarily good.

• Also notice that the Helps and Hinders ranges for a characteristic may differ by competency. For example, a higher level of assertiveness may be more desirable for one competency than another.

Making good decisions in a timely and confident manner.

Taking action to support and implement change initiatives effectively.

Effectively organizing and planning work according to organizational needs by defining objectives and anticipating needs and priorities.

Challenging, pushing the organization and themselves to excel and achieve.

Directing and leading others to accomplish organizational goals and objectives.

Advising, assisting, mentoring and providing feedback to others to encourage and inspire the development of work-related competencies and long-term career growth.

Developing and maintaining positive relationships with individuals outside their work group.

For additional, more detailed information on conducting good behavior-based interviews, please visit the ASSESS managers resource website at https://www.bigby.com/systems/assessv2/System/Reports/www.bigby.com/systems/assessv2/resources/manager.

Interview Date: __________

Before the Interview

Review the Competency Model definitions and representative behaviors.

Review the candidate's resume and be familiar with his/her background and experience.

Review the candidate's ASSESS results.

Review the interview questions and additional personality probes.

During the interview, remember to:

• Use open-ended questions
• Ask probing follow-up questions
• Focus on specific examples and behaviors
• Postpone judgment: don't rely on your first impression

  
   

Start the interview by discussing the details of the candidate's educational and work history.

Walk me through your educational background.

Listen and probe for accomplishments, grades, how he/she chose college/major, classes he/she liked or disliked, involvement in outside activities, work experience during school, etc., and probe for how they relate to the job.

Walk me through your work history.

Listen and probe for milestones, accomplishments, relationships with co-workers and supervisors, tasks he/she liked or disliked, work environments he/she liked or disliked, reasons for leaving each job, etc. and probe for how prior experience has prepared him/her for this job.

NOTES:

Decisive Judgment:  Making good decisions in a timely and confident manner.

• Describe some of the decisions you have made recently that had important effects on your business or the people involved. How did you make your decisions? How did you balance the pressures of timeliness and making the right decision? Did you change your decision after making it? Why or why not?

Additional special probes based on ASSESS results:

• Tell me about a time when you made an error in judgment. Why did the error occur? (Can he go beyond immediate data to intuit larger issues?)

• Tell me about a time when you hesitated too long in making a decision, and this had a negative impact. What was the time frame? (Listen for a reticence to decide or commit to a course of action.)

NOTES:  (details of the situation, actions by the candidate, and the resulting outcomes)

Championing Change:  Taking action to support and implement change initiatives effectively.

• Tell me about two situations in which you took personal responsibility for ensuring that an important change occurred in your organization. What was the issue? What did you do? What was the outcome? What would you do differently next time?

Additional special probes based on ASSESS results:

• Describe the challenges you faced when implementing a change initiative quickly. In what time frame did you accomplish this? (Does the candidate have the energy necessary to successfully champion an initiative?)

• Tell me about a time when you felt it was better to continue with a way of doing something rather than championing a new approach. (Is there a stubborn resistance to trying new things?)

• Tell me about potential change efforts that you decided not to introduce. Why? (Does extreme caution interfere with trying something new?)

NOTES:  (details of the situation, actions by the candidate, and the resulting outcomes)

Planning And Organizing:  Effectively organizing and planning work according to organizational needs by defining objectives and anticipating needs and priorities.

• Tell me about a successful project or initiative that you had responsibility for planning and organizing. What did you do? Why was this project successful?

• Tell me about a project where you had responsibility for planning and organizing that did not go as smoothly. What did you do? What could you have done better?

Additional special probes based on ASSESS results:

• Describe a situation that illustrates the kind of techniques that you use to stay organized and focused in your own work. (Listen for an ability to keep work organized.)

NOTES:  (details of the situation, actions by the candidate, and the resulting outcomes)

Driving For Results:  Challenging, pushing the organization and themselves to excel and achieve.

• Describe a time when your group set and met an aggressive goal. What types of obstacles did you face? How did you overcome them?

• Describe a time when your group failed to meet an aggressive goal. Why did this happen?

Additional special probes based on ASSESS results:

• Tell me about one of your projects that had an aggressive deadline for completion. How did you get it done? (Listen for an ability to accomplish things quickly.)

NOTES:  (details of the situation, actions by the candidate, and the resulting outcomes)

Managing Others:  Directing and leading others to accomplish organizational goals and objectives.

• (If not previously covered) Give me a history of your management experience. For each step along the way, tell me what your group did, how many people you managed and how you assigned work and organized the group to get the job done.

• Tell me how goals were set for the group and each of the individuals in the group for these situations? How did you manage people to achieve these goals?

• How do you discipline and reward people who work for you? Give me specific examples of both.

Additional special probes based on ASSESS results:

• Tell me about your poorest performing subordinates. Why do you think they struggle? What have you done to improve their performance? (Listen for a tendency to expect others to fail.)

