Career Assessment Test

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Hiring managers have long known that it takes more than just personality or psychology alone to close the sale. An old style pre employment test, sales aptitude test or sales personality test may be inadequate in helping you hire Top Sales Executives or great Regional Sales Managers. Testing for Total Sales Ability ™ is the best solution, and businesses interested in hiring great sales people or regional sales managers can now receive 10 FREE Sales Assessment Tests from Dan Joy, Inc: http://www.danjoy.com/

As a business executive or business owner, how can you tell which of your job applicants can really sell? Use Sales Assessment Testing to find out. Here’s what you need to know about Pre-Employment Tests or Sales Assessment Tests if you are interested in hiring a Top Sales Executive or a great Regional Sales Manager:

 A. Sales Personality Testing is not enough:

Testing for sales personality alone is not enough. Would you select a doctor just because they had a good personality but no skills, ability or experience? Similarly, using a sales personality test to predict sales potential often results in disappointment. Many sales personality tests look at a person’s outwardly style of doing things, but there may be no real link to actual sales performance. A personality based sales assessment test may help determine a personality type, but may not help determine whether someone can actually sell. Testing for Total Sales Ability ™ is the key, and presently there is only one pre-employment sales test which provides that, as explained later in this article. You can also use The JOY Tests ™ of Total Sales Ability ™ to test your current salespeople for promotion, retention or sales training purposes.

 B. Sales Aptitude Testing is not enough:

Similarly, pre employment sales assessment testing based on a person’s sales aptitude alone is not sufficient. Many pre employment sales aptitude tests look at a person’s psyche or internal motivations for doing things, but there may be no absolute link to actual sales performance. One may have the right sales aptitude or Sales Psychology but if the actual Sales Ability is missing, they probably won’t make much headway in selling. Moreover, a pre-employment sales aptitude test may not take actual selling techniques (learnt by real world sales experience) into account. The JOY Tests ™ of Total Sales Ability ™ can help where many others cannot.

 C. Sales Skills Testing is not enough:

The mental component of selling is critically important. So, Sales Skills Assessment alone is not enough. Having the sales skills but no drive or motivation wouldn’t suffice. One must test for more than just a job applicant’s selling skills. Moreover, business methods and sales tools are constantly evolving. The sales approach which used to work a few years ago may not work today. You need a well-rounded pre-employment test of sales ability which keeps up with the changes in the ways that contemporary business is conducted. In other words, you need a pre-employment sales test which is thorough, up to date and well rounded, like the one recommended later in this article.

 D. Lack of Sales Call Reluctance is not enough:

Just Sales Call Reluctance testing by itself is not enough. There are people who can call relentlessly but never close. Closing the sale requires proper sales techniques and sales abilities too, not just a lack of sales call reluctance. Total Sales Ability ™ testing like that offered by Dan Joy, Inc., can be a huge asset for you when trying to hire a great Sales Executive — Salesman or Saleswoman, or a good Regional Sales Manager.

 E. Our Recommendation — Assessment of Total Sales Ability ™ is the Best:

The JOY Tests ™ of Total Sales Ability ™ can help reduce subjectivity and guesswork, and help employers make more objective hiring, promotion or retention decisions. They go above and beyond the old style Pre Employment Sales Personality Tests and Pre Employment Sales Aptitude Tests, by testing for Total Sales Ability ™ instead: http://www.danjoy.com/
     
A hiring mistake can be costly. The JOY Tests ™ of Total Sales Ability ™ can help employers and recruiters immensely by testing for sales prospecting ability, objection handling ability, sales closing ability, personality, psychology and more — a total of up to 50+ sub competencies, traits and advanced selling techniques critical to sales success.

They can be used as pre employment sales tests to test Business Development professionals at different career levels, e.g., a Sales Person (Salesman or Saleswoman), Sales Manager, Sales Director or VP of Sales & Marketing. The JOY Sales Tests ™ may also be used to identify and quantify Sales Training needs to help you bridge certain sales training gaps or correct certain sales skills deficiencies in your current sales team. Thus, you may also use The JOY Tests ™ of Total Sales Ability ™ to test your current salespeople for promotion, retention or sales training purposes.

