We’ve gone for a more collaborative tack with this posting!
Seth recently completed a time-consuming process of editting a 2-hour video with Dr Dan Harrison, to come up with digestible segments that stand in their own right. He made 22 of them! So we asked him “having gone through them which are your top 5 picks.
Here’s the first. In this video Dan Harrison discusses the following benefits of using HATS system.
Systematic Approach to hiring
Preset formula to evaluate CV
Assessment that covers Suitability as well as Eligibility
Check it out. And if you like it remember to give it a rating!
We get precious little feedback (except from those of you who call in and buy from us!), so your comments will be well received, and will help to choose topics for future videos.
Breaking news – we had the good fortune to be able to grab Dr Harrison again, and put some of your questions to him. We’re still editting them and will post them as fast as they come. You can find a lot of them just by searching on google, and we’re going be publishing our favourites here.
This segment below is to answer the question “what is it that is new about the Harrison Assessments Talent Solutions? How does HATS differ from traditional systems for recruitment?”
Here’s Dr Harrison, in his own words:-
John Bower interviews Dr Dan Harrison about how does HATS differ from traditional systems?
Key takeaways we noted:
Extremely clear job formula which goes way beyond Job Requirements or Selection Criteria
Online questionnaire automatically ranks candidates and screens to create a shortlist
Ranking system gives the recruiting manager great clarity to pinpoint the top quality candidate
Integrates with the interview process and upgrades the entire assessment process
Saves a LOT of time, and makes it possible to concentrate effort on people who are both Eligible AND Suitable for the job
Someone just wrote in with a question that’s so important it’s worth sharing, and having a wider debate around it:-
“Dear John,
I am wondering if you have any suggestions or ideas how to pass HA successfully. I mean, to have a way to get the best result in my HA evaluation.
My company uses HA results to promote employees.
Look forward to hearing from you soon.
xxxxx”
Here’s my answer:-
“Dear xxxxx,
actually yes, I do …
Have you been through the assessment yourself? It sounds a bit like you’ve either been assessed, or are afraid you might be about to be assessed and failed.
That’s normal by the way. I’ve done the HA questionnaire many times myself, about 6 times in 5 years just for my own interest, and I still have butterflies about the result every time I try it again!
Here’s the thing you need to know about Harrison Assessments:
it’s actually very good at predicting who is likely to be successful and who is likely to struggle … which is (of course) the reason companies choose it for screening promotions and new hires … but the accuracy of prediction can be very high, and is much much more accurate than a traditional process of interviews. Even assessment centers are usually less accurate than a single Harrison Assessments report.
Scary? Maybe, but maybe not. Look at it this way …
You see what THAT means is if Harrison Assessments says you would be better off doing a different job than the one you were assessed for, it is probably right about it. And while that might sound like a disappointment, I actually suggest it’s excellent news. Nothing is worse than having to do a job that you struggle at and end up disappointing yourself and the people who rely on you. Nothing is better than finding out the risks, in advance, before committing your time and reputation or risking damage to your successful track record.
So – worst case – IF you show up as being less suitable for a position you applied for what usually happens is
a) you can see exactly what needs to change in order to be more successful, e.g. next time, and
b) often you can see ways in which you can achieve more in your current job, or
c) you can change your current job just a little to make a big difference …
a big difference not just to your job performance (which your employer likes) but also to your personal job satisfaction. Of course, ultimately doing a better job always leads to more money, more time freedom, and more opportunities self-expression.
I’m being a bit long here. Here it is, simpler:-
I assume you’re genuine, and you don’t want a cheat-sheet. It’s certainly very hard to cheat – much harder than other assessments I’ve seen. I’ve seen a lot of people try, and have tried myself. The reality is even the inventor of HA says he can’t fake a perfect assessment result for a position he wouldn’t be good at … and he’s the guy who knows just exactly what it’s looking for! … he knows ALL the research and the calcualtions it does!! Certainly, I’ve studied HA extensively myself for 5 years – I teach it to experts including psychologists – and have completed the questionnaire 6 times, I still can’t make a perfect result for myself for my own job.
So I won’t say it can’t be cheated at all – in an infinite universe I guess anything’s possible – but frankly if anyone is going to try to cheat they would need to know the right answers in the first place. And that means becoming an expert in the requirements of the job you’re aiming to do … which in itself is a good thing, really … which means their performance in that job would improve. I’ve read a psychological research paper that proved people who learn the right answers to a test do better in the job! That research wasn’t about psychometric testing specifically, but the principle is reasonably general.
The good news (I hope) is that whatever the result is,
- it is likely to be useful to you
- you can learn from it and do better, not just at the assessment but in your job and your career
- it will help your employer recognise hidden talents in you that they may have missed.
Your question was “how can I have the best result in the HA evaluation?”.
My first answer: if you answer it truthfully it will actually tell you exactly what you should do to maximise your performance, accellerate your career success, and achieve your goals. In my mind – as a 40-something year old successful guy – that IS the best possible result to get, even if it means you don’t get the promotion you applied for today.
My second answer: you CAN improve your HA evaluation for a specific job that you want to get. The good news is if you do that your performance in that job will also improve.
You can do it with a course of coaching, which would give you the insight you need into how to succeed in that job and, obviously, in the assessment. Through coaching
- you would know just exactly what are your greatest strengths for the new role,
- you would know ahead of time what are your chances, and what contingency plans to make
- you would discover unexpected ways you can actually perform better in your current role
- you would know just exactly what to do, both short and long term, to increase your chances for promotion
Did any of that make sense? Hope it did – your question is an important one.
Would you like to improve your results?
Please do write to me directly at John.Bower@HumanPotentialGlobal.com with your questions – I promise your identity will be confidential! – and your question might just give an answer to someone else as well. So please do share!!
We’ve been trying (literally) for years to share answers to the questions we hear all the time with a wider audience … and somehow our work just kept getting in the way … until last Wednesday, when Dr Dan Harrison was in town, we grabbed a video camera, and shot a short interview with him.
The questions are the questions we hear all the time, from our clients, from our prospects, from our friends.
His answers – based on 25 years of research into work performance and selection screening – are so much better than anyone else’s!
Here are the first two clips, addressing the question: “OK, I’m looking for an assessment system for recruiting candidates – but don’t tell me about Harrison Assessments yet – instead please teach me what to look for so I can tell the difference between a good system and a poor one?”
