News Release

PeopleMaps Launches New Low Cost Psychometric Profiling Test At Customer Contact Convention 2008

Glasgow 18 November 2008 - PeopleMaps today announced a new service that will guarantee to reduce staff turnover rates in contact centres by 5% within three months at the annual Customer Contact Convention in Edinburgh.

The new service has been developed in conjunction with the Customer Contact Association (CCA) to tackle some of the major issues that are facing the industry, including staff attrition rates, team development and succession planning.

The new online service, which can be accessed via the CCA’s web site at www.cca.org.uk or from PeopleMaps direct, enables customer contact operations to create personality ‘benchmarks’ based on the profiles of successful employees in a variety of roles which they can use in their recruitment process. Importantly, the entire service is delivered entirely online and does not require any consultancy input to work.

“The benchmarks are created instantly online and every job applicant can be compared against this to determine which role they would be most suited to. At the convention we have launched our ‘unmetered’ low cost service so that contact centres can profile everyone applying for a position no matter how many apply. And if attrition rates are not reduced we’ll provide a full refund,” explained Martin Gibbons, CEO of PeopleMaps.

In a recent pilot in a customer contact centre in the West of Scotland, the company used this method and reduced the amount of interviewing that it had to do by 70% and after six months the monthly attrition or ‘churn’ rate dropped from 46% to 12%.

“As the industry average attrition rate is currently 24%, the potential savings for companies on recruitment, training and attrition costs are immense. It is estimated that it costs between at least £10k to recruit and train an individual, so when that investment walks out the door it hurts,” said Martin Gibbons.

“The power of psychometric profiling is already very well established but previously expensive to use on a large scale. Now using the internet as the delivery channel the new system has dramatically reduced the cost and provides instant delivery giving employers the insight they need in what is essentially a personality focussed job.

“People whose personality is suited to a job in any industry are happier and more productive. The profiling system simply identifies those people who are a natural fit. However, as there are many different roles in any organisation, no one should be rejected as their personality is likely to fit another position in the organisation that they might not even have considered.”

They say a week is a long time in politics yet I don’t believe it would have felt that way to Barack. He always looks cool, calm and collected, however I am reminded of the swan who also looks like this whilst paddling like mad under the surface. The highlight of the week had to be the visit to the White House, he even made people feel more warm towards George W. Bush. Although Bush has had a terrible press, I do think he redeemed himself somewhat in extending this courtesy to Barack and Michelle Obama. The Bushes appeared charming and hospitable, keen to be seen to be doing the right thing and the Obamas, OH BOY!!!

The Dress

Let’s start with Michelle’s dress; an unusual starting place for someone like me, who hates the fact that clever women’s looks are always commented upon by the media, while no mention is ever made of men’s appearance. However in this case it is justified - WOW! is the only comment I can make. Not only is she clever, smart, beautiful and with a figure many a model would die for, she is also confident, likeable and secure in her skin, and boy does it show.

This dress sums up her personality very well. She knows how she looks and accepts this as something given, not something she’s created, however she uses all her gifts and makes the most of her outgoing character in wearing bright red. This colour suits her both in appearance and in character. She’s a “do it now” type, practical, action oriented and keen to get on with things and the dress lets us know this. When not wearing red she is often to be found wearing black, yet another colour declaring that she is a serious minded woman who is determined to go about her business in a no nonsense fashion. it was particularly telling that the dress she wore, on the night the result was declared, mixed her two favourite colours. The black background marked the seriousness of the occasion and the bold red splashes confirmed “yes we can” and not only that but we’ve done it!

As a couple they are just perfectly matched. Their height overshadowed president Bush and his wife yet they are both tall. More than their height, it was their shining personalities, their natural smiles and general feeling of joy about life that caught my attention. Joy is to love and be loved and the glow that shone from them, made this true for this couple. The dress also marked a departure from playing it safe. No one could ever fault Laura Bush for her decorum. She has a classic conservative take on fashion and would no more be seen wearing such a bold red dress than she would a feather boa! Playing it safe and breaking no rules is the way she goes about her business and this suits her personality very well. Michelle is obviously a very different character and if nothing else the dress flags up that changes in lots of ways are about to descend on the presidency. This adds to the general air of excitement about her husband’s election. It’s interesting that the most charismatic man in world wide politics since Bill Clinton (Prior to his scandals), can be instantly referred to and recognised as ‘her husband’.

