How do TellerTest and VirtualTeller enhance hiring decisions?
The modern trend to improve customer service and increase sales focuses on the interaction of bank employees with the customers they serve. Hundreds of job specialists in the banking industry have told us that outstanding tellers have good human relation skills and can effectively handle widely diverse customer populations. Increasingly, tellers are asked to assist in sales and promotional campaigns.
TellerTest and VirtualTeller are the two-parts of a job simulation test designed to comprehensively measure technical skills, customer relations skills and aptitude for sales. These tests represent a major breakthrough in screening and hiring technology. For the first time, you can accurately and efficiently predict, before you hire, how an applicant will perform in these key skill areas. The goal is to hire applicants who will return the investment made in recruitment, selection and training -- to make your first choice the right choice!
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How does TellerTest work?
Working With People Video
Working With People is a video-based multiple-choice test of 34 scenarios. It is designed to assess a person's abilities and judgment in human relations, sales, teamwork, tact, working with supervision and working with difficult customers. Applicants see typical situations they will face on the job, observe the various elements present, analyze the situations and make a quick judgment about how to respond. To score well on the test, applicants must evaluate each customer service scenario as an entirely new situation and project the likely outcome of any given action.
Cash Handling Test
The Cash Handling Test is a simulation of common transactions encountered by tellers. The test is self contained and simple to administer. Using a cash drawer with specially created money and checks, applicants perform basic money exchange activities required of tellers. It measures the ability to understand and complete simple transactions, the ability to quickly organize and complete tasks without making errors and the ability to work accurately in the midst of distractions and time pressure. The Cash Handling Test can be scored in less than a minute.
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Who should take this test?
The most efficient and effective way to use TellerTest and VirtualTeller is to test everyone who applies. These tests are designed to be the initial screening tool to identify those applicants who have outstanding technical and human relations skills. Screening out applicants prior to testing with TellerTest and VirtualTeller limits the possibility of finding people with good judgment and outstanding human relations skills and the cash handling skills necessary to perform the job well. These tests often identify superior candidates whom you would not have considered based solely on education and experience. Consequently, minorities or those from disadvantaged backgrounds benefit from the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities.
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How do you give TellerTest?
One test administrator can test 30 or more applicants at a time, so long as each candidate has a Cash Counting Test kit and can see and hear the video. The test is simple to administer and takes less than two hours. It can be scored in-house with easy to use overlay keys for quick results. There is no additional per-applicant charge for testing.
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Why is work simulation used for these tests?
Actually simulating critical job demands is a more powerful employment testing technique than either traditional paper and pencil tests or oral interviews. Simulation not only gives candidates a realistic job preview, but it ensures that the actual skills required for the job are directly measured by the test. A written test cannot possibly tell you very much about a person's cash handling or people handling skills.
Video is a practical job simulation medium for assessing human relations skills. Written and oral tests are dependent on the ability to completely describe situations with language. Not only is it impossible and impractical to describe the minute details of a situation, the question is dependent on each applicant's interpretation of what the scene is supposed to be. Video scenarios present exactly the same information to everyone, allow for careful staging of the events and the surrounding environment, and require applicants to observe and analyze the situation themselves. It is a realistic way to see how a person reacts to actual job situations before being hired and put on the job.
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What are the cost benefits of using TellerTest and VirtualTeller?
Hiring and training a new bank teller is a significant expense in terms of time, money and disruption to the organization. Validation studies on ERGOMETRICS' TellerTest and VirtualTeller show that improving the match between the applicant and the job dramatically lowers turnover and the use of leave. Working With People enables you to identify those applicants who have the key customer relations and sales skills necessary to be successful tellers. Good technical skills increase teller productivity. The Cash Handling Test is a highly predictive measure of money handling performance on the job. By using this powerful testing system early in the screening process, less time need to be spent on costly interviews and background checks.
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How have these tests been validated?
Both TellerTest and VirtualTeller conform to legal and professional standards for test validation, including those established by the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Office of Federal Contract Compliance and the American Psychological Association. To assure high content validity, these tests were developed in conjunction with hundreds of tellers and managers in the banking industry.
The video production was directed by ERGOMETRICS working on-site with banking specialists to assure that every detail is accurate and realistic. Written job analysis surveys from banking organizations across the country have confirmed the importance of the test elements and similarity among teller jobs in different organizations. A criterion-related validation study was conducted with incumbents from the sponsoring banking system. Their test scores were compared to special research-based performance evaluations completed by their supervisors. Additional research criteria consisted of individual balancing performance records and absenteeism and termination data. There is significant correlation between test scores and performance in the areas of developing a customer base, sales, balancing bank interests with customer service, problem-solving, positive handling of difficult customers and teamwork. The cash handling test is a significant predictor of on the job balancing records.
Furthermore, TellerTest and VirtualTeller are able to identify applicants likely to experience higher absenteeism and to be terminated or quit the job. This high correlation between test scores and actual job performance provides further evidence of the job-relatedness and validity of this system.
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What other testing is necessary?
This test will supplement and complement your existing selection process. Use TellerTest or VirtualTeller first to identify a pool of applicants with the technical and human relations skills necessary to become outstanding customer service representatives. That group should progress through whatever additional tests you choose to evaluate the candidates' interest and suitability for this type of work. You may find that the two parts of TellerTest and VirtualTeller provide sufficient information to make good hiring decisions.
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What is the cost of TellerTest or Virtual Teller and what is included?
When you purchase TellerTest, your financial institution will receive a license for perpetual use of Working With People and Cash Handling Test, The basic package includes one video tape "Working with People," one Cash Handling test audio tape, one Cash Handling test kit and one administration kit with originals and test overlay keys. Additionally, an ERGOMETRICS test consultant will visit on-site to train all test administrators, review test material and consult with managers on setting up the appropriate administrative frame work for pre-employment screening. You will receive a job analysis, to be filled out by your employees, to document the job-relatedness of this test to your bank. Optionally, you may receive a validation report documenting the findings of your job analysis and the history of development and validation of this system. Additional video tapes and balancing test sets may be purchased at a nominal cost.
TellerTest and VirtualTeller are priced in relation to the size of your organization. Contact Karen Strom at ERGOMETRICS (425-774-5700) to find the most affordable option for your organization.
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Who is ERGOMETRICS?
ERGOMETRICS and Applied Personnel Research, Inc., is a Seattle-based firm established in 1981. The co-founders are Carla Swander, nationally noted for the development of video-based testing tools, and Oscar Spurlin, Ph.D., Organizational and Industrial Psychologist. This cutting edge firm has an extensive clientele across the United States and Canada. ERGOMETRICS specializes in personnel selection and training and is recognized for its expertise in the development ofvideo-based selection and training programs, physical abilities testing, work simulation tests and validation research.
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How do I order TellerTest or VirtualTeller?
For more information about TellerTest and VirtualTeller or to place your order, call ERGOMETRICS at (425) 774-5700 or FAX (425) 774-0829.
We are very happy to answer your questions via e-mail, contact us here.
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