The 10 major areas of ability tested by the potent JOY Sales Tests ™ are:

 1. Sales Prospecting (Leads Generation) Ability.

 2. Appointment Setting, Cold Calling, Rapport and Presentation Ability.

 3. Objection Handling and Negotiating Ability.

 4. Sales CLOSING Ability and Asking for Payment/Deposit.

 5. Cementing the Sale (Re-assuring the Client), and Ability to Get Referrals.

 6. Computer / Internet / Email / CRM and Sales Tools Ability.

 7. Miscellaneous Crucial Sales & Marketing Abilities
(Various Secondary Factors — Personality, Psychology, Skills, Aptitude, Ethics, etc.)

 8. Sales Team Recruitment Ability.

 9. Sales Team Management / Leadership / Motivation Ability.

 10. Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations Ability.

So, how can employers tell which job applicants can sell? They can start with 10 FREE Sales Assessment Test units (Screening Tests) at http://www.danjoy.com/

 

There are numerous career assessment tests in existence, but before an individual takes a career test, they should make sure that it is supported by research. Discover the importance of honesty in taking a career test with help from a career and testing services counselor in this free video on career tests. Expert: Jennifer Frazee Bio: Jennifer Frazee is a career and testing services counselor. Filmmaker: Rendered Communications

The old-style pre employment Sales Personality Tests and Sales Aptitude Tests often try to disguise themselves as Sales Assessment Tests, which they are really not.

Conventional personality tests are “blind” to the impact of a job applicant’s experience, sales training and knowledge of sales techniques. For example, a fresh college graduate with zero sales experience and a top producing sales superstar with 25 years of sales experience may both score 85% on a Pre Employment Sales Personality Test (or Pre-employment Sales Aptitude Test) if they both share similar personality traits. However, in the real world of selling the sales superstar may outsell the inexperienced salesperson by up to twenty to one. There is a much better way to hire good experienced salespeople, by using a “Real” Sales Assessment Test, as this article explains.

While pre employment Sales Personality Tests or Sales Aptitude Tests may offer some value towards recruiting inexperienced entry level salespeople, there is a much better way of hiring good experienced salespeople, using a sales ability based Sales Assessment Test such as The JOY Tests (TM) of Total Sales Ability (TM) from Dan Joy, Inc.

How Can You Determine Which is the Best Pre Employment Test for Sales?

There is a lot more to success in selling than just personality, aptitude or lack of call reluctance. One can have the right “sales personality” or “sales aptitude” but if they don’t possess or learn good sales skills and techniques, they are not very likely to succeed in the sales profession. There are also people who can call incessantly, but cannot close.

Instead of testing for just sales aptitude or sales personality, the best approach is to test for Total Sales Ability ™. A good sales assessment test can reduce subjectivity and guesswork, and help sales recruitment agencies and corporate sales recruitment people make more objective hiring decisions. The JOY Tests ™ of Total Sales Ability ™ from Dan Joy, Inc., are such sales assessment tests. They may be used for pre-employment testing as well as post-hire evaluations for promotion, retention or training purposes.

The conventional pre-employment Sales Personality Tests or Sales Aptitude Tests are often inadequate for hiring top-producing experienced salespeople, and should not be confused with real pre employment Sales Tests or pre-employment Sales Assessments.

Common Sales Recruiting Mistakes:

A sales hiring mistake can cost an employer up to $100,000 or more. Many sales recruitment firms and employers are deluged with sales resumes, but have no way of knowing who can really sell. So, they often tend to hire someone with whom they “feel comfortable”, who is “like them”, who “looks good”, or who has “industry knowledge”. None of that necessarily means that the person can actually sell.