Jung and individuation

It’s said that Jung’s psychology is more relevant to those in their middle years, forty plus. His aim in helping people to understand their personality type is to enable them to become fully individuated personalities. What he means by this is that through life we should be working towards using all our gifts. For example if our attitude is for introversion we should be working on using our extraversion more often, and if we have a preference for objective thinking we should be trying to bring our subjective feeling preference in to the light. Not many will achieve this: however, according to Jung, this should be one of our major purposes on our journey through life.

A compromise often reached, albeit subconsciously, is between couples who end up marrying their opposite type and thus between them create a wholly integrated personality. It’s often said that opposites attract and this is true but only in temperament. For a relationship to work effectively, goals and values have to be in ’sync’ and I believe that this is what’s happened between the President and First Lady Elect.

President and First Lady Elect

I claimed last week that Obama’s personality was on the South West of the PeopleMaps’ Map (a Jungian Introverted intuitive feeling (INF) type) and this raised some queries as others thought him North West a Jungian (INT). I think this was due to the fact that he is obviously very analytical and intelligent, yet I still plump for INF. I believe it is his ‘feeling’ preference that enabled him to attract and inspire so many loyal supporters, not something an INT would find easy to do. Of course he uses all his gifts and although subjective feeling is his first preference he is trained and educated to use his objective thinking preference, certainly as a lawyer and also as an academic. His often humble take on things, ability to remain unruffled, avoidance of the personal insult and sticking to a steady low key mantra through thick and thin, rarely rising to the bait, also bodes well for subjective feeling preference. The mantra itself helps corroborate the Feeling over Thinking preference “Yes we can” never “Yes I can”: the we is inclusive, something that comes naturally to him because he has a strong feeling preference.

The First Lady elect is his opposite type as I believe that she appears on the North east of the PeopleMaps Map (an Extraverted Sensing Thinking (EST) type) which is the reason they balance out so nicely. She is the ‘Rock of the family’ according to Barrack. She is also an active force who will encourage as well as support and drive him on to take action when his first instinct may be to contemplate issues for longer periods. His placid temperament also brings value to her as he is able to calm her and stop her taking precipitate action that she may later regret. He will help her to get in touch with her ‘feeling’ side more often and encourage her to laugh and not take the world too seriously. He is much more tolerant than she and some of this is bound to rub off too. Together they are a powerful team. They have both had to make great sacrifices, which she would have done after giving some considered thought to the consequences on her family. Family is important to her and she places high value on their needs. Thrusting them into the public eye and all the risks that this implies makes this a very high price to pay. She has made this sacrifice because she has decided that change is needed and that he is the very person who will bring that change about. Although he has gone to great pains to show that he is about to be president for all Americans, she knows what it means to Black Americans and is prepared to make the sacrifice alert to the past sacrifices made by black Americans, that have enabled them to be in the position they are today.

Although she is not in an elected position she will be very much part of his team as he depends on her to help him clarify his thinking in a safe secure environment. This is a partnership but she will not push herself forward as this would not sit well with his personality type. Encouraging him and giving the benefit of her thoughts will be part of the deal however he is the one who will be making the decisions and while a sounding board is handy, the buck will always need to stop with him. Fortunately he will gather around him one of the strongest teams possible and in this regard he has already made a start.

The Evolving Team

Joe Biden

Prior to the election the choice of Vice President had been made with the placement of Joe Biden. Although he was not particularly well known outside America he seems to be very well known and in the main regarded highly within the USA. He sits on the South East of the Map (Extraverted Intuitive Feeling (ENF) type). He can provide the gregarious aspects that Obama lacks, sometimes he is seen to be too gregarious as generally he is generally speaking! No doubt he will manage to curb his overt enthusiasm when the need arises, yet it is this very enthusiasm that Barack and the American people will benefit from. He can inspire, innovate and enthuse which will be a great advantage to the team in the difficult days ahead.

