You: Company

Me: Recruiter

Common Objective: Find X, Y, Z candidate

I know you, your company, your product line, and your growth objectives. We've done business together for a long time; I don't want to overstate things, but we "know" things about each other. So when you entrust a key corporate position to me to fill, I appreciate it and you know I'm going to work my tail feathers off to get you the best candidate we can possibly find.

Dutifully, I recruit for skills, personality, category knowledge and experience, the works. I screen candidates for education, attitude, real-life first-person skills rather than "team" skills, P and L responsibility, strategic planning experience, enthusiasm for the product line, personality fit as it relates to company culture, and motivation level. Proudly I present you with four top-notch, fully interviewed/screened/vetted candidates for your consideration.

Good news!! You like them all! The hours of phone calling, emailing, and interviewing have paid off. I have caught your vision, packaged it up in four excellent candidates, and you opened it with appreciation and enthusiasm. We're living the recruiting dream! Your phone interviews with them impressed you sufficiently to pass them along to the next phase.

The dreaded Personality Testing. The testing that isn't "supposed" to be used as a vetting tool, but it is. This "work style" test presents its own unique challenges because although I've screened, interviewed, questioned, re-questioned, ensured every possible "fit" that you've asked for, I cannot recruit for a test. A Test! You even like them yourself and you allow the test to knock them out of the hiring process permanently.

People - psychological / work style assessments are supposed to give you additional insight into a candidate's world, how they view things, the way they interact with others. It is not a "pass / no pass" test (unless the results come back Jeffrey Dahmer-esque, then - okay - you can say N-O). The results should be weighed and considered along with all of the other information you've received.

These tests are here to stay - I understand that and I even see the validity of employing these tests in building an exceptional work force. But it is one tool, one little tool in the arsenal of recruiting and hiring, and an overreliance on this one test makes Nancy, well - a little testy.