Why RISK making an important recruiting decision based on an incomplete picture of the individual?

Why Are Psychometrics Required?

Commonly individuals are not ‘let go from a yacht,’ due to their poor technical skills or ability, but because of unsuitable behaviour or their character doesn’t fit into the culture onboard the yacht.

An erroneous selection decision is a considerable RISK to a yachts operations, particularly when recruiting for senior positions. It is is financially expensive and exasperating for the leadership team, as they have to devote valuable time to managing the situation and have the headache of re-recruiting. Inevitably crew performance will be disrupted, with likely impact to the the owner/guest experience.

Leaders instinctively gather all the information before making an important decision. Yet, when it comes to the yacht recruitment process, this rationale is often overlooked and decisions are made purely on a candidates CV, References, and an Interview. This means RISK; as there has been no assessment of a candidate’s hidden personality or insight into their likely future behaviour. Fundamentally, a critical piece of the decision making jigsaw is missing!

BZ Psychometrics

BZ pair in-depth psychometric assessments with expert interpretation and decision-making support. Our Team are qualified and Registered Psychometric Practitioners, also have extensive experience working and leading in the maritime environment.

We intuitively understand the facets of personality and utilise this knowledge to help you understand how a candidate’s character will likely fit with the role, including when set against the pressures of operating a complex superyacht and the unique demands of life at sea.

BZ have a range of options available, with the psychometric solution tailored to match the job position and role seniority. These can be delivered quickly to meet your time constraints.

MAINMAST PACKAGE

Used to recruit into Head of Department (HOD) or Senior Leadership positions on smaller yachts.

The Mainmast package has been designed to reflect the importance of these roles and the advanced inter-personal skills required to be successful.

This package takes into account the requirement for Candidates to perform across 5 fundamental qualities:

• Leadership Style
• Interaction with Others
• Decision Making
• Initiative
• Personal Adjustment to Pressure 

HEAD MARK PACKAGE

Used to recruit into Entry and Junior level positions.

In navigation a Head Mark is used to ensure the vessel is staying on track and to reduce the risk of it straying into dangerous water.
 
This Head Mark psychometric package has been designed for exactly the same reason, except in this context it will keep your selection of the best talent on track and will significantly minimise the danger of recruiting an unsuitable crew member.

Assessing the attributes required to be a good team member and to deal with the distinct requirements of life on a superyacht, including whether their personality is likely to cope with stress and comfortable with the confidentiality requirements.

Relating to Others (Initiating and developing relationships / Liveliness and excitement­ seeking, / Social situations and work settings)

Influence and Collaboration (Desire for influence / Seeking new experiences and challenges)

Thinking Style (Taking in information / Making decisions / Creativity and change / Problem­ solving)

Structure and Flexibility (Planning and organising / Levels of dynamism / Caution and flexibility / Degree of focus)

Management of Pressure (General level of anxiety / Self­ criticism and self­ assurance / Expression of stress / Coping strategies / Key Strengths)

Leadership Style – Includes whether the individual is likely to be assertive or facilitative, how self-assured they are, their command presence onboard, and how they engage with and evaluate others.

Interaction with Others – This gauges the Candidate’s likely interaction and co-operation with others onboard including how open and trusting they are.

Decision Making – Identifies likely decision-making ability, creative initiative, how abstract problems are managed, and how receptive to the ideas of others and change a candidate is.

Initiative – Highlights the Candidates independence and whether they are comfortable working unsupervised, if they are proactive to change and their contentment with established methods onboard. It also examines dependability, such as how systematic and self-disciplined they are, and likely responses to a crisis situation onboard.

Personal Adjustment to Pressure – This outlines emotional stability and identifies any tendency for anxiety. It also highlights how even tempered a Candidate is and their ability to deal with stressful or upsetting situations onboard.

The package assesses all the attributes required to be a successful crew member and will reveal any personality or behavioural traits that might jeopardise this. It will also highlight likely personality strengths that the Candidate will bring to the team, whilst outlining areas where the Candidate may benefit from further development (this is not a negative as all crew need developing). 

CASE STUDY:

The adverse impact of recruiting an unsuitable individual can have a disastrous negative effect.

Sara was sat in her chair on the Bridge of a 75m yacht, head in her hands and dreading what was coming next. She had asked Steve to come and see her to inform him that he was being let go with immediate effect. This was after hiring him as the Yacht’s Chief Officer only a few months earlier.

Sara was gutted at the situation, feeling stressed and under pressure. She knew her busy workload was just about to get a whole lot more challenging, as she would be a key officer down, and that she would have to start the entire Chief Officer recruitment process again. To make matters worse, the ‘Boss’ was angry at the disruption caused and cost of the mis-recruitment. Sara was a highly experienced and professional Captain, who was well respected for her excellent judge of character, so how did it come to this……..?

Steve’s Curriculum Vitae read brilliantly, he was experienced, well qualified, and he had some very credible Referees. He had also interviewed really well, developing good rapport with Sara, and her gut feeling was that he would be a perfect addition to the team onboard.  

Within a few weeks Steve was starting to make his mark onboard, but not in the way Sara had envisaged. She picked up that Steve was causing some upset and disruption with the crew, and his leadership style was domineering to the point of being a bully. Sara had also realised that he was very inflexible, an over perfectionist, and that he did not engage with people that well.

Sara had tactfully spoken to Steve a number of times, but he had dismissed her feedback and accused the crew of being disrespectful. Then, to Sara’s professional embarrassment, she had been taken aside by the Boss and told he had concluded Steve did not fit with the culture onboard his Yacht!

Whilst always willing to give people a chance, and also realising that the situation reflected badly on her, Sara knew the game was up. Sadly Steve had to go and Sara had to accept and take responsibility for recruiting a Square Peg for a Round Hole!

To Mitigate the RISK

Over Reliance on CVs 
Candidates who appear to be perfect for the position on paper are not always successful when the realities onboard the yacht come into play. It is widely recognised that other factors, like personality traits, attitude to work, and communication skills are just as important in predicting how well-suited someone is to a job role and the culture onboard.

Over Reliance on ‘Gut Feel’ Judgement
Experienced leaders / recruiters can feel confident in their ability to get a feel for whether a person will be good for the role and fit into the culture onboard. However, it has been shown that this belief is often overstated and better recruiting is achieved by obtaining a more objective and measurable psychometric assessment.

Relying Too Much on References 
While applicants may have listed excellent experience and qualifications, you'll likely want to check the truth of the details they've provided. One way to do this is to ask for references. However, don't place too much weight on references, good or bad. Someone’s apparent great performance in their previous role does not necessary mean they have the personality attributes that mean they will shine onboard your yacht. Likewise, a negative reference from a previous yacht does not automatically mean that they won't thrive on your team.

Unconscious Bias  
Recruitment relies on your decision-making abilities, which means that you must avoid unconscious bias. You may unwittingly discriminate against certain candidates in favour of people who share your background, social class, ethnicity, age, or gender. Psychometrics provide an objective assessment and so mitigates against the impact of unconscious bias.