Same Sales Assessments for Pre Employment Testing and Post Hire Evaluations:

As an employer, you would ideally want to invest in Sales Assessment Tests which can not only be used as pre-employment tests but also for post-hire evaluations for promotion, retention or training purposes. Furthermore, you should be able to test Business Development professionals at different career levels, e.g., a Salesperson, Sales Manager, Sales Director or VP of Sales & Marketing. If the same Sales Assessments can also be used for testing Manufacturer’s Reps, Sales Engineers, Distributors and Franchisees, that would be even better. There is one Sales Assessment Test which does all of the above.

Recommendation:

The JOY Tests ™ of Total Sales Ability ™ from Dan Joy, Inc., meet all of the criteria above for good well-rounded Sales Assessment Tests. For a limited time only, prospective employers can get 10 Free Sales Assessment Tests (Pre Employment Screening Tests) to help them hire great sales executives by following the link in the “About the Author” or Bio / Resource box below or by visiting the website of Dan Joy Inc., directly through any major search engine.

 

There are a number of ways that someone can start down the path of a game testing career. In fact, many people are already starting down that path, trying to learn what they can do to become a video game tester and then move on to even better careers in the industry. Here are four of the bigger career paths available to anyone who wants to start a game testing career in the video game industry and then take it to a higher level.

Programmer

Programmers will need to have degrees in computer science or mathematics and a profound knowledge of languages like C++, Java and XNA. However, for many game dev testers, just working on games will give them many of these skills. A little extra college and some hard work in your job can quickly set you up for a position much higher in the hierarchy that will allow you to become a programmer in a few short years. Many programmers got their start as game testers, so if you are ambitious and driven to learn and succeed, and want to build and design games, not simply test them, then this is a career path to give serious consideration to.

Game Designer

Designers are the men and women behind the ideas that games are built on. They develop the systems, the story, and the basic art style before anyone starts creating the game. They will also consult on the game throughout its development cycle so that the programmers, artists, and writers can have a set point to refer back to. They will determine overall gameplay and strategy, character balance, plot development and the overall physics and rendering styles of the world within the game. For those who have ever dreamed of a great idea for a video game, this is the career path for you.

Game Artist

The artists will work to illustrate and animate the imagery from the game with their own specific style set. Those interested in becoming artists will need degrees in illustration and 3d animation from an accredited art school, but being a game dev tester can definitely help in getting started in the industry. There are many game artist programs available now online, and the career options for those acquiring these skill sets are extremely in demand and will only grow higher. If drawing is your thing, or you would like to combine a passion for art with a passion for games, consider becoming a game artist after starting your game testing career.

Game Producer

The producers are responsible for running the whole ship, telling men and women in every role how to get their jobs done. For a producer, the main skill that needs to be displayed is a knowledge of programming and organization – two things a tester has in spades.

For anyone interested in the gaming industry, the four careers above are things that you can very much be hopefully about getting involved with some day. While it might seem like a stretch that someone starting a game testing career as a video game tester can someday become a game producer, the truth is that there are always people out there who are working their way up the ladder – why not you too?

Career testing has become a very popular way of “discovering ourselves” and our abilities. However, many people tend to accept their test results as the absolute gospel truth about themselves and their occupations.

This in a way can be a very dangerous assumption and especially for individuals who are desperately seeking some direction in life.

My advice to this is that, even though it may be what you want to hear, you need to be somewhat cautious of your test results.

The truth is, that no matter how glorified and 99.99 percent certified, these tests can be somewhat abstract and generalized. It doesn’t matter how good a test is or how good the developer says it is, career tests, career quizzes, and personality tests are not always the absolute gospel truth.

So here are a few guidelines to keep in mind when taking a career or personality test.

1) No test is 100% accurate. Independent studies have proven that even the most glorified tests can be as much as 25 percent inaccurate.

2) Test results can vary. Yes, even the results from the same test taken by the same person at different times can change. Your mood and frame of mind can influence your test results from day to day and even just one different answer can mean completely different results. It’s so important to give questions a lot of thought and be totally honest with your answers.

