EDGEWATER, N.J. - The Pathmark supermarket is hiring. But walk-inapplicants need not bother asking for a manager.
First, they have to get past the computer.
'Join the Pathmark Team!' welcomes a screen built into a black andgray kiosk, tucked between the store's customer service counter and adisplay rack full of beach balls. 'Right now, we're looking forpeople who think big and dream big - people a lot like you.'
The automated greeting, and screen after screen of multiple-choice questions that follow, are part of a new approach by someemployers to filling their ranks of hourly workers.
A growing number of retail chains and similar businessesfrustrated by near-constant employee turnover are entrusting thefirst step of the hiring process to computers, designed to zero in onapplicants likely to do a job well - and stay awhile.
To do that, the computers gather not just names and SocialSecurity numbers, but also work to size up an applicant'spersonality, and provide hiring managers with a list of questions forfollow-up interviews.
Online screening systems used by companies like Pathmark issuereports on applicants almost immediately, grading them as green,yellow or red - the last a warning of a potentially problematic hire.
One retailer, Houston-based crafts chain Garden Ridge, even hasits screening system set to page store managers so they can catchchoice applicants before they walk out the door and apply at acompetitor.
Companies including The Sports Authority Inc., Blockbuster Inc.and the Golden Corral Corp. steakhouse chain also have adopted theonline screening systems. Many companies using the systems haveinstalled in-store terminals or telephones equipped with screens andkeyboards especially for the purpose, while others direct people toapply on company Web sites.
'I think it's really going to take off because the technology forhow people are screened is changing so quickly,' said Donald M.Truxillo, a professor of industrial psychology at Oregon's PortlandState University who studies the online systems.
'Our philosophy is to let the technology do the heavy lifting,'said Richard Harding, director of research for Kenexa Corp., a Wayne,Pa., firm that designs and administers online assessment systems.
Online screening incorporates personality tests similar to thepaper-and-pencil versions used by some employers as far back as the1940s. But computers use the results much more systematically,letting managers instantly rank candidates or dip into the pool ofapplicants who have sought jobs at other stores in the same chain.
'You're able to prequalify people and focus really only on thepeople who look like they have the best chance of success,' saidCharles Handler, an industrial psychologist whose firm, Rocket-Hire,is a consultant to employers in choosing the systems.
That's only the start for some employers. Some continue to use thesystems after making a hire, feeding worker performance data - like aclerk's sales commissions or the amount of time it takes for a waiterto 'turn' a table - into the computer. The data are then used to helpfine tune questions and desired answers that can be used to screenfuture hires.
That helps employers 'close the loop,' said Kim Beasley, aspokeswoman for Unicru Inc., a Beaverton, Ore., firm that makes thescreening systems used at more than 50 retail and restaurant chainsincluding Pathmark Stores Inc. and Sports Authority.
'We partner with companies throughout the employee life cycle,'Beasley said.
Online assessment could prove particularly valuable at bigretailers and restaurant chains whose employee turnover rate runs ashigh as 200 percent a year, experts say.
Such employers, almost constantly hiring, are looking for ways topredict which job candidates are less likely to leave once they'rehired, and help them cut down on the cost of finding and trainingreplacements. 'They just lose people about as fast as they can getthem in the door,' Harding said. 'What it really comes down to is areyou (the job applicant) going to stay there longer and produce more?'
Some employers say the system not only helps them settle on theright workers, but also reduce the time - and money - needed to findthem.
Since Rock Bottom Restaurants Inc. began using a Unicru system inlate 2002, turnover in its brew pubs has tailed off from about 110percent annually to 91 percent.
Some of the change almost certainly is due to hiring choices aidedby the computer, said Ted Williams, senior vice president of thebrewery division at the Louisville, Colo. company.
'If you can screen out at least the ones (candidates) youshouldn't be talking to, that is a huge get-ahead,' Williams said.
Copyright 2004 by Telegraph Herald, All rights Reserved.