Rham Emanuel

The first appointment by the new President elect was that of his Chief of Staff Rham Emanuel who is someone with a highly driven Thinking preference - due North on the PeopleMaps Map. He is a great choice for Obama as he will be responsible for the running of the show and this needs a ‘tough nut’, which from comments in the press, he seems to be. His type is Introverted Intuitive Thinking (INT) however he is at the very centre of the map and can use his extraversion equally competently as his Introversion, this together with his high Thinking/Task focus enables him to stride like a Collosus over the wide territory of the map where no nonsense is tolerated.

His type enables him to get things done. He does this because he has the ability to move into his action mode and apply his Extraversion preference. His is a formidable intellect and he is also a perfectionist. He has the strong personality that enables him to pull all of the team back to the drawing board if a decision has been taken, that on further reflection, he deems not robust enough to go forward. He rarely cares about being popular or liked, nor what people think about him. Getting the job done and doing it to the best of his, and every member of the team’s ability, is what he is about.

Conclusion

This is only the beginning and already it is starting to look like an exciting team. I believe that the next appointments to be made may throw up a group of Introverted Sensing Thinking (IST) types : those who reside in the North West (NW) of the map will bring the careful analysis needed to help solve the very, very many challenges that the new President and the World at large currently faces. It will be the purpose of this team that will decide the make up of the personalities involved. It has already been decided that the first purpose is the economy and for this a great deal of analytical endeavor is required, however this will need to be tempered with a whole variety of other personalities too, especially if the purpose has to be sold to the many stake holders who will be involved.

(This post was written by Anne Ellis, PeopleMaps Director of Psychology)

My husband and I have just returned from our annual holiday in Atlanta and North Carolina in the United States and to say the whole place was electrified due to the recent election campaign would be an understatement. Unfortunately we had to return on the Monday just before the election and have been tied to CNN ever since. At the outset of the campaign I was very much in support of Hillary Clinton and was quite peeved at Barack Obama displacing her; not anymore!  Once I had started to watch him in action and after reading his two books I was hooked - he is amazing!!!

My original impression of what I saw of him in the UK news broadcasts, which admittedly was not much was that he was (in Jungian terms) an Introverted Intuitive Feeling (INF) type and didn’t seem able to push his message as much as the others. When people watching I always try to position them using the PeopleMaps’ map and for me, someone who hailed from the South West segment of the map - which is the general direction of INF’s - was never going to be tough enough. He was up against Hillary to start with and if ever there was an Extroverted Intuitive Thinking type (ENT) it was her!

Being an ENT myself I probably appreciated her no nonsense tell it as it is, kick ass, sort of style. These extraverted sensing with thinking or extraverted intuitives with thinking types (EST/ENT)  come from a completely different area of the map, which makes them behave in a totally different manner to that of Barack Obama. They are positioned in the North East of the map with the ENT moving just a little bit further south than the EST, type yet both firmly positioned in the north.

Even though I have been teaching Type for endless years delivering the message that there are various ways to achieve objectives and that no one type has all the answers or the monopoly on getting results I still found myself being drawn to Hillary’s and my own style as the best way to get ahead. Was I ever wrong?

Obama’s Type

It was due to Obama’s ability to remain calm and inject as much time as was needed in slowly, slowly, getting his message across, together with his ability to stick to the same message, rarely deviating yet at the same time appearing to listen to his audience as much as speak to them, that he endured, where others faded, burned out, or merely sounded shrill.

The word ‘transformational’ was used about him constantly in broadcasts and I believe that this is why he is the right person at the right time to lead the great stew of people within the USA today. He is truly a transformational leader and since this is the type most likely to succeed when working within or leading teams he is exactly right. Of course it helps that he is also very clever, shrewd and has the ability to surround himself with the absolutely best people to do the job. Due to his type he will not compete with them but share the limelight and involve these people for their gifts, which will be different from those that he possesses. This is something that is quite difficult for ENT and EST types to do.