3) Take more than one test. Since no test is completely accurate and results can vary, it is so important to take more than one test. In this way you can compare results to get an accurate assessment of matching results. You’ll be able to eliminate mistakes by averaging matching results.

4) Not the end result. Always remember that career testing is only the beginning of your career planning process. It’s not the end result. You simply now have something to work with.

5) Be true to yourself. Give your results some serious thought. Do some deep soul searching and trust your intuition. You’ll know if the results are totally wrong for you. If you’re reading one thing and it doesn’t feel right, don’t go running off in the wrong direction just because the test results “said so”. If you still don’t get it, you may need to seek additional advice from a career coach or career counselor. There’s nothing wrong with asking for help. And I honestly recommend that you do so.

I hope this helps.

Every individual would love to have a well-established career. A career, as we all know, is a particular occupation or profession for which a person is trained. Career may involve physical, emotional or intellectual training. This includes being an engineer, a construction worker, a physician or even an artist. Everyone is entitled to have their personal career depending on their choice and efficiency. The only thing an individual needs to make sure is to be successful on the path they have chosen. To be successful in a chosen field needs a proper career planning test.

 

Success, on the other hand is a term that deals with an event that accomplishes its intended purpose. In real life, most of us are already following models of career and life success. This includes the ambition of a son to be like his father; a fan who would like to be like his idol; or an ordinary person who came from rags to riches. So the question here is whether that model of success or career path you’re taking is your own, or ones you inherited.

 

One of the greatest career challenges is this: identifying your personal goals and the true definition of success. This definition is better if it is true to you rather than ones you inherited from family, the people that surrounds you or the society and other outside forces. However, there’s a possibility that your current model of success may or may not work for you. But above everything, the important thing you must keep in mind is to understand your assumptions and questioning them.

 

One way to make sure that you can be successful in your chosen field is to have a career test. Career testing or career guidance test is important because it’s like choosing your own definition of success. Each and every one of us has the power to adopt new or existing models of success. However, how can you examine yourself if you’re really good in that career if you’re just replicating what others have done? So it’s better if you do some honest thinking and reinvent yourself and make sure you’ll continuously improve and make yourself better. You also need to have the clarity of purpose and the discipline to stay true to your values and principles in the long run.

 

So examine your path by asking yourself if you really love what you do. Then as a result, check if you actually do fantastic work on the field you’re into. Check if your career complements your family or personal life or does it detract from it. Also try to learn what you feel: are you excited on the future vision of your career? And finally, you can do online career tests to give you suggestions and sample questions to ask yourself if you’re really successful.

Job Skills Testing

                What are the kinds of written examinations commonly used to assess applicants? They     can be   divided into four kinds: personality tests, IQ tests, aptitude tests, and essay questions.                        

 

    

Preparation before Test-taking

  

            The same way that you are advised to dispose yourself before an interview, you should also dispose yourself before taking a written test. After all, your main tool is your mind; if your mind is neither relaxed nor rested, you might not perform on the exam as well as you otherwise would do.

 

            Get a good night’s rest the night before. Make certain that you arrive at the examination site with at least 15 minutes to spare.

 

Eat well. Brain food is recommended, like food that is high in protein. You’d want to eat enough to last you the entire testing duration. It helps then to inquire ahead of schedule how long the test would take. Some companies screen using a battery of exams, meaning they use more than one test and thus the examination can take hours. The last thing you need is hunger pangs in the middle of analyzing a problem!

 

Bring your own timer, preferably a stopwatch. This can help you monitor your pacing and adjust accordingly. In some cases, a calculator or extra sheets of scratch paper for computations are permitted by the test proctor, so ask ahead if they are necessary and allowed.

 

Some human resource practitioners advise wearing layered clothing when taking examinations. Room temperature can be distracting to a test-taker and you want to be able to adjust to the temperature. If the room is too cold, at least you have a jacket and if it is too hot, at least you can still peel off some layers.

