BY SARA PITZER
SALISBURY POST

In a local economy with unemployment well below 3 percent, employers say they struggle to fill the positions they have open. One employer said, ‘‘When people come in I hold a mirror in front of their mouths. If it fogs up, I hire ‘em.’’

But that’s a costly approach to hiring, Bill Yow says, because people hired for no reason beyond being warm bodies usually don’t fit the job, don’t like the job, do it poorly and don’t stay long. People who hate to go to work in the morning are usually in jobs to which they are not suited.

Yow has recently started WRY and Associates in Salisbury as an authorized dealer for Profiles International Inc. WRY and Associates offers employers a wide variety of evaluation tools to help them match people and jobs.

The idea of taking a test when you apply for a job is pretty familiar, but Profiles International also tests the job. When you think of it from the employer’s point of view, this makes sense. Until you can describe the activities of the job accurately, you don’t know what kind of person you need to fill it.

Bryan Summers is area director for Profiles International, the parent company of WRY and Associates. He and Yow recently presented a seminar for local employers at the Rowan Chamber of Commerce.

Participants included Autumn Care in Mocksville and Salisbury; Rowan Regional Medical Center; Telespectrum; DLB Trucking; ESI Employment Agency, which hires for Freightliner; Catawba College; Dillards; Mailboxes, Etc.; Neco; No Phone; and Carolina Propane.

Summers told the group when employers rely on interviews alone in hiring, they usually make a decision on impulse in the first several minutes, often leading to poor job matches and high turnover.

Profiles International estimates the cost of turnover by figuring 25 percent of an employee’s annual salary and adding 25 percent of the annual cost of the benefits the company provides. Multiplying the cost of one turnover by the total of people who left during the year gives the company’s total turnover cost.

Calculated this way, the annual turnover cost of one $7-an-hour employee would be $4,704.70.

A better hiring process, Summers said, combines a variety of tests with an interview. The test results help guide the interviewer and the combination results in better matches between people and jobs. The better suited a worker is to the job, the better he or she will like it. Workers who like what they’re doing stay longer and work better.

Such tests can also keep an employer from promoting employees from jobs they do into positions that aren’t right for them. He recalled the old saying about being promoted to one’s highest level of incompetence.

In an interview after the seminar, Yow described some of the tests he can provide through Profiles International.

‘‘Step One Survey gives you a good indication of the core value of the prospective employee. I wish we could give people in Washington this test. It is a quick and simple and inexpensive tool for the employer to get a pretty good feel of the work ethic, reliability kind of thing. In entry level, it adds credibility to the job. A person will think, ‘This is going to be a real job if I gotta take a test.’|’’

This survey asks questions about recent salary, whether the applicant would go back to work for a previous employer if a position was open, the applicant’s estimate of the value of all the things he has stolen from an employer, whether he is willing to take a drug test, his opinion of dress and appearance at work, etc.

The tabulated results form a profile that rates integrity, substance abuse, reliability and work ethic. As Yow explained it, a person with high reliability and work ethic who sees nothing wrong with stealing from an employer might be a fine employee in a job where he has nothing and no opportunity to steal. But you wouldn’t put him in charge of inventory. And a person who doesn’t steal but doesn’t value doing the job might not be a good employee at all, in spite of his honesty.

To get the job requirements, the employer fills out the Prevue Job Description Survey with one of three answer choices. The survey rates 42 points about a job. For example:

nGood reading and writing skills are essential – often, in moderation, rarely.

nThe work place is peaceful, serene and predictable – often, in moderation, rarely.

nLong periods of solitary work occur – often, in moderation, rarely.

nThis job requires working within a social environment – often, in moderation, rarely.

In completing the survey, an employer creates a profile of the kind of person who will fit into the job. The tester matches it against personality tests of job applicants. The idea is to avoid putting a person who likes to talk and mingle with people into a job that requires working alone in a room with a computer all day. A fast-paced job will not suit a person who works slowly and methodically. Jobs requiring a person to make decisions and take control don’t suit people who prefer to follow instructions.

Another instrument, Prevue Career Mapper, helps individuals figure out their work styles and strengths. It matches the results of the evaluation with the requirements for a variety of career fields. The test score produces a percentage estimate of the individual’s success in the various careers.

Burke County got funding to test all high school juniors with the Career Mapper program, Yow said.

For companies that use teams, a team analysis instrument identifies the 12 critical factors needed by a productive team and identifies the characteristics missing from the company’s team in question.

Although Profiles International claims to have the first validated, business-oriented human resources instrument introduced in more than 20 years, some employers already use some testing aimed at matching people and jobs.

Tami Bailey, operations supervisor at Ablest Staffing Services, said, ‘‘When we put people to work we don’t just want to put a body on a job. We try to make good matches so all parties involved are happy.’’

Some of the tests Ablest uses include a standard light industrial quiz in six parts. One part measures an applicant’s ability to see differences. ‘‘If a person did good on that part, I would take it for granted I could send them to inspect something. If they can see differences, they can see flaws,’’ she said. Other parts measure comprehension and the ability to follow directions. Part six includes a tape measure because some jobs require the ability to read a tape measure,’’ Bailey said.

Other tests the agency uses include a standard clerical test for spelling, filing, secretarial skills and the ability to use a calculator. ‘‘We always try to fit the person to the job,’’ Bailey said.

Kathy Berrier, at Griffin Staffing Services, said in addition to a variety of basic skills tests, Griffin Staffing Services has personality tests that would measure such factors as your style of handling stress, worry level, whether you’re discouraged easily and your interpersonal style. As an example of the tests’ use, Berrier said she wouldn’t send a person who is easily discouraged to work in telemarketing.

Also, Yow said he knows some local companies already have used some of the tests available through Profiles International. He hopes he will be able to sell more of the evaluation tools to companies. ‘‘Putting the right people in the right job means people would be interested in going to work on Monday instead of saying, ‘Oh, man, I gotta go to work today because I need a paycheck.’ ‘’