A sobering statistic that is often banded around is that we can create a lasting impression within 20 seconds of meeting someone for the first time. Further to this, it is said that we make a decision to recruit someone within the first minute of the interview, and then spend the rest of the interview justifying our decision!

From the perspective of the interviewer, there are dangers in taking the extremes of an overly logical approach, or to act on pure gut instinct. In recent years, we have seen an increasing reliance on a variety of psychometric tools and personality profiling. Many government departments have taken an alternative 'logical approach' to fulfil equal opportunities, where recruitment and promotion systems can rest on a pure tick-box procedure. Within such systems, the candidate with the most ticks gets the job, regardless of how their personality might compliment the team. Using pure personality profiling may result in someone being overlooked whose maturity or experience may bring valuable assets to the company outside of the original job specification.

Our natural instinct when seeking to recruit is to choose someone we like or someone in our own image. Adopting this approach can often result in one of the following scenarios:

• A team that gets on very nicely together, with little conflict, but which stagnates over time and doesn't move forward, because it lacks anyone with innovativeness and real drive to move forward.
• A team full of extrovert go-getters, who all want to do things their way, resulting in a lack of communication and an inability to get things done because of disagreements about the method.
• A team of outgoing very friendly people, who get on brilliantly with the customers, but who may lack follow-through and promise anything to get a sale.
• A team of perfectionists who take so long to cross every 't' and dot every 'i', that bureaucratic structures inhibit progress.

As in many things the skilled interviewer requires a balance. A good selection will assess:

• Qualifications
• Experience
• What the personality may bring to the team
• How the person will fit into the team
• The gut instinct (preferably of more than one interviewer!) that you have found the right person

Tools such as tick-box questionnaires, psychometric testing and personality profiling should be used as guides. They should contribute part of the overall picture, and not be used as an absolute measure for recruiting or rejecting a candidate. Used sensibly, together with astute questioning the interviewer will arrive at a decision that reflects a sensible and balanced choice.

There are many profiling systems available. These include: Thomas DiSC, Myers Briggs, Savile & Holdsworth and Belbin. Whichever system is employed, a short and convenient questionnaire is all that is needed to produce a reflection of the candidate's behavioural pattern. How accurate this is depends on the system that you choose, but the harder it is for the candidate to skew it towards the type of 'superman' person he or she thinks you are looking for, or that they wish they were, the better. Some systems will also reject a questionnaire or query a questionnaire where this appears to have happened.

Some questionnaires can now be completed over the Internet, in advance of the interview, with results being available within minutes. This allows the opportunity to assess and distribute the results prior a candidate attending formal interview.

Most behavioural assessment systems will allow for an 'ideal' profile to be formulated. The first assessment would consider how closely the candidate matches the ideal. It should be said that it is rare to find an exact match, let alone one who also has the right qualifications and experience. With this in mind, the obvious advantage is that the employer knows in advance where limitations and skill gaps may exist. These 'gaps' can then be addressed by modifying the job requirements or by teaming the new recruit with someone who will complement their skills.

When considering a profile and deciding how best to use it, it may be wise to ask a few questions to check the validity of the profile. For example, if it shows the person should come up with creative solutions to problems, then you can ask the interviewee to describe the most creative thing they have done or pose them a job related challenge and ask how they might find a solution. If the profile shows the person to be extrovert, friendly and a good net worker - ask about their hobbies. The answer should include ones that bring them into contact with many people and produces an enthusiastic response. If they say reading and watching television, then you know that something is wrong.

Some systems can highlight how stressed the person might be in their lives. The interviewer would need to probe the causes of such stress and consider its impact on the proposed job. Profile systems can show how a person modifies their behaviour in a work situation and what happens if they are under extreme pressure. Will this be acceptable within the proposed job?

Armed with a picture of how a candidate might react in certain situations, the profile can also be useful in testing the maturity of that candidate in terms of understanding their own behavioural strengths and limitations. For example, you are looking for someone combining the strengths of attention to detail, follow-through and a natural team player, but the candidate who comes closest with the right qualifications and experience doesn't seem to be a natural teamplayer. Probing the candidate on this point should prompt him or her to talk about the way they handle team situations, indicate whether or not they recognise their own limitations and what strategy they use to minimise or eliminate the effect.

A profile can be a very useful tool in determining how suited behaviourally a candidate may be to undertaking a certain job and whether any aspect of the job may need tweaking so that the recruit can work to make the most of his or her strengths.

About the author

Sally Fagan has over 20 years professional experience in Culture and Language, Export Sales Management and Consultancy Training, and has trained executives in Australasia, Europe and the USA. She now specialises in interpersonal skills and is a certified user of personality profiling. Whilst living in Singapore, Sally became a recognised consultant for the national People Developer Award and back in the UK, has trained in the Investor in People scheme. Some of her major clients are pharmaceutical companies. Sally is a fellow of the Institute of Administrative Management and a founder member of the Institute of Leadership. For further information click here