 

Feel like practicing?

 

If you feel that you need some exposure and practice with psychological exams before you take one, there are places to go to get a better grasp of them. If you’re still in school, or have access to school resources, a guidance counselor can help you become more familiar with them.

 

There are also sites online that offer practice tests for job applicants. Just make sure that you pick a website that offers a close approximation of standardized job application screening tests. There are many supposed psychological tests online but most of them are made just for fun and in by no means valid nor similar to what companies would give you.

 

In general though, there is very little to worry about when it comes to employee testing. Personality tests, IQ tests and aptitude exams require, more than anything, presence of mind. Personality tests have no right or wrong answers, and can be answered best by merely being authentic to yourself. IQ tests and aptitude tests on the other hand need very little review of vast research and subject matter. All that you would need to answer the questions correctly can be found in the question itself.   

 

General Test-taking Tips

 

The following are some tips and techniques that can help you navigate most examinations.

 

Read the instructions and questions carefully.  This is imperative! At first glance the lay-out of a question gives a hint already how it is meant to be answered. For example, a question stem followed by four choices marked a, b, c and d usually connotes a multiple choice kind of question, or chooses the best answer among the four choices. But unless you read the instructions thoroughly you can never be sure.

 

What if you are not supposed to pick the choice that is right, but to cross out what is wrong? What if there can be more than one answer to a question? You need to be able to follow instructions to the letter for it may cost you even your correct responses. If there are examples of how to answer the questions, then review the examples.

 

Look out for scoring techniques that may affect the way you answer. For example, if instructions say that this is a ‘right minus wrong’ test, then it means that when scoring, the number of your wrong responses would be subtracted from the number of your correct responses. In which case it is not advisable to guess when you don’t know the answer; perhaps it’s better if you just keep it blank. If no such rule exists, then guessing in objective questions may be a better option in case you’re stumped.

 

Also, instructions tell how to answer, not just what to answer. You might have to encircle the letter of your choice, cross it out or shade the appropriate section in an answer sheet. Some companies would nullify all your answers if you don’t follow the correct way to mark your paper.

 

Other answer sheets are not scored by hand but via a computer and if you don’t follow the instructions, the scanner may not be able to read your responses. It would be a shame not to have your correct answers credited just because of a technical error.

 

If you have questions or clarifications about the instructions, don’t hesitate to ask your proctor before you even begin.

 

Note the time limit. Some tests are time pressured so budget your time wisely. Before you take a test, look at how many items there are and how much time you are being given. For example, if you have 30 minutes to answer a test with 30 items then you have approximately 1 minute to answer per item. This can guide you when discerning whether to give a question more thought or to move on.

 

In general, do not linger unnecessarily on an item. If you must, make a guess and then go back to the item when you still have time.

 

If you have to guess, make an intelligent one. If you get really stumped, don’t just choose an option randomly. Pick a choice that has the higher likelihood of being the correct answer compared to the other choices.

 

Look for context clues. Context clues are hints in the question that suggest the correct responses. Basically you have to pick the option that (a) makes the most sense, (b) seems to fit best and (c) feels right as far as your understanding can tell. This is most helpful for verbal reasoning questions.

 

Eliminate obviously wrong responses first and then focus your attention on the remaining options. Note that sophisticated tests use clever distracters so make sure that you’re critical. For example, you might feel that an option is obviously correct, but it might just be a word that sounds like the correct response or looks like the correct response.

 

And if you really can’t figure it out, use your intuition. Choose the response that feels most right. Chances are, if something ‘feels’ correct, you may have come across the connection before but cannot recall it at that moment.

 

Consider the following example:

  

Choose the word closest in meaning to the italicized word.

The four-colored Brazilian spider lost a leg, so it regenerated a new one.

Reinforced

Grew

Stole

 

When you think of animals, what would they most likely do if they lost a limb? Option c seems grammatically correct, and some animals have been known to steal from other animals before, but it doesn’t make sense to do so for a leg.

