What does Importance on a trait mean?

Setting importance will give candidates a better opportunity to pass if they have a stronger ability level on traits that matter most to you and your organization.

Behind the scenes at career.place, the scores for the traits you have selected are combined into a single overall composite score. This is done by multiplying the applicant’s score on that trait by the weight you have set for that trait, then adding up those numbers across all the traits. This is akin to calculating a grade point average (GPA) in school – the grade in the class (i.e., the applicant’s score) is multiplied by the number of credits for the class (i.e., the weight you set), then added up across all classes (i.e., traits). Decisions about applicants are made on this overall composite score.

With GPA, a four-credit-class is going to have a lot more influence on the overall GPA than a one-credit class. But all classes worth four credits would contribute the same to overall GPA, as would all classes worth one credit. Similarly with career.place, traits that receive higher weights will have more influence on the overall composite score than traits with lower weights. But all traits that have equal weights (whether high or low) contribute the same to the overall composite score.

Default Settings

By default on career.place, all traits you have selected are assigned an equal weight. This strategy is based on a sizable amount of applied research, which has found that equal weights for assessments used in personnel selection tend to be effective across a wide variety of samples, situations, and industries.

Changing Weights

If you decide to change the weights from the default settings, there are several things to consider:

• It is the differences in weights that matter. If all selected traits are given the same weight, then all traits will be treated equally; choosing all high weights or all low weights results in the exact same candidates moving onto the next stage.
• Small changes in weights are unlikely to have a significant impact on the quality of the candidate pool moving on in the process. It is best not to overthink these small differences.
• In general, the traits that are absolutely critical to success on the job should be given the highest weights; the traits that are important, but not critical should be given lower weights, comparatively.