a little about..
Hezel CultureSmart
Since 1973, Hezel CultureSmart has assisted organizations nationwide achieve profitable growth by providing accurate, informative answers to difficult questions. From the moment a company chooses Hezel CultureSmart, we work to give the optimum return for their dollar. Our staff of principals and resource personnel include degreed professionals who have been owners and key executives of profitable companies as well as educators in the field of business. We focus on small and medium sized companies in a variety of industries. This consortium of professional associates and staff members bring to your company expertise in virtually every aspect of business.
What does it mean to be CultureSmart?
With our CultureSmart Assessment Tools (CSat) we can help you hire people who are a good “fit for your organization’s culture”.
It means hiring people who have the general cognitive ability to meet or exceed the threshold of intelligence for the job they are hired to do.
CultureSmart means developing your leaders to model behaviors of effective leaders based on documented research.
Understanding that personality is an important predictor of job performance.
CSat feedback reports help to improve an individual’s self-awareness of their personality traits which helps with employee development.
CultureSmart means using statistical techniques to develop success profiles that help to find candidates to match your own successful people.
CSat assessments meet the rigorous standards required by EEOC of all selection instruments.
General Approach to Employment Testing:
At HCS our general approach to selection assessment is based on three principles: remaining fact-based or research-oriented in all we do; remaining consistent in our approach and avoiding short-cuts that risk the integrity of the test results; and finally remaining intimate with our customers and understanding their evolution in culture and structure.
Research is clear that the two best predictors of employee performance across the majority of job titles are intelligence and conscientiousness. Regarding intelligence: all positions, based upon their job duties, have a threshold of intellectual requirement. If an individual does not reach that threshold, the individual will have a high likelihood of failure in that job role. The second best general predictor of job performance is conscientiousness (as measured by Factor 6 and Factor 15). After these two general predictors, specific job-related validity must be proven using validity studies of job incumbents. HCS encourages job-position validity studies as job requirements evolve and change. We encourage our clients to validate positions a minimum of every 5 years and corroborate that encouragement by providing validation studies at our cost with no profit generated.
HCS strongly believes that organizations and individuals are highly complex. A full and complete understanding of complex individuals cannot be achieved by “quick” behavioral assessments. (One basic psychometric principle is that greater reliability is achieved through increased test items.) Although it is often desirable to minimize candidate testing time, short cuts that affect overall validity do not serve the ultimate purpose of making the best hiring decision and will be avoided.
Finally, the proper delivery of employment testing services requires an intimate knowledge of the client-partner – its evolution, its business challenges and its people. This intimate knowledge cannot be commoditized and requires a supplier who is willing to plug into the organization through regular communication with people throughout the organization and is a stakeholder in the client’s success.
Use of skills assessments:
HCS’s basic philosophy is to hire for attitude and train for aptitude. However, at times organizations do not have the resources or time to train employees. In such an instance, the use of skills assessments might be necessary. In addition, certain skills or abilities are difficult to develop once a certain age is reached. These skills include reading comprehension, use of proper grammar and language, accuracy and precision, basic number ability, mechanical reasoning, etc. If these skills are critical job requirements they should be included in the selection battery. For example, validation studies indicate Reading Speed and Comprehension skills are critical and differentiating to H.R. Professionals and Category Managers.