Creating the Team

Obama’s very first choice of Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel is as far away from Obama on the PeopleMap’s map as it is possible to be. He is placed right at the top of the map in the centre position, hanging off the coast line. He is an extreme EST which is Extraverted sensing with thinking. He will want to see the evidence for everything, listening will never be his strong suit as he knows exactly what it is he wants to tell people and tell them he will. Options and consequences and bottom line results are what motivate him. He will not hear arguments that go against his commands, and certainly none that are offered without hard factual evidence to back them up!

The PeopleMaps’ Map

Obama’s new Chief of Staff would have a flag at the centre of the outer rim coastal area at the very top of the map. Hillary, McCain and Sarah Palin would all be on the extreme right hand side in the Northern segment with Hillary possibly moving closer to Emanuel and the other two moving more towards the south, yet still firmly fixed in the northern segment of the map (as would be Bill Clinton and George Bush).

It should be possible if we manage to gain enough exposure to the other members of the team to identify where they would fit on the map. Joe Biden, for example will possibly be in the east southern side. He has the characteristics of an extraverted intuitive feeling type (ENF). He thrives in the limelight and just loves to talk, whereas Obama has probably had to learn to put up with the limelight and been forced to talk, when many a time he would be happier quietly listening or reading than being involved socially.

The Competitors for President

It is interesting that both John McCain and Sarah Palin are extraverted intuitive thinking ( ENT) types (McCain called them Mavericks and he was right!) and the very fact that they are so similar (Recruited in his own image?) they would most certainly clash on almost every issue and both would fight for the limelight.

Their government would be all about them and very little about the country as a whole, except where their input would be able to show them in a good light. This would have been true of Hillary also, except she moves towards the north, with more sensing in her make up. All three of them have a transactional style, which is pretty much the same as Bush’s type and the one thing the whole world agreed on - without necessarily recognising that they wanted no more transactional input - was that we absolutely must have change.

Not only is Barack Obama’s type right for the current climate, so also is this type (INF) beginning to be truly appreciated as having the appropriate gifts that make them the best people to ensure transformational leadership within teams. Since team working is more prevalent today than any hierarchy, we are seeing a great shift away from recruiting the ‘extroverted shout louder than others types’. Because today information is so available, and speedily delivered via the internet it is not only impossible for one person to have all the information but it is also much easier to see those who do not have it, something that was covered up for years within hierarchies.

Obama’s INF type is shown in position South West on the Peoplemaps’ map. Due to the fact that he is closer to the centre of the map than some INF types this enables him to reach and relate more easily with all the other types positioned around the map, because the journey is shorter. Trying to reach the Northern hemispheres of the map from an extreme southern coastal position would be too difficult.

I believe that we are about to witness a wholly different style of leadership from Obama and in the beginning he will appear not to be doing very much as his style is to consult and to listen before taking systematic action. He will relate with different types around the map and by doing this will be able to collate a diverse range of views which he will analyse and apply. He is transformational and God willing that is what he will bring about -  the transformation our world needs.

Created to help you win more job interviews with a CV that truly stands out - and tips on how not to blow your interview when you get it - this free personality report gives you a peek into what an employer will be reading about you if they ask you to take a psychometric test.

And there is an increasing chance you will be asked to take a psychometric test - with a reported 60% of employers reportedly using personality measures for pre-screening. (PeopleMaps delivers personality reports to hundreds of employers - so we already know this to be the truth.)

Ten questions, five minutes and you’ll be presented with a report designed to give you more than just personality information. This report will give you an edge over other jobseekers.

You get access to not one, but two topics designed for employers to get to know you better. Use them to get a head start, and be fully prepared for those interview questions.

We’ve also included an extract from a video interview with Anne Ellis, PeopleMaps’ Director of Psychology to help you understand how personality profiling works.

- free personality test - instant report
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Operating a business with a truly global view of the world, and within the punishing deadlines that TV and radio transmission bring, you need the right people with the right skills working as a team. With time being the premium commodity, WRN uses PeopleMaps in its recruitment process to get the right results and fast.

