Below are 4 effective ways MindMill can guide you through your career choices.

• Motivation – Determining individuals motivations can help give direction and help them manage and understand their expectations. Motivations and interests can be assessed through the use of psychometric assessments to identify personal interests and career options to pursue.
• Career Guidance  –  Finding it difficult to know what career you want to pursue? Think about the type of tasks you would not want to do on a daily basis, just because you can do something and do it well, doesn’t necessarily mean you want to do it day in, day out!  This can help rule out some career paths and guide you closer to the goal of finding a career suited to you.
• Personality Preference – How do you interact and relate to others, what is your work style and can you work unusual hours? MindMill assessments can be tailored to each specific learning environment to look at the following areas- leadership potential, interacting with others,  following rules, thinking styles, concern for others and ability to cope under pressure.  MindMill also have an assessment which can determine when you can perform best e.g. morning, evening, 9.00 to 5.00 or shift work.
• Ability – MindMill offers a range of assessments to help to identify where your abilities lie. Are you good at problem solving, applying logic or learning new things quickly?

MindMill offer a range of online assessments which can be completed in 40 minutes. Automatic reports are generated and sections of the reports include links to various recruitment sites to allow individuals see what roles are related to their career interests.

Want to find out more information? Click on the following link www.mindmill.co.uk or contact us directly on +44 (0) 28933 69844.

DFPF Ltd wished to help trainees to understand their strengths and weaknesses better to enable them to make more informed choices when seeking employment and training opportunities.

MindMill assessments were used as part of the career guidance process. The MindMill system helps young people and adults become aware of their personal skills, qualities, aptitudes and interests in order to enhance their decision making ability when establishing future career paths which best suit them.
Every trainee receives a MindMill report which can act as a discussion aid between the trainee and mentor. DFPF Ltd Job Mentors are now fully trained on using the MindMill system to help them match Training for Success learners and Steps to Work participants to their natural vocational training areas.

After the first quarter of using the assessments, DFPF Ltd carried out a review to determine the success of using the MindMill Assessments. 75% of the trainees indicated they found the assessments useful. When asked why they found it useful, various reasons included;

• ‘It helped me to find my career choice’
• ‘Was useful to find out what other jobs I might be interested in’
• ‘It confirmed I am on the correct career path’
• ‘To help me find the job I want’
• ‘To see what I would be good at’

Trainees were asked if they agreed with their results and 85.7% answered yes. Lastly, the trainees were asked if they would like to complete the assessment at some stage in the future to see if their results have changed and 85.7% indicated yes.

Overall, the use of assessments to help align trainees to suitable career paths is proving to be successful within DFPF Ltd.

MindMill offer technology and psychology services to empower organisations to make informed and effective decisions.

Psychology: We specialise in online psychometric assessment tools that help to define and measure personality preferences, natural aptitudes, abilities, and motivational interests. Our profiling assessments meet stringent guidelines in achieving technical excellence regarding test construction leading to high levels of validity. The assessments are administratively convenient with minimal overheads associated with profiling vast numbers of people over a limited time scale. As a test construction company, we continue to develop our products and on request, can design bespoke assessments for specific client requirements.

Technology: MindMill’s assessment and questionnaire platform is a cloud based system; this allows it to be accessed anywhere in the world where there is a reliable internet connection. MindMill’s tools can be accessed from any modern computer and have been tested on all of the most popular web browsers. MindMill’s tools offer a fully automated service with immediate access to impact and statistical data and has a number of reporting options for administrators. MindMill’s assessment and questionnaire platform can be integrated with an organisations existing HR / Productivity software solutions.

MindMill offer a managed service option that makes an organisation’s recruitment or selection process more efficient. By incorporating a MindMill assessment package in your process you reduce the risk of hiring the wrong individual for a specific job role. As part of this process, MindMill can:

• Engage with an organisation to define the specific role and tailor a MindMill assessment package.
• Manage the whole assessment process for an organisation.
• Provide an organisation with advice, reports and recommendations on the best candidate(s) for the role.

The MindMill Recruitment Package will allow a company to assess up to 20 candidates for £399 + VAT.

To speak to a member of staff about the MindMill Recruitment Package, call +4428 9336 9844 or Email Us.

Click here for more information on all of the packages that MindMill offer.

What is the solution?

One solution which is increasing in popularity is with apprenticeship and graduate training schemes. Companies are currently having great difficulty attracting high quality staff at this time of austerity. Add to this the massive pool of talent and potential waiting to be discovered shows why these schemes are proving ever more popular. These schemes give companies the ability to develop and mould young people into the exact fit for their business, whilst potentially providing significant cost benefits over employing more experienced staff, a significant number of whom will already be in a job and reluctant to move at this time.

How can you ensure quality?

One major issue with apprenticeship and graduate schemes is how can you guarantee the quality of the people you are bringing onto these schemes? As mentioned earlier, there are now over 1 million young people unemployed in the UK. If this number continues to grow at the rate it currently is, how can you guarantee that you are selecting the best possible candidates to go forward onto your scheme? One way of ensuring that the right candidates are selected for the right role, is by using psychometric assessments to screen candidates before interview.

This is where MindMill can help!

MindMill have experience with helping companies roll out apprenticeship and graduate training programmes. MindMill’s on-line psychometric assessment system allows companies to test large volumes of candidates over the internet and also receive instant results as well as instantly rank the candidates most suited. MindMill continue to have a very high success rate in selecting the right candidates for these schemes, we are able to identify those candidates with the greatest amount of potential, who can process information quickly and effectively, indicating the candidates ability to train in a new environment.

If you require any more information on MindMill’s Assessment System, or Case Studies on recent successes MindMill have had with Apprenticeship and Graduate Training Schemes, please contact us at info@mindmill.co.uk.

The MindMill Leadership report is derived from the current, most prominent literature and research on leadership theory. Leadership is seen as set of traits that reveal themselves in the individual leader and manager operating in a dynamic and responsive way in contexts which are either fluid or structured. This is set against whether the individual manager and leader expresses a preferred style in terms of the widely recognised distinction between charismatic or transformational as opposed to transactional model of leadership.

The MindMill Leadership report will provide you with an indication of your leadership potential, and insights into your personal attributes and qualities in the context of managing and leading. The information in this report is designed to help you reflect upon your management and leadership qualities, and highlight both your potential strengths as well as areas that you may wish to develop.

TRANSFORMATIONAL vs TRANSACTIONAL

Current research perspectives on leadership emphasizes transformational models of leadership as distinct from transactional models of leadership. Transactional leaders seek to maintain the status quo by reinforcing subordinates’ efforts and commitment with inducement and reward. Transformational leaders, on the other hand, seek to change the status quo by making others see the work as meaningful and something to which it is worthwhile giving commitment, in order to mobilize subordinates’ energies.

TRANSACTIONAL vs. TRANSFORMATIONAL / FLUID vs. STRUCTURE

As well as having an overall orientation to be either transformational or transactional in leadership style, leadership traits will tend to be more activated in terms of whether the context of the work tasks are structured, or fluid and dynamic. The relationship of personality with charismatic or tansformational and transactional leadership may differ depending on the context in which these leadership styles can be conceived as viable, trait-relevant responses. Transformational leadership is more likely to emerge in environments characterized by a high degree of challenge and great opportunities for change, ie., dynamic environments. Transactional leadership is most likely to appear in more routine, stable environments where goals and structures are clear and/or where individuals work under more formal guