Resources
The Client
Anderson Security Agency, Ltd. was founded with one basic mission: to bring a degree of professionalism, experience, and dedication to the security industry. Anderson provides the most thoroughly screened, best trained and most strictly supervised officers in the state. More applicants fail than pass the company’s pre-employment tests, which include drug screening and Wonderlic testing, and all officers have met rigorous standards. Anderson Security Agency specializes in short notice and emergency service 24 hours a day. The agency’s sales in its first year totaled $1 million and have continued to grow at about 25% per year.
The Products
Hire Results: The Hire Results program is the standard "start-up" process for Wonderlic clients that provides “hands on” assistance from Wonderlic consulting in building a customized assessment and selection program. Your consultant will help you select effective testing instruments and appropriate scoring ranges for your specific jobs. Wonderlic will train your test administrators and install an easily repeatable process to ensure that you are getting the most from your Wonderlic pre-employment testing.
Wonderlic Productivity Index® (WPI®): The Wonderlic Productivity Index (WPI) is a short-form measure of personality as it relates to productive behavior in the workplace. Based upon “Big 5” research by personality experts Murray Barrick, Ph.D. and Michael Mount, Ph.D., the WPI focuses on the fundamental factors that affect success in entry-level positions. The WPI has been fine-tuned for entry-level positions. It assesses an individual’s willingness to perform productively and cooperatively on the job, and avoid engaging in counterproductive behavior.
WebApp®: Wonderlic’s WebApp Service is an automated, interactive solution for Internet screening that eliminates wasted time by using job-specific criteria to conveniently pre-qualify job seekers. Wonderlic’s HR experts work with clients to develop fully customized questionnaires based upon job-specific criteria. WebApp provides a cost-effective solution for pre-employment screening that streamlines the entire recruiting process.
WPI Gives Anderson a Sense of Security
When hiring security guards who will be charged with guarding the lives and property of important clients, there is little room for error. Candidates must be completely trustworthy, as well as confident, reliable, and good at dealing with people, says Ross Taylor, Chief of Operations for Anderson Security, the Phoenix, Arizona based security services firm that provides armed and unarmed officers for all levels of security needs. Committed to providing professionalism to all of its clientele, Anderson Security puts a great deal of thought and preparation into each new hire decision. It provides more training than is required by the state through its Anderson Security Academy, and it makes sure that every candidate accepted to the program is well qualified for the job.
“The WPI is great. It looks for longevity, responsibility, and courtesy, and it tells us if someone’s a job jumper or has a propensity to be a high risk person.
— Ross Taylor,
Chief of Operations for Anderson Security
The company has long relied on cognitive ability and personality testing as part of its rigorous applicant screening process, but when Taylor joined the company in December 2003, after retiring from the Phoenix Police Department, he took a hard look at how the testing tools were working for Anderson and whether or not the testing process could be improved upon. One thing that concerned him was the slow turnaround on test scores. “We were using a paper-based test, and sometimes we wouldn’t get the scores back for days,” he says. The problem was that an HR representative had to manually enter every applicant’s answers in order to get the scores, and they often left the labor-intensive task until several tests piled up at the end of the week. “We needed a test that delivered immediate results without additional manual labor.”
At about that time, Taylor met with a Wonderlic representative who showed him the variety of online testing tools Wonderlic has to offer. He was immediately intrigued. “The Wonderlic tests are a real time saver,” he says. “They are quick to process, there is no manual entry, and they give you the test results you need, when you need them.”
“The Wonderlic tests are a real time saver,” Taylor says. “They are quick to process, there’s no manual entry, and they give you the test results you need when you need them.”
With the help of Wonderlic’s Hire Results consulting program, Anderson selected the Wonderlic Productivity Index (WPI), which is a measure of an individual’s willingness to perform productively and cooperatively on the job, and avoid engaging in counterproductive behavior. “The WPI is great,” he says. “It looks for longevity, responsibility, and courtesy, and it tells us if someone’s a job jumper or has a propensity to be a high risk person.”
To make the test even more valuable to Anderson’s recruiters, his Hire Results consultant helped Taylor create an ideal WPI test score range (customized profile) for security guards by identifying the critical job competencies for the position; measuring the level of expertise and importance of each competency; then linking those competency needs to specific scale scores on the WPI.
This customized profile also alerts recruiters to potential concerns when candidates’ answers fall well outside the indicated range for a successful security guard. “Our WPI score profile very accurately reflects our needs,” he says. “We are pretty confident that if someone falls into that range they are qualified for the job.”
Taylor also implemented Wonderlic’s WebApp pre-screening tool as part of the company’s recruiting process. WebApp is an automated online pre-screening tool that allows candidates to learn more about the job and company and answer job-critical questions about their skills, experience and availability, before they meet with a recruiter. The first few questions in Anderson’s customized WebApp questionnaire collect general information about the applicant, such as age, driving status and criminal background. “If their answers on these questions are unacceptable they are automatically, but politely disqualified,” Taylor says. The rest of the questions are designed to help Anderson’s recruiters identify the most reliable candidates. They also ask how candidates would react to a stranger entering the premises, or ask them to follow map directions.
“Sometimes the screening questions can be awkward to respond to,” Taylor says. “WebApp provides candidates with anonymity until they have successfully completed the questions, at which time they are asked for their contact information. It also saves the candidate’s time because they can do it online when it is convenient for them.” If candidates pass the WebApp screening they are invited in for an interview where they will also complete the WPI.
Since implementing the Wonderlic tests in 2004, Anderson has installed two screening cubicles in their lobby where applicants can complete the WebApp questionnaire and the WPI, and have their scores delivered immediately to HR personnel who then decide whether to interview them on the spot. “It’s all a big time savings,” Taylor says. Scores are immediately tallied so that recruiters can use results during the interviews.
Wonderlic also assists Taylor with his selection, tracking and evaluation. The Wonderlic online reporting site gives Taylor instant access to the company’s Equal Opportunity Employer Company (EEOC) reports. Before implementing the Wonderlic tests, Taylor had to manually collect data on the census status of all applicants and hirees, such as their age, nationality and zip code. Now the group data is available whenever he needs it. Taylor receives monthly EEOC reports from Wonderlic and can request additional reports any time he needs group data broken down by category. “That’s a huge advantage to using Wonderlic.”
Along with saving time, Anderson can also boast one of the lowest turnover rates in the industry. Most security companies have a 300 percent turnover, while Anderson’s is less than 100 percent. It’s too soon to say exactly how much of their improved turnover can be attributed to the tests, but Taylor definitely sees a connection. “The Wonderlic tests are helping us hire the right people. They make the hiring decision easier for staff and they add objective support to back up their reasoning.” That’s especially valuable for new recruiters who may not have experience hiring security officers. “We are passing on the experience of the knowledgeable people in our organization who helped develop the WPI ideal profile, and giving it to the new staff,” he adds. “It will give them a roadmap for identifying the best people.”
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