WRN is an international TV and radio transmission company, offering a comprehensive and innovative range of services including permanent and ad hoc satellite capacity, medium and short wave transmissions, FM airtime brokerage, internet, content hosting, broadcast consultancy and studio facilities. Its global fibre circuit allows for the distribution of video and audio signals to points of presence around the world.

WRN also operates its own radio stations in five languages, which carry news, current affairs and cultural programmes from leading public and private broadcasters worldwide. These stations are distributed to listeners throughout the world on market-leading platforms

“At this point the main part of our business is brokering satellite space for TV and radio services. We also sell broadcast slots to many national public service broadcasters, ranging from NPR, Korean Broadcasting and Radio Canada. We have a truly worldwide view of what’s happening,” explained Simon Blake, a Director of WRN.

“Our team is a complete mix of skills; from international salespeople dealing with multinational TV and radio clients to the most technically expert broadcast engineers maintaining our 24 hour Master Control Room. Being able to recruit and select in such diverse specialist fields can be tricky.”

With previous experience of using psychometric profiling, Simon wanted to use it in the hiring of new staff. But in line with the exceptionally fast pace of the business, he needed a service that would provide a solution without impacting on time and resources.

“I’ve always been impressed by the results and insights that profiling can provide but found traditional offline services time consuming, so when I found PeopleMaps with its low cost and ease of use it was perfect for us,” said Simon.

“We use it throughout our hiring process and even used it in the recruitment of our new Business Manager. With very ambitious growth plans, our team dynamics and people are crucial and the insight we get from PeopleMaps is, in a word – uncanny!”

PeopleMaps in the Contact Centre Association Magazine InTouch Summer edition. Click on the picture to view

The Driving Instructors Association and PeopleMaps Launch New Psychometric Profile Test for Learner Drivers

Glasgow 02 October 2008 - The Driving Instructors Association (DIA) today launched a new online service to allow driving instructors to produce psychometric profiles of learner drivers. The new profiling system will allow instructors to develop personalised training programmes for individual candidates, enabling them to identify areas of strength and any weaknesses that need to be addressed

The new service, developed by PeopleMaps, comes during the Government’s current public consultation on ‘Learning to Drive,’ the responses to which will form the basis of what is widely expected to be the biggest reform of the driver training and testing system in the UK since the introduction of the L-test.

Of the 750,000 people who qualify for a full car driving licence each year, three-quarters of are under 25 years old and one in five will have some kind of accident within six months of qualifying. Although the number of people killed or seriously injured in road accidents in the UK has fallen over the last ten years, the number of new drivers involved in accidents has actually risen

Personality profiling is one key area that campaigners and influencers are becoming increasingly vocal about and the DIA has decided to provide its members with this service without waiting for the outcome of the consultation process.

“The current driving test assesses people’s conventional driving skills – hand/eye/foot coordination, vehicle manoeuvring skills, and very basic knowledge of the rules of the road,” explained Eddie Barnaville, Chief Executive of the DIA. “What it doesn’t take into account is a driver’s attitude towards driving – and the way drivers think is the most vital part of safe driving.

“Many young drivers have a poor attitude to safe and responsible driving. Many see themselves as risk takers, happy to break the speed limit or jump a red light. Psychometric profiling will help instructors identify these traits, and allow them to modify their training to deal with them.”

The benefits of using psychometric profiling in driving instruction are already recognised, with a number of professional driving trainers and commercial operators using it regularly. For example, Arriva operates more than 6,500 buses in the UK and uses a psychometric test to assess new drivers, who face a one in two chance of being involved in a collision in their first year.

In the last four years, while the tests have been in use, the company has seen fatalities involving its buses reduced by 31%.

Keystone Distribution, the exclusive supplier to all McDonald’s restaurants in the UK and which has over a thousand lorry drivers on the road, uses the psychometric report to help them to understand what may have happened if a driver has an accident – and how it may be prevented in the future.

The company has also established a personality ‘benchmark’ and uses this in its recruitment process to help to identify drivers that have a similar personality to existing drivers with excellent safety records. Reported accidents have fallen by 75% since the company introduced the profiling system.

The developer of the Keystone report was online psychometric profiling company PeopleMaps.

“The system evaluates the driver’s personality in terms of how it could impact on his ability as a driver. For example, one of the main focuses is on the driver’s levels of concentration and patience, both essential qualities of a good driver. It also highlights which individual personality traits could lead to them driving badly too,” said Martin Gibbons, Chief Executive of PeopleMaps.

“As the system is entirely web-based it also makes it very quick and simple to complete. But most importantly there is no ‘pass’ or ‘fail’ with the test: the process is designed solely so that trainers know what type of training is needed, where to focus it and how to deliver it effectively to suit each individual driver.”

For further information please contact

Stephen Sharp, PeopleMaps
t: 0141 416 0117
e: sharp@peoplemaps.com

Or sign up here: http://www.driving.org/peoplemaps.html

The new partnership between PeopleMaps and the Driving Instructors Association was reported on the BBC web site, click to see full view or the web link is http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/7648512.stm

With over 2,000 outlets for its products and service in the UK alone, US headquartered Rug Doctor is perhaps the world’s best known brand in the professional and the Do-It-Yourself carpet cleaning market.

Founded 1972, Rug Doctor manufactures, sells and services carpet cleaning products and machines with operations across the US, UK, Canada, Puerto Rico, Australia, and over 20 other countries.

The team at Rug Doctor in the UK uses PeopleMaps as part of its recruitment process. With just around 50 employees looking after the company’s extensive operations in the UK, including its manufacturing facility, getting hiring decision right is crucial.

“I was looking for an online solution as I wanted to bring profiling into our hiring procedure. It’s often easy for people to keep a ‘front’ up for the limited time that an interview lasts so I wanted to find a little extra help that would give us more of an insight and reinforce our own decisions,” explained Paul Hansford, Finance and HR Manager of Rug Doctor in the UK.

“I’ll admit we initially used the system as a bit of fun too by getting staff members to test it and see what they thought. And we were so impressed with the accuracy and the speed of delivery when we faced tight deadlines that we have now adopted it into our processes. I wouldn’t hesitate in saying that PeopleMaps provides real value for money.”

Coming from a company which has built a formidable international reputation for the same thing this is high praise indeed.

For any company going through a period of dramatic growth and having to employ a lot of new staff there is a great deal of risk to the business if it gets its hiring decisions wrong. For Retail Africa, one of South Africa’s foremost property development companies, mitigating that risk was made much easier using the PeopleMaps personality profiler.

In 2007 Retail Africa expanded its property development business with the decision to retain and manage the centres it built, which includes regional malls, local convenience shopping centres, lifestyle centres, and value centres.

This decision meant that staffing levels would have to increase considerably and quickly if the company was achieve its strategic goals.

“We have more than doubled the size of our workforce in the last 12 months to cope with the expansion in the business and it had to be done in a very short timescale,” explained Gus Thompson, Group Director of Human Resources and Strategy at Retail Africa. “But most importantly we needed the right people. Our corporate culture of creativity combined with business acumen is very important to us and we had to make sure that this was not damaged by the influx of new staff.”

With so many people to hire as quickly as possible, and with the aim of ensuring ‘cultural fit’, Retail Africa used the PeopleMaps profiler to effectively evaluate candidates’ natural preferences

“I’m not a great believer in interviews; I find them to be too superficial most of the time. You can’t learn enough about a person in that environment. That’s why we use the PeopleMaps profiler to give us that guideline when recruiting new people.

“The accuracy of the reports always amazes me and others. And with the success we’ve had using it for recruitment it is now being extensively used in-house by everyone all the way up to the founding partners.

Retail Africa has also found that by sharing the profile reports with the recipients it has helped the new employees to become part of the company and the team quicker.

“We’ve found a great benefit in giving people’s reports to them and they in turn share it with others. It’s a great help in understanding each other as well as for individuals themselves. I think it would be unethical not to let people see the results and they are amazed at what the profiler can discover in so few questions,” said Gus Thompson.

“But most importantly we’ve got the right people in place. We’ve got seventeen retail centres alone up and running with at least another ten in the pipeline and we’ve retained the corporate culture which has been so instrumental in the company’s success.