In September 2004, I interviewed a recent college graduate who had a political science/pre-law degree for a case manager position with our firm. After the initial interview, he moved along to the next phase of our process by taking the Simmons Personal Survey. His overall results were 84/100.
Note: The following was submitted by AnnMarie Forcier, human resource manager with Carter Mario Injury Lawyers in Milford, Connecticut.
However, the category commentary provided by John Beane is always more useful to us than the final numerical score. In this case, those comments included the following: high energy, ability to handle stress in a fast-paced environment, good work ethic, confident, able to work on his own within established parameters, hardworking, positive outlook, and willing to take on responsibility.
It sounded too good to be true! The only area that minimally concerned us was that he was highly change oriented. Would we be able to keep him challenged enough to remain with us for a while? We decided to take that chance.
It wasn’t very long before we noticed the assessment results were right on the mark and being demonstrated consistently in his performance. He was focused and productive. He was extremely organized. He demonstrated a great overall work ethic and received positive client feedback. He even moved closer to the office to shorten his commute.
We remembered his need to be challenged so we decided to give him some additional tasks. He began to assist management with research and assist his supervisor with tasks. He progressed into a functional team leader while still carrying a caseload.
Recently we have developed a need for a supervisor. We contacted John for his opinion of this person’s potential in that role. We were very pleased to hear that his profile indicated he would probably be a better leader than a case manager. He has strong leadership characteristics and his other characteristics are well integrated which makes him capable of taking on a number of different kinds of roles. We will be promoting him to this role and are confident that he will be successful with this new challenge.
A characteristic that began as an uncertainty for us has turned into a definite plus. This was not the first time that I’ve contacted John for some insight into someone’s profile and their potential to move into other roles, and I’m sure it won’t be the last.