Dr. Wendell Williams

R. Wendell Williams, Ph.D., is Managing Director of ScientificSelection.com. He specializes in helping organizations develop job competencies, measure applicant skills, implement performance management programs, develop performance appraisal systems, make promotion decisions, and develop Web-enabled hiring sites. Contact him at rww@scientificselection.com .

Leaky Hiring Tests

Dr. Wendell WilliamsJuly 20, 2011July 23, 2015

Is your hiring test leaky? I mean, does it pass too many unqualified candidates? I recently did a search for “hiring tests.” Google turned up … Read more

If It Does Not Cause, You Need to Pause

Dr. Wendell WilliamsJune 30, 2011July 22, 2015

Do the vast majority of people who pass your personality tests turn out to be exceptional performers? If you answered “no,” then your tests aren’t testing. … Read more

Who and What Can You Trust These Days?

Dr. Wendell WilliamsApril 6, 2011July 22, 2015

A few days ago, John Hollon wrote a short blurb about the growing population of HR “experts.” I could not agree more. I blame it on public exposure … Read more

Hiring Salespeople: Pitch or Woo?

Dr. Wendell WilliamsJanuary 26, 2011July 23, 2015

In my last article about hiring salespeople I focused on the need to evaluate trust pre-hire. In this article, I’ll discuss the need to evaluate candidates … Read more

Hiring Salespeople: Pitch or Woo?

Dr. Wendell WilliamsJanuary 24, 2011July 23, 2015

In my last article about hiring salespeople I focused on the need to evaluate trust pre-hire. In this article, I’ll discuss the need to evaluate candidates … Read more

Hiring Salespeople: Trust or Consequences

Dr. Wendell WilliamsJanuary 20, 2011July 23, 2015

This is a time when many organizations are scrambling to produce sales. Some will be successful and some will not. Sales success and trust-building skills … Read more

Hiring Salespeople: Trust or Consequences

Dr. Wendell WilliamsJanuary 19, 2011July 23, 2015

This is a time when many organizations are scrambling to produce sales. Some will be successful and some will not. Sales success and trust-building skills … Read more

Get Ready Hiring Managers: Here Comes the EEOC, and It’s Mad!

Dr. Wendell WilliamsJanuary 12, 2011July 23, 2015

In case you were enjoying yourself over the holidays instead of reading my critically-acclaimed (OK, criticized) articles, my objective is to bring best … Read more

Hiring Salespeople You Only Dreamed About (Part 2)

Dr. Wendell WilliamsDecember 28, 2010July 23, 2015

I ended Part 1 with Arthur C. Clarke’s third law, “Any sufficiently advanced (hiring) technology is indistinguishable from magic.” It’s a play on words, … Read more

Hiring Salespeople You Only Dreamed About (Part 1)

Dr. Wendell WilliamsDecember 27, 2010July 23, 2015

Senior managers, at least the ones I know, think spending $10 today to get $100 back is a no-brainer. They think getting $100 back, over and over, is even … Read more

Sales Assessment: What Can I Say After I Say I’m Sorry?

Dr. Wendell WilliamsNovember 29, 2010July 23, 2015

Imagine you were in charge of quality control, and no matter what you did you still had a problem with 80% of your product. Do you think it would be a good … Read more

Home-grown Tests: Living Dangerously

Dr. Wendell WilliamsOctober 12, 2010July 22, 2015

I’ve written before about frustrated managers designing their own hiring tests. The story goes like this: one or more line managers become so dissatisfied … Read more

Hiring Metrics: Totally Useful or Totally Useless?

Dr. Wendell WilliamsSeptember 15, 2010July 23, 2015

This is a real dilemma for me. On one hand, corporate recruiters clamor for metrics, but when I tell them what is necessary, their eyes glaze over. My … Read more

The Cost of a Bad Hire: How to Actually Do Something About it

Dr. Wendell WilliamsAugust 10, 2010July 23, 2015

John Sullivan wrote about the cost of a bad hire. Reading through the list, I thought it was extremely comprehensive … someone must have done their … Read more

Uncovering Test Secrets, Part 2

Dr. Wendell WilliamsJune 25, 2010July 23, 2015

Validation can get squirrelly fast. Without first conducting a legitimate job analysis and choosing a legitimate hiring test, there is no need to go any … Read more

Uncovering Test Secrets, Part 1

Dr. Wendell WilliamsJune 24, 2010July 23, 2015

This might seem like a no-brainer, but many tests used for selection/promotion have no validity. In lay terms, the scores predict absolutely nothing! Not … Read more

The Missing Link in Disposition Codes

Dr. Wendell WilliamsJune 10, 2010July 23, 2015

Imagine you are a coach. It could be in the business world or on a playing field. What can you control: how the game is played or the final score? If you … Read more

Hiring: What You Don’t Know Hurts!

Dr. Wendell WilliamsMay 25, 2010July 23, 2015

When I was a kid, I watched adults get their teeth pulled and replaced by dentures. My kid-brain thought it was normal. When I grew up, my adult brain … Read more

Validation: Sense or Nonsense?

Dr. Wendell WilliamsMay 4, 2010July 22, 2015

Why don’t physicians bleed patients anymore to let out the “bad” blood? Why did they stop freely administering opiates, radioactive water, and addictive … Read more

Two Tools for Managing Applicant Flow

Dr. Wendell WilliamsApril 6, 2010July 23, 2015

There are literally hundreds if not thousands of products in the marketplace promising solutions to managing applicant flow. But, how do you know which … Read more