1. CS3.1.1 Profiling, Benchmarking and Selecting Effective Project Managers through the use of Psychometric Testing GERARD FERRARA TUESDAY 9 OCTOBER, 2007 Project Management - Setting the Standard Australian Institute of Project Management National Conference 2007 Hobart TasmaniaOctober 7 – 10, 2007

2. Gerard Ferrara, Senior Consultant ferrara@acer.edu.au Selecting Effective Project Mangers Through The Use Of Psychometric Testing AIPM Conference 2007 Presenter: Gerard Ferrara, Psychologist

3. Gerard Ferrara, Senior Consultant ferrara@acer.edu.au Presentation Outline Background to PM testing study Psychometric tests Profiling PMs Benchmarking PMs Selecting PMs

4. Gerard Ferrara, Senior Consultant ferrara@acer.edu.au Background to psychometric testing PMs Approached by a major recruiter of Project Directors and Project Managers who wanted to select and place high quality people in a range of key PM roles across Australia and overseas Desire to improve their selection process and use “best practice” methods Agreed that some form of objective testing of applicants should be part of the process

5. Gerard Ferrara, Senior Consultant ferrara@acer.edu.au Psychometric tests – current state of play Increasingly being used in the selection and development of employees across Australia and the world The internet and online testing have resulted in a dramatic increase in the use of testing Most testing poorly conducted Great deal of misunderstanding, confusion, mystery, suspicion, scepticism and fear associated with psychometric testing

6. Gerard Ferrara, Senior Consultant ferrara@acer.edu.au Research supporting the use of tests in selection Meta-analysis of 85 years of research in personnel selection Found that the 2 most valuable and valid approaches to predicting future job performance were: –The use of General Mental Ability (GMA) and integrity / conscientiousness testing (.65) – The use of GMA testing and a structured interview (.63) Schmidt and Hunter (1998) Psychological Bulletin, American Psychological Association

7. Gerard Ferrara, Senior Consultant ferrara@acer.edu.au Types of tests Skills Ability Temperament / Personality (behavioural style) Motivation (interests / values) Performance Typical Behaviour

8. Gerard Ferrara, Senior Consultant ferrara@acer.edu.au Selection of tests used to assess PMs Combination of Verbal, Numerical and Abstract Reasoning to measure General Mental Ability (GMA). ACER Select and TAR - “Professional” level of difficulty Personality test to measure key personality traits associated with managerial performance Total testing time approx. 1 hour 45 minutes.

9. Gerard Ferrara, Senior Consultant ferrara@acer.edu.au Work Personality Index The WPI measures 17 personality traits that research has shown are related to work performance. These are: Teamwork Democratic Dependability Persistence Analytical Thinking Initiative Concern for Others Attention to Detail Ambition Leadership Self-Control Flexibility Outgoing Rule-Following Energy Innovation Stress Tolerance Notes: p.4

10. Gerard Ferrara, Senior Consultant ferrara@acer.edu.au PM Testing Process 1.Initial ability and personality profiling of the ideal PM 2. Benchmarking and validating of ability and personality scores of ideal PM profile 3. Confirmed ability and personality PM profile 4.Testing PM candidates against the PM profile 5.Review results and next steps

11. Gerard Ferrara, Senior Consultant ferrara@acer.edu.au WPI Ideal range of scores Actual scores compared with ideal

12. Gerard Ferrara, Senior Consultant ferrara@acer.edu.au Test results – Ability (ACER Select and TAR) Verbal reasoning – 57% mean percentile rank Numerical reasoning – 54% mean percentile rank Abstract reasoning – 42% mean percentile rank Average reasoning score – 51% mean percentile rank

13. Gerard Ferrara, Senior Consultant ferrara@acer.edu.au PM mean reasoning test results, compared to the Australian population V NA

14. Gerard Ferrara, Senior Consultant ferrara@acer.edu.au Test results – (WPI) Personality Mean scoreMode score Ambition 78 Flexibility76 Rule Following65 Dependability78 Concern for others56 Teamwork89 Self-control79 Stress tolerance78 Analytical thinking55 Sten scores – out of 10

15. Gerard Ferrara, Senior Consultant ferrara@acer.edu.au Thank you