Topgrading

Note:  A (free) download comes with this article!

Here is the simplest, clearest outline of all 12 Topgrading hiring steps, including what problem they solve, what skill must be learned, and the results that are typically achieved with using each Topgrading tool.

Thirty (plus) years of experience have clearly demonstrated that each and every one of these 12 Topgrading hiring steps is not just desirable, but necessary, in order to achieve 90% hiring success.  Cut corners by ignoring any one of the steps and it’s been well documented that costly mis-hires go up, and up, and up!

The download, the Topgrading Vision document, came from, of all places, a request from Tony Robbins.  He’s asked me two years in a row to be the “hiring guru” at his Summit for entrepreneurs, and while preparing for it Tony asked for a template, dashboard, something to clearly show how, where, and why all the Topgrading hiring parts fit together.  Good idea, Tony, thanks for the suggestion.  Hundreds of beginning Topgraders have bookmarked the Topgrading Vision, so all the steps are clear.

Enough introduction.  Just click here and immediately download the Topgrading Vision!

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE: The new Topgrading Workbook, the one used in all our workshops, is organized around the Topgrading Vision.  Each of the 12 steps is explained, the problem it solves is clarified, and then fun exercises teach the Topgrading skill.  You have to actually use it to get the favorable results!  For more information and to invest in the Topgrading Workbook, click here.

The New Topgrading Workbook!

Hi Topgraders,

You have asked for a simple, straightforward Topgrading Workbook, with all the latest Topgrading tools, and here it is!

The Topgrading Workbook is THE manual we use in our Topgrading Workshops.  It clearly explains all 12 Topgrading hiring steps and then there are the same fun, practical exercises we use in workshops.

To purchase the Topgrading Workbook, click now to get a tool that will be your personal tutor or the only handout you’ll need for your internal Topgrading workshops.

MOST PERSONALITY TESTS ARE SHAMS!

We get lots of questions about testing, because clients would love to have some sort of inexpensive screening device that cuts the candidate pool down to just a few to call and then to interview.  Unfortunately, the fact is that most personality tests are validated in a devious way that makes the tests look useful, when they are not.  I’ll explain why:

I have on my desk the validation manual for one of the many personality tests used to screen candidates for sales positions.  It’s a thick manual.  When the test is “tested,” it’s administered to present employees, with the promise that their score will not be known to their employer.  OK, so the current employees have no motivation to fake answers; they are honest, and so sales people might admit they are not highly motivated, that they call on present customers when they should call prospects, etc.  Then the test purveyors match the results against performance and, VOILÁ, the people who sell the most are the ones with the highest test scores.  The test appears valid!  But it’s not.

The only honest way to validate a test is to administer it to candidates for selection; don’t even score the test for a year, then pull out the test, score it, and then see how the scores correlate with performance.  When real selection candidates take the test, they fake it – sales candidates say they are highly motivated, that they of course call on prospects, etc.

Years ago I validated several personality tests that were being used by one of the largest retailers.  We had 2,000 subjects.  The company thought the tests were highly valid, but when I validated them properly (with hiring candidates, not present employees, taking the tests) the value of every one of the tests was ZERO!  And unbelievably, the sham test purveyors are telling the truth when they say their methods are approved by the American Psychological Association.

Recommendation: get the validation manuals and don’t be intimidated by all the statistical mumbo jumbo.  Just look for how the tests were validated.  If the manual does not say that candidates for hire knew they were not hired yet when they took the test, you have a problem.  Call the test purveyor and challenge the validation results.  Or, administer the test to 200 candidates the way I described, and see for yourself it the test really works.  Don’t hold your breath!