Designed to minimise ëfakingí - 07/2001

A weakness of most personality profiles is the ability of candidates to ëfake goodí, that is, answer the questions in a way that makes them appear more suitable for the role for which they are applying. Given they are adept in the art of ëselling themselvesí this happens more with recruiting salespeople than any other discipline.

Most questionnaires include a scale which indicates the degree to which the applicant is faking and hence the validity (accuracy) of the result. Whilst useful, there remains the problem of how to proceed with candidates who are clearly faking their responses. Do you bring them back for a retest, exclude him/her for ëcheatingí or simply ignore the test result?

Craft Personality Questionnaire ñ CPQ is a sales-specific questionnaire which comprises 75 statements and invites candidates to offer both a ëmost favourableí and ëmost honestí response to each question.

By bringing the ëfaking goodí issue into the open in this way it gives candidates the opportunity to differentiate between their true self and the persona they otherwise may be tempted to project. Despite these precautions, when computer administered or completed online, test candidates who have clearly still attempted to inflate their strengths and downplay their weaknesses are invited to re-visit the questionnaire and amend their responses to be less flattering and more realistic about themselves. For those who find this difficult even second time around, the opportunity is extended a third time in order to maximise the probability of getting an accurate, believable result.

Jeffrey Bean, of Sales Team Focus, sole UK distributors of CPQ commented: ìThe results of even the most valid and reliable personality profiles are worthless when it is obvious test candidates have either deliberately or unwittingly distorted their responses in order to appear more favourable to the recruiter. The innovative techniques built into CPQ dramatically reduce the incidence of invalid results particularly amongst sales applicants, the group most prone to ëputting their best foot forwardí to an unacceptable degree.î

Available in a variety of formats from computer-based online to pencil & paper, CPQ produces detailed graphical and narrative reports designed to help assess both suitability for a specific sales role and how best to manage and motivate the applicant once hired.

www.craftsystems.com