Arcane Solutions Sdn Bhd has great pleasure to invite you to a breakfast meeting to discover how you may better manage one of the biggest cost components in any company i.e. human capital. In association with PreVisor Inc, Arcane Solutions is able to provide major innovation in human capital performance and selection coupled with the ability to predict on-the-job performance with the insight of a trusted advisor.

PreVisor’s award winning solutions are trusted by more than 25,000 organizations worldwide, including half of the Fortune 500. Grounded in the science of industrial/organizational psychology, and verified by the results of more than 50 million applicants, PreVisor’s predictive tests and assessments enable employers to take the guesswork out of employee selection. We collaborate with clients to design an employee selection system that is relevant to a position, accurately predicts on-the-job performance and promotes objective hiring practices. Employers see measurable returns, such as increased sales, decreased training costs, improved retention and higher customer satisfaction ratings.

“The launch of the PreVisor brand begins a new era in employee selection that combines selection content and professional consulting services to produce predictive solutions for positions at all levels of every industry,” stated Kurt Ballard, chief marketing officer for PreVisor. “With our new capabilities we are uniquely positioned to deliver comprehensive solutions to an even broader range of employers.”

This breakfast seminar will be conducted by Mike Gordon, Chairman PreVisor Inc USA and Emma Lee, Director, PreVisor Australia.

Venue    : Carcosa Seri Negara (Langkasuka Room)
Date    : Thursday 3 July 2008
Time     : 9.00am – 12 noon (Breakfast starts 8.30am)
RSVP    : Sharma Lachu at 03-21625159 or 012-2280455 or e-mail to sharma@arcanesolutions.com.my

Consultant Psychologist

Position Description:
This is a full-time position based in Kuala Lumpur with travel opportunities to Australia and U.S.

Consultant Psychologists are responsible for:
+ Job analysis: conducting focus groups; analysing data collected from job analysis questionnaires; recommending appropriate assessment content; and contributing to the creation of online assessments.
+ Assessment for selection: administering psychometric assessments (ability, personality, role-play); interpreting psychometric assessments; writing assessment reports; providing feedback to candidates and managers.
+ Assessment centres and development centres: designing assessment and development centre programmes; project management; assessor training; facilitation of centres; and feedback.

Please check out the Career page for more info on the available position.

Organisations are poor at both development of people and using ‘people practices’. The following table outlines a sample from McKinsey’s ‘War for Talent’ study across 77 organisations and nearly 6,000 people.

Percentage of respondents who said “Yes” to these statements:

We development people effectively 3%

We hold line mangers accountable for their people 7%

We retain good people 10%

We use job assignments as a key development lever 10%

We know who our key performers are 16%

We attract highly talented people 23%

Our mentoring is good 25%

HR is a partner 27%

We’re good at coaching and feedback 30%

HR should be a partner in growing the talent pool 78%

Source: McKinsey & Company In, 1998, ‘Winning the War For Talent’, p67 Top 200 survey.

There is now a lot of data available on the impact of an organizations people (Human resources) practices, such as employee recruitment and selection, performance management, reward and recognition, and development, on the bottom line. Investment in these practices is linked to lower employee turnover, greater productivity and financial performance.

Pfeffer offered a compelling case for this in his book The Human Equation. In a study of nearly 200 banks, Pfeffer found that ‘differences in the practices are associated with rather large differences in financial performance. Financial performance was estimated to be approximately 30% higher for banks over one standard deviation above the mean, than it was for
those banks of the mean (Source: Pfeffer, J 1998 ‘The Human Equation’, p30-63).

Huselid studied 1,000 publicly listed US firms and found that a one standard deviation increase in people practices resulted in:

• An increase of US$27,044 in sales per employee
• Almost US$4,000 in profit per employee
• US$18,641 in market value per employee
• 7.05% decrease in employee turnover

(Source: Huselid, Mark A, 1995, ‘The impact of human Resource Management Practices on Turnover, Productivity, and Corporate Finance Performance’, Academy of Management Journal, Volume 38, No. 3, p635-672)

A later study by Huselid found that a one standard deviation increase in these practices resulted in:

• US$41,000 increase in shareholder value per employee

(Source: Huselid, Mark: Becker, B 1997, ‘The Impact of High Performance Work Systems, Implementation Effectiveness and Alignment of Strategy on Shareholder Wealth’, p18-19)

Pfeffer studies a wide variety of US organisations and found that all of them reported impressive numbers after they adopted people practices.

Leading wireless carrier improves productivity and delays expansion costs

Challenges:

Imagine the challenge of processing 100,000 job applicants annually to find the top few to best represent your company in interactions with approximately 16.3 million customers. That is the challenge that faces one of the leading U.S. wireless communications providers.

Solution:

The carrier turned to the PreVisor staff of Organizational Psychology experts to conduct a detailed job analysis using one-on-one observations, focus group discussions, and call center personnel to determine the knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics of a successful call center agent.

The resulting PreVisor Selection System evaluated characteristics such as resilience, friendliness, focus, sustained energy, and high tolerance for repetitive problems. PreVisor designed a battery of tests and an interactive simulated collections scenario assessment built to the carrier’s needs. The self-explanatory test requires no supervision. In fact, if an applicant requires assistance with the test, the struggle becomes an indicator in and of itself.

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