Until recently, when assessing people for recruitment or promotion, it was common to ask technical questions first and leave personality issues to the end.  Now this wisdom is being reversed. Many skills are soon outdated; what’s needed is the ability to pick up new ones fast, and to handle problems arising from situations rather than systems. So, instead of assessing technical record, attention is switching to:

• the personality needed for success in a people-centred workplace
• the competence to stay technically proficient in a learning organisation
• and the right fit with buyers and colleagues already in place

Personality has been shown to shape the acquisition and exercise of skill. Hence the‘demand pull’ from recruiters who find psychological deficiencies harder to fix than skill gaps. But there’s also a ‘supply push’, from psychometric testers claiming to measure ‘soft’ skills as precisely as ‘hard’ ones. This report shows you how to steer between push and pull, to reach a proper measure of the people you employ.

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