 

Reinforced is a tricky distracter; it has the same form as the item you are analyzing. The prefix‘re’ might make you feel that it is the most appropriate choice because regenerate also has it. But the word ‘reinforce’ means ‘to support.’ It is difficult to picture a spider supporting a new leg, and it makes for awkward sentence structure.

 

By process of elimination, the correct response is b.

 

Don’t overanalyze. This is especially true for IQ test. Sometimes we can over think a question when the answer is the most obvious one. Remember, these tests are for the average reasonable person to comprehend. If the analysis you came up with is too complicated and conspiracy-oriented, chances are you just may be looking at it too hard.

 

 

Justice Mandhla is the author of <a rel=”nofollow” onclick=”javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview(‘/outgoing/article_exit_link’);” href=http://www.mystudent4life.com/>What they did not teach you in school: Life Long Learning Tips to land a job straight out of school</a> and he spends a great deal of his full-time writing day researching and writing about job search strategies.

 

 

 

 

Socrates once said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Yet sometimes it seems that Americans are obsessed with self-examination and constant change. Individuals once spent an entire lifetime with a single employer, but most people today evaluate their career and lifelong goals every few years. It’s common to leapfrog from opportunity to opportunity and to re-make a professional identity several times over.

If you’re entering college and are perplexed about your future goals, join the club. Even as graduates enter the workplace, they continue to assess their skills and dreams to find lasting success and happiness.

Psychologists, educators, and employers have developed a battery of tests that measure your likes and dislikes, your aspirations and aptitudes. A dizzying range of online personality and career assessment tests are free for the taking to help you discover your heart’s desire or make mid-life course corrections.

Some help you find out whether you’d rather pick flowers in Holland in the summer or drive an 18-wheel truck in blizzard conditions along the Al-Can highway. Employers administer assessments to see how well you’ll do in a team environment, if you can take direction, supervise others, or prefer to sit alone in a cubicle listing to your iPod.

You’ll find dozens–if not hundreds–of online career and personality tests. Many are free, while some companies charge money. Most offer a free topside overview, with more complex analyses available for a price. Beware, however, for aptitude assessment tests are not always as advertised.

Measuring the Tests that Measure You

No one likes being lumped into a career or personality group. In America, especially, we’re individuals to the very end. It helps to think of online test results as an effort to spot your tendencies, rather than making your choices for you. Above all else, you’ll want to focus your time on tests that rely on time-tested psychological models to drive the assessment. Examine the Web sites you visit for information on the methodology–and eschew tests that are glib, bizarre, or downright flakey.

Let’s look at four standardized aptitude and profile assessments used by professionals.

• Myers Briggs Personality Test (MBPT)

The granddaddy of most personality and job assessments, the MBPT is most likely the model behind the tests you’ll discover at online evaluation sites. You’ll be categorized onto one of 16 personality types, based on your responses to questions that evaluate how you deal with life (extroversion vs. introversion), how you process information (sensing vs. intuition), how you make decisions (thinking vs. feeling), and how you organize your life (judging vs. perception).

• The Six Factor Personality Questionnaire (SFPQ)

The SFPQ is a well-respected assessment tool that measures six personality factors, with each factor broken into categories that are calculated by 108 Likert questions. Likert questions ask you to identify with a given statement using the following scale–Strongly disagree, Disagree, Neither agree nor disagree, Agree, or Strongly agree.

SFPQ personality factors include Agreeableness, Extraversion, Independence, Openness to Experience, Methodicalness, and Industriousness. A SFPQ test can help you understand your traits with respect to temperament, autonomy, endurance, achievement, logic, and resistance to or acceptance of change.

• The Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI)

Tests based on the HPI model measure your personality, your traits in respect to on-the-job performance, and your attitude. HPI tests fall into one or more of the following assessment categories–the Hogan Development Survey, Motivation, Values, and Preferences Inventory, and Hogan Personality Inventory.

HPI questions produce personality trait identifiers and motive qualities that can include colorful, dutiful, bold, imaginative, altruistic, power, security, cautious, and excitable. Occupational aptitude measurements rank you in categories that include integrity, leadership ability, initiative, decision-making skills, communication skills, self-esteem, curiosity, sense of responsibility, and creative potential.

• Guilford-Zimmerman Temperament Survey (GZTS)

The GZTS is strictly a personality evaluator, used to measure learning potential, possible learning disabilities, personality, and temperament as it applies to the workplace, conflict, and personal relationship skills. Scales measure quantifiable responses to qualities of restraint, emotional stability, objectivity, friendliness, and thoughtfulness.

• 16 Personality Factors (16PF)

The 16PF text was created by psychologist Raymond Cattell to measure so-called primary factors that show your tendencies in major assessment categories of warmth, reasoning, emotional stability, dominance, liveliness, rule-consciousness, social boldness, sensitivity, vigilance, abstractedness, privateness, apprehension, openness to change, self-reliance, perfectionism, and tension.

Beyond the Personality Testing Numbers

You’ll no doubt discover a broad range of online career tests that are based on these highly regarded methodologies. While the governing categories may not be immediately visible, they are there. Instead of dry category breakdowns, you’re more likely to see questions based on the SFPQ model. You’ll be given a direct statement and asked to rank your identification with it. Sample questions/declarations might include:

• I love to work alone.

• I have difficulty reaching decisions.

• I prefer not to always show how I feel.

• I’d rather be a farmer than a stockbroker.

Your responses to these statements translate into raw numbers that fit the 16PF or SFPQ qualities.

If you’re taking a personality or career assessment test online, it’s vital to consider the results as sweeping generalizations about your career or life-goal tendencies that give you guidance but not clear-cut directions. Think of suggested career choices as options, and then see how you respond emotionally to detailed career descriptions you find elsewhere in your search.

As a bonus, a test may reveal broader career fields than you imagined for yourself as well as greater self-wisdom about your likes, dislikes, aptitudes, and skills. Remain open to suggested fields. If a test sends you into unexplored territory and you respond with energy and delight, you may have hit the jackpot.

Caveat emptor–buyer beware. Online career testing is at best uneven and, at worst, misleading marketing junk to promote a paid survey. Don’t take yourself–or the results–too seriously. Before entering personal information other than your email address on an exam site, look for privacy declarations or contact the Webmaster. Before you ante up for extras or detailed analyses, look at the quality and sensibility of your free results.

Hiring good sales people is one of the hardest things that a sales recruiter or employer does. Not any more! So how can prospective employers or sales recruiters tell which job applicants can sell? They can make the job applicants take a well-rounded pre-employment sales assessment test. If you are an employer or sales recruiting company, you may start with 10 Free Sales Assessment Tests from Dan Joy, Inc.

Common Sales Recruiting Mistakes:

A sales hiring mistake can cost an employer up to $100,000 or more. Many sales recruitment firms and employers are deluged with sales resumes, but have no way of knowing who can really sell. So, they often tend to hire someone with whom they “feel comfortable”, who is “like them”, who “looks good”, or who has “industry knowledge”. None of that necessarily means that the person can actually sell. A good Sales Assessment Test like The JOY Tests ™ of Total Sales Ability ™ can help reduce subjectivity and guesswork, so you can make more objective hiring decisions, and hire great sales people or regional sales managers.

Who Can Use Sales Assessment Testing?

In the past, sales assessment tools were used primarily by large companies. Now, for the first time, the fully integrated self-serve online sales assessment testing system of Dan Joy, Inc. has brought these crucial sales assessment tools within the easy reach of small to mid-sized businesses. Of course, big companies can use these sales assessment tools too.

Which Type of Sales Assessment Test is Most Effective?

An old style Sales Personality Test, Sales Aptitude Test, Behavioral Test or Sales Reluctance Test is usually not a good predictor of sales potential. There is a lot more to success in selling than just personality, aptitude or call reluctance. One can have the right personality or aptitude but if they don’t possess or learn good sales skills and techniques, they are not very likely to succeed in the sales profession. There are also people who can call incessantly, but cannot close. There is a much better way, as explained below.

