Invitation to the Dance

Hired Hands,Heads, etc.

As if the job market isn't tough enough these days!

Thanks to the accelerating pace of technological progress and the globalization of competition, the business climate is in such constant flux that companies are now changing the way they hire people. Having the right knowledge, skills, and abilities might still get your foot in the door, but only the fight fit between personality and company culture will land you the job.

According to a team of organizational psychologists led by Gerald E. Ledford, Jr., Ph.D., of the University of Southern California, this is not science fiction. It's already corporate fact at America's most progressive outposts. Toyota's doing it in "Auto Alley." So is Silicone Valley's Sun Microsystems, the country's fastest growing company. As they say in the biz biz, the giants are learning to dance.

Dr. Ledford and colleagues warn that the emerging model of job selection is an expensive proposition for companies and an absolute ordeal for applicants. It takes scads of interviews--to say nothing of batteries of psychological tests and even job-simulation exercises--for a factory job, let alone a management slot. And firms have to do an analysis of the organization as well as the job. But, they find, companies get a happy whole person instead of a "hired hand," and that lets them stay nimble in a world where specific jobs become obsolete not long after they are filled.

What's in it for new hirees? At the American Psychological Association's annual meeting in San Francisco, Ledford reported that they get to apply their whole personality to their work. They are valued for their uniqueness--who they are as well as what they do. They are relied on to motivate and regulate themselves, and they work for firms that keep them on. The catch is, an applicant whose personality doesn't fit the organization will either back off during the hiring process or be encouraged to go elsewhere-even if there's no other place in town.

The move to total-person hiring marks a major shift in management thinking. Waning is the belief that situation variables are the strongest influence on employee performance; gaining ground is a belief that person variables-personality, values, social skills, technical skills--better predict job satisfaction, performance, and longevity. The result: Personality tests are making a comeback.

The new approach is bound to raise some thorny issues. But it is not without some old-fashioned justice, too. Companies have a vested interest in every one of their new hirees. Automaker Mazda now spends about $13,000 per employee to staff its plant in Flat Rock, Michigan, says Ledford. And they pay as much to hire an assembly-line worker as for an executive search.