Unveiled this past fall, VRH now offers five (5) levels of pre-employment assessment services customized for position functionality, from entry- to executive-level, and salary range of your candidates.

"We are continually expanding our services to better meet your needs, and wherever possible, using technology to provide you with both prompt and reliable information," says Dr. Jonathan Dehlinger.

VRH has designed two "customated" - customizable and auto-mated - pre-screening assessments that are technology based:

1. MatchTech - Designed for entry-level, and hourly candidates, such as clerical, customer service or production workers, whose annual salary ranges from $12,000 to $25,000. This customized screening focus is predominately attitudinal with clients
selecting up to 16 dimensions or areas of importance for a particular position. The modules from which a "customated" screening tool can be developed include:

•  Assertiveness - identifying how aggressive the candidate is in work-related relationships.

• Influence - looking at attitudes towards influencing behavior and interest or need for recognition.

• Steadiness or Dependability - measuring attitudes toward quality work, loyalty, discipline and results orientation.

• Attention to Detail - gauging an individual’s close attention to detail (important where precision work is required).

• Work Pace - gauging an individual’s inclination to quickness (important where work is repetitive and speed counts).

• Customer Service - focusing on the candidate’s attitude toward helping and taking care of customers.

• Energy - matching a candidate’s level of energy to the amount required for the position (important where work requires long hours and sustained levels of intensity).

• Supervisor Attitude - identifying attitudes toward helping and working with a supervisor.

• Theft/Honesty - determining attitude toward work-place theft.

• Drug Avoidance - assessing attitudes toward the use of illegal drugs and alcohol in the workplace.

• Violence/Emotion - identifying a candidate’s attitude about acting violently in the workplace or belief that such actions are acceptable.

• Diversity - measuring attitudes toward racial, ethnic and gender diversity in the workplace.

• Risk/Safety - quantifying attitudes toward workplace risk, safety and authority.

• Tenure - measuring attitudes about staying at or quitting a job soon after being hired.

• Dependability - gauging an inclination for reporting to work on time and consistently.

•  Customer/Supervisor - quantifying a candidate’s attitude toward supervision, especially antagonistic or negative reactions to workplace supervision.

MatchTech is entirely Internet based. It can be completed by the candidate, depending on the number of modules selected, in about 20 minutes through the VRH website. MatchTech administration and reporting of results to the client company can also be accomplished through the VRH website.

2. Quick PIC - Intended for team leaders, project managers, entry-level supervisors, and sales personnel with salaries in an approximate range from $25,000 to $40,000 annually. This is another "customated" pre-screening tool, which focuses on a capsulated personality summary, intelligence, plus native interests and unique capabilities (intellect and technical aptitudes, leadership style). The customized, pencil-to-paper, hard copy test materials can be administered to an applicant in about 90 minutes, with results reported via email to the client.

Three personalized, comprehensive, individual pre-screening assessments are also available from VRH:

3. Basic - Designed for entry-level management, technical, professional, and sales personnel with yearly salary ranges from $30,000 to $60,000. A basic range of abilities and traits are assessed, including personality, intelligence, motivation, and leadership using customized, pencil-to-paper hard copy test materials and a professional interview. This assessment requires approximately two hours of office time in addition to pre-work.

4. Advanced - Devised for middle management and department heads as well as professional and technical leaders whose annual salary might range from $60,000 to $125,000. It encompasses all the Basic elements in more depth plus the additional measures of reasoning, social styles, and professional ambitions. Considering
the more comprehensive nature of this assessment, it requires pre-work and four hours of office time.

5. Executive - The most comprehensive and in-depth assessment designed for senior and executive management, officers, and board members earning yearly salaries of $125,000 or more. It incorporates all facets of the Basic and Advanced elements, plus additional measures including workplace simulations and a
professional background check. A full eight hours of office time is required along with the required pre-work.

According to Dehlinger, "We’re working diligently to provide quick and easy information access to our clients via technology-driven tools, such as the Internet without compromising confidentiality or the personalized service you’ve come to expect. We are responding to our clients’ need for comprehensive information and results as quickly as possible."

Contact VRH to learn more about how they can build confidence in your decisions. 

Summary - VRH Assessment Services

MatchTech at Work for LiphaTech Inc.

"We wanted some sort of objective test that could tell us a bit more about a candidate than what we learned from an interview," says Pete Kocian, Human Resources Manager for LiphaTech Inc., Milwaukee. "Especially attitudes towards drugs and alcohol, workplace violence, supervision, and safety."

Kocian eventually turned to VRH and in November introduced the MatchTech "customated" screening tool for
factory and clerical positions. LiphaTech has administered ten tests to date.

Eight dimensions or modules were selected; Theft/Honesty Drug Avoidance, Risk/Safety, Violence/Emotion, Supervisor Attitude, along with Attention to Detail, Work Pace, and Steadiness or Dependability.

According to Kocian, "the ability to add to, refine or remove criteria from within the modules, or to simply drop or add a complete module offers us a tremendous amount of flexibility. I also like that the whole process is Internet-based. It makes it real easy for us and our candidates."

"We invite those candidates that make it through the initial interview to go out to the VRH website and complete
MatchTech, which usually takes all of 10- to 15-minutes. As soon as the candidate has completed the test, we go out on the website and retrieve the results. Candidate response to the whole process has been extremely positive."

"Most of our candidates  scored real high in all of the  dimensions. If a score indicated an area that could be an issue, we used it as an opportunity to probe deeper with additional, non-threatening questions."

At one point, Kocian commented that LiphaTech actually entertained the idea of doing this sort of screening in-house. "We did our homework and considering the costs versus the benefits, we ultimately decided that working with VRH made the most sense."

Although the jury is still out on MatchTech’s impact on turnover at LiphaTech, Kocian is optimistic. "Everyone brought in since November and hired using MatchTech is still here. As our statistics of MatchTech-screened employees grows, I’ll be working to validate our turnover numbers. We’re encouraged with our initial results."

"I would encourage other employers to give MatchTech a try," concludes Kocian. 

Owned by German parent Merck KGaA, LiphaTech Inc. is a 103-year old manufacturer of agricultural innoculants and rodentisides. More information about LiphaTech is available at  www.liphatech.com.

Creating Change - A Synopsis

"Great leaders learn how to work with the full range of forces crucial to long-term change."

In their article, Creating Change, Peter Senge and Katrin Kaeufer have identified ten (10) forces that impede change, and they offer strategies for dealing with these challenges.

Four forces are at work even before much change occurs. The challenges of initiating include:

Later in the change process, three more forces are encountered. Challenges of sustaining are:

Well into the change process, leaders experience the challenges of redesigning:

Each force is described in greater detail, and Senge and Kaeufer provide multiple strategies for leaders to address them. For example, several of the strategies offered to remedy the Walking the Talk force include building credibility by demonstration, not by articulation, and working with partners who can assist the leader understand how his/her behavior may communicate unintended messages.