Employee Retention Critical for Newly Created Jobs

Well, what do you know... some positive trends in the unemployment picture for a change. This morning the LA Times posted an article regarding recent labor statistics. The Labor Department reports that the U.S. jobless rate declined to 8.3% in January, the lowest in three years. Employers nationwide added 243,000 net new jobs in January—about 100,000 more than what analysts were forecasting.

It's great to hear that employer hiring is on the upswing. With operating budgets still tight from the years of recession, a majority of companies now rely on a pre-employment assessment to help determine who is right for a specific position. Why? Because the right person will stay in position longer—months instead of weeks, years instead of months—when they are a strong fit to the needs and performance expectations of the job. To minimize the expenses of refilling a vacant seat, retraining a new associate, and waiting for a new hire to get to a productive level, companies are using proven decision science tools to guide the final hiring steps. Keeping the same productive employee for a year is much more profitable for the company than hiring someone new to fill the same chair every three months.

If you are one of the 12.8 million people who remain unemployed, hang in there. Be prepared to take a personality assessment during your application process. The key is to be yourself. In our experience at PeopleAnswers in assessing millions of potential candidates, pretending to be someone you are not by attempting to craft a "new you" through your assessment responses can sabotage your ability to fit the employer's unique and often complex requirements for the role.

What types of assessments have you personally encountered in the job market?