EDGEWATER, N.J. -- The Pathmark supermarket here is hiring.Butwalk-in applicants 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 a while.
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 problematichire.
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 have also 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.
'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 -- likea clerk's sales commissions or the amount of time it takes for awaiter to 'turn' a table -- into the computer. That data is then usedto help fine tune questions and desired answers that can be used toscreen future 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.
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 get them in thedoor,' Harding said. 'What it really comes down to is are you (thejob 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 tofind them.
Since Rock Bottom Restaurants Inc. began using a Unicru system inlate 2002, turnover in its brewpubs has tailed off from about 110percent annually to 91 percent.
The change may be partly due to the soft labor market, which haskept people from changing jobs, but some of it almost certainly dueto hiring choices aided by the computer, said Ted Williams, seniorvice president of the brewery division at the Louisville, Colo.company.
Lowering turnover has an immediate impact on profits. Restaurantsspend an average of $500 to $600 to hire and train a new employee.But the actual cost of a new worker is closer to $2,000 because theyare less productive while they learn the business, Williams said.
The system has also saved managers time that takes them away fromrunning their restaurants, he said.
'If you can screen out at least the ones (candidates) youshouldn't be talking to, that is a huge get-ahead,' Williams said.
Finish Line Inc., an Indianapolis-based athletic footwear chain,has found online screening particularly useful because the computerspots gaps in work history and helps managers, many of them young andwith little experience in hiring, structure interviews.
'It really helps store managers ask all the right questionsbecause it gives you all the questions to ask,' said Mike Marchetti,the company's executive vice president of store operations.
Some researchers are concerned people will see the new technologyas impersonal and find it a turnoff.
Some systems offer applicants minimal explanation for the processand ask inappropriate questions, Handler said.
That could be a mistake since most applicants for store jobs arealso shoppers at those stores, and a bad experience with a hiringsystem could sour their image of the company, he said.
But Truxillo, the Portland State professor, said job seekers willprobably get used to the idea over time. He compares it to pre-employment drug screening, which drew protests from some workers 15or 20 years ago, but has become fairly routine.
Some job seekers may even come to see it as a faster, easierapproach of applying, he said.
'You get really quick feedback and maybe some people would rathernot deal with a real person at that point in the process,' he said.
On the Net:
www.unicru.com
www.kenexa.com
www.rocket-hire.com
www.gardenridge.com
www.thesportsauthority.com
www.blockbuster.com
www.pathmark.com
www.finishline.com
www.rockbottom.com
www.goldencorral.com