• Describe your typical style of interacting with subordinates. Give specific examples. How much time do you spend talking with them? What do you talk about? (Listen for a lack of emphasis on developing and maintaining smooth social relationships with subordinates.)

• Tell me about a time when your group had a tight deadline to meet and was successful. What did you do to ensure the deadline was met? What about a time when your group missed the deadline? What did you do to try to achieve the missed deadline? (Does the candidate have the energy level to set a good example and energize the activities of others?)

NOTES:  (details of the situation, actions by the candidate, and the resulting outcomes)

Coaching And Developing Others:  Advising, assisting, mentoring and providing feedback to others to encourage and inspire the development of work-related competencies and long-term career growth.

• Tell me about a time when you successfully helped develop or coach an individual to reach their potential. What was the situation? What did you do? What difficulties did you overcome to help this individual?

• Tell me what things you have done in the past to ensure people who worked with you or for you were given the resources and opportunities to grow.

• Describe those aspects of your experience, knowledge or background that are valuable to the development of others in your organization. What do you have to offer, and how willing are you to share this with others?

Additional special probes based on ASSESS results:

• Tell me about people you have chosen to help or coach at work. How are they different from the ones you did not or would not help? Give some specific examples. (Can he bring a positive outlook on people to a coaching situation?)

• What is your approach to helping someone learn something you know? Use a current example to tell me what kinds of things you say or do. How have others responded to your help? (Will the candidate be willing to extend himself or herself to help others?)

• Describe to me how you go about evaluating a person's strengths, weaknesses and motivations. Give me an example of a time when you were accurate, and of a time when you were completely wrong about an individual. (Listen for an ability to be perceptive about others.)

• How do you feel about receiving praise and recognition? About giving it? Give me some work-related examples. (Will the candidate be capable of encouraging people with praise?)

NOTES:  (details of the situation, actions by the candidate, and the resulting outcomes)

Relationship Management:  Developing and maintaining positive relationships with individuals outside their work group.

• Give me several examples of important business relationships you have developed with people from other parts of your organization or with people outside the organization that have helped you to meet your business objectives.

• How did you form these relationships, and what have you done to maintain them?

Additional special probes based on ASSESS results:

• In your experience, when do you find internal competition helps the organization move forward, and when is collaboration better? Give me some personal examples? (Will the candidate be competitive and, if so, will this interfere with building relationships?)

• In your interactions with people, how you determine the other person's agenda? Their needs and motives? Give me an example of a time when you were accurate, and of a time when you were completely wrong about an individual. (Listen for an ability to be perceptive about people.)

• In what business situations have others misled you or taken advantage of you? Explain what happened. How do you prevent this from happening again? (Listen for a tendency to be excessively skeptical and cautious and to expect the worst from others.)

• Do you have many business relationships outside of your immediate work group? What types of relationships? How did you develop them? How long did it take? (Listen for excessive social reticence that inhibits development of important relationships.)

NOTES:  (details of the situation, actions by the candidate, and the resulting outcomes)

Business Acumen*:  Understanding general business and financial concepts, understanding the company's business, and using both general and specific knowledge to be effective.

• What general business skills do you have? How much experience or education do you have in accounting, finance and marketing? Please give examples.

• How much experience do you have in writing general business plans, capital and operating budgets, and forecasting income and expenses? Please give examples and highlight your personal involvement.

• How much experience do you have in conducting formal performance reviews of subordinates, budgeting for salary expenses and allocating annual raises and bonuses? Please give examples and highlight your personal involvement.

NOTES:  (details of the situation, actions by the candidate, and the resulting outcomes)

Integrity*:  Upholding a high standard of fairness and ethics in everyday words and actions.

• Describe for me an ethical business dilemma that you have faced. What were the circumstances? What did you do? Why?

• Tell me about two situations in which you have seen others be unfair or dishonest. What happened? What would you have done differently? Why?

NOTES:  (details of the situation, actions by the candidate, and the resulting outcomes)

Written Communication*:  Having the skills to communicate to others in a written format.

• Describe the types of written communications you produced in previous jobs. Did you write them by yourself or did others typically assist you? Can you provide examples?

• (Review all examples for the quality of the message, clarity, grammar and an ability to adjust the style and vocabulary to the audience.)

NOTES:  (details of the situation, actions by the candidate, and the resulting outcomes)

Your goal is to bring the interview smoothly to a close.

Ensure that the candidate feels that he/she has been able to give you a complete and accurate picture of him/herself.

Explain the next steps in the process and timeframe as appropriate.

Thank the candidate for his/her time and close the interview.

Good selection decisions require careful consideration of all the available information (education, training, experience, skills, abilities, personality, etc.) from as many different credible sources as possible (interviews, reference checks, background checks, ASSESS results, etc.) against a clear specification of what is needed or desired in the job.

Use the following chart to evaluate the candidate on each of the competencies of the Model. Carefully consider each competency before making your overall judgement.