Sheena Macdonald was talking to Janice Chalmers for Workthing.

Resourcing manager for Signet, Sheena Macdonald, explains the jewellery retailer's approach to online screening...

Rather than buying an off-the-shelf product, we decided to run with our own screening tool, which we developed with Business Psychologists Kaisen Consulting Ltd.

Why bespoke?
We didn't see anything on the market that met our needs, or that was totally suited to our store environment.

Our business deals in high-ticket goods, so there can be a lot of security and procedural constraints. In addition, each transaction is an 'emotional purchase', so we need sales staff who not only work happily within a tight set of procedures, but who have above-average rapport-building skills.

Why not a psychometric test?
We wanted something fairly light, which would focus on 'screening out' rather than 'selecting in' - so we didn't feel that this stage of our process warranted a full-blown psychometric test.

I also have some reservations about formal online testing. For example, you can't be sure it's really the candidate that's taking it, and it's very hard to administer online in a rigorous way. And it's potentially quite invasive.

"Are we right for you?"
This is what we call our online 'motivational' questionnaire, (it's not a personality test) that basically looks for a fit between the candidate's motivations and our working environment. At present, we have worked with Kaisen to develop two tests - one for sales associate level, and one for management level - which are based on a motivational spec for each level.

The test is a fair reflection of what it's like to work here, not what people might think it's like to work here. We hope we're actually doing the candidate a favour, by helping them to opt out or in at an early stage.

The questionnaire doesn't discriminate against any candidate community - the questions we ask don't make assumptions about people's backgrounds.

Results?
So far it has definitely worked by screening out people who may not have been entirely happy working in our environment. (It's typically screening out around 40% of applicants). Although it's still early days, we strongly believe that this screening tool is playing an important part in improving retention.

'Are we right for you?'
Sample questions taken from Signet's online screening questionnaire for management, available after candidate CV registration on www.hsamuel.co.uk or www.ernestjones.co.uk

The questionnaire contains 13 questions. Candidates must choose between two possible answers for each. All 13 questions are prefaced by the question 'which do you prefer more...?'

03  (a) Finding out what makes a person 'tick'
       (b) Working out what could be done to improve someone's performance

06  (a) Doing what needs to be done
       (b) Having everyone on board

07  (a) Praising people for doing a good job
       (b) Praising people for learning from their mistakes

10  (a) Having a say in what goes on throughout a task
       (b) Being a strong influence at the start of a task

Rather than buying an off-the-shelf product, we decided to run with our own screening tool, which we developed with Business Psychologists Kaisen Consulting Ltd.