Within the framework of aptitude diagnostics, many personality traits are scrutinised. The so-called key criteria are particularly important.
The question often arises as to which prerequisites the candidate must absolutely fulfil in order to be able to successfully cope with the requirements of a job position. Or which personality traits are decisive for the success or failure of a job holder. Answers to these questions are provided by the key criteria from aptitude diagnostics.
In contrast to the criteria defined as key criteria by superiors or personnel developers for respective positions, the key criteria of the aptitude diagnostics at HR Consult Group AG result from the most significant characteristics of the available comparison group.
The 10 key criteria of a norm or best practice profile are generated from the results of the group itself. These are the ones that have the smallest spread. Here, the agreement of the expression is the highest.
The evaluations of the test results for the different characteristics each show different scatter (see sample evaluation above), i.e. the range of test results varies from characteristic to characteristic. This is due to the fact that the test person of a comparison group assesses the individual characteristics differently.
The decisive factor here is that the range of the trait is very narrow, i.e. the test person forms an almost identical assessment of this topic and thus agrees with the comparison group that this trait is significant for this occupational group precisely in this form. Thus, personality traits that have the lowest dispersion / range become the key criterion for the respective position- or occupation-specific norm or best practice group.
Thus, key criteria have the highest significance (importance). These are checked using the values of the standard deviations. If the standard deviation is low, the scatter caused by the values of the different tests is also low. This means that the values are closer to the mean. This results in a smaller range and therefore a more distinct and significant characteristic, which is called the key criterion.
If a result value of the candidate, as seen in the example above, lands within the coloured bandwidth, the candidate is within the comparison profile. If the result is lower, i.e. to the left of the spread of the comparison group, the candidate has a clearly different assessment of this characteristic than his/her comparison group. In this case, it should be specifically questioned why the candidate assesses himself/herself in this way. This is usually a characteristic with development potential.
If the candidate's score is to the right of the coloured band, he or she is stronger than the comparison group in this respect, which is usually a sign of strength. The percentages on the far right indicate the exact values of the average of the comparison group, the candidate's value and the delta calculated from this, i.e. the exact deviation from the average of the comparison group.
The key criteria can be sorted according to the degree of significance. Depending on the procedure chosen, a number of criteria are then selected and evaluated as key criteria. Various methods are conceivable and can be implemented in a meaningful way:
On the one hand, a fixed number of criteria can be tapped, e.g. the first five or ten criteria. On the other hand, a percentage number can also be set so that, for example, 20 % of all criteria are considered key criteria that have the lowest dispersion.
The great insight is that the key criteria for successfully holding a position are self-evident and do not have to be determined in laborious coordination processes with the specialist and HR departments.
The next article in our series of topics is about the soft skills, which are almost identical in the characteristics of a successful professional group.
About the author
After graduating as an automotive engineer and industrial engineer, he began his career in the automotive industry in the areas of sales, development and marketing and also spent a year in Japan with one of the largest automotive suppliers.
He then moved to a world-renowned premium car manufacturer, where he was responsible for product marketing in Japan and South America and marketing strategy in North and South America.
In 1994 he decided to become self-employed and founded a personnel consultancy in Munich, where he has been driving development and expansion for over 20 years. As managing director, his industry focus is naturally on the automotive world as well as mechanical and plant engineering.
With his doctorate in the field of aptitude diagnostics, he ideally rounds off his fields of competence, especially with regard to personnel and management consultancy. The dissertation deals with the identification and proof of typical personality traits of engineers as well as the definition of development areas for a successful professional career.
These are scientifically derived and presented in the book "Eignungsdiagnostik im Praxiseinsatz".
At the same time, his focus is on building networks and cooperation models as well as the continuous further development of systems and processes in HR consulting.
Within the last 20 years in personnel consulting, he has developed several brands that are still successful on the market today.