Instead of testing for just sales personality or sales aptitude, the best approach is to test for Total Sales Ability ™. A good sales assessment test can reduce subjectivity and guesswork, and help sales recruitment agencies and corporate sales recruitment people make more objective hiring decisions. One good sales assessment test is The JOY Test ™ of Total Sales Ability ™.

Other Criteria for Choosing the Best Sales Assessment Test:

Sales Recruiters and employers may want to choose a sales assessment test which is:

 1. Accurate: The Sales Test must go above and beyond the mundane psychological and personality tests by doing a well rounded sales assessment. This is crucial to the success of the sales recruitment campaign.

 2. Robust: 2-Step Testing is better but costs less. The simple but robust 2-Step testing (Screening Test plus Final Test) helps protect employers against the possibility of a job applicant substituting someone else to take a test on their behalf. Moreover, the Screening Test is much cheaper than the Final Test. If you need to test, say, 500 applicants, you could give them all an inexpensive Screening Test, then give a Final Test to only the top 2% (the 10 highest scorers) on the day of the interview. That could save you a lot of time and money.

 3. Efficient: Completely self-contained online system that you can use 24/7/365 at your convenience, without having to call the company every time you wish to test a new sales candidate. Many sales recruiters work online from home.

 4. Easy to Interpret: The sales assessment test’s Report Card must be clear, easy to understand, and preferably just 1-page long (some can be unwieldy — up to 20+ pages per candidate). Sales recruiting firms are often pressed for time.

 5. Scored Instantly: Candidates’ Report Cards (Sales Assessment Test scores) should be available online immediately after they complete a sales assessment test (no waiting for the Sales Test Reports to arrive by fax or snail mail).

 6. Secure: The sales assessment test should contain built-in safeguards against guessing, random answering and candidate substitution. Not all sales tests are created equal. Most good sales recruiters appreciate the importance of secure sales assessment testing.

The JOY Tests ™ of Total Sales Ability ™ meet all of the criteria above. For a limited time only, sales recruiters and employers can get 10 Free Sales Assessment Tests (Screening Tests) to help them hire great sales people, at: http://www.danjoy.com/

Our Recommendation:

The JOY Tests ™ of Total Sales Ability ™ meet all of the criteria above. These well rounded sales assessments go above and beyond the mundane psychological and personality tests by testing for Total Sales Ability ™, e.g., Sales Prospecting Ability, Objection Handling Ability, Sales Closing Ability, Personality, Psychology and much more.

They can be used as pre employment sales tests to test Business Development professionals at different career levels, e.g., a Sales Person (Salesman or Saleswoman), Sales Manager, Sales Director or VP of Sales & Marketing. The JOY Sales Tests ™ may also be used to identify and quantify Sales Training needs to help you bridge certain sales training gaps or correct certain sales skills deficiencies in your current sales team. Thus, you may also use The JOY Tests ™ of Total Sales Ability ™ to test your current salespeople for promotion, retention or sales training purposes: http://www.danjoy.com/

Conclusion:

Pre-employment testing or sales assessment tests are a good way to help you hire a top sales executive or build a sales team. Many of us have wondered about the following: What makes a great salesman, salesperson, sales rep or saleswoman? What are the top qualities, attributes or characteristics of good sales people? How to hire sales professionals who can sell? What tips or advice can I find about hiring sales people, hiring a regional sales manager, hiring sales representatives or hiring sales associates? What interview questions should I ask during a sales interview? You don’t need to worry about many of these questions if you use The JOY Sales Tests ™ of Total Sales Ability ™ from Dan Joy, Inc. The JOY Sales Tests ™ will do the work for you by asking the right questions, quantifying the competencies, and presenting the results to you in a format that is easy to understand, to help you make the right sales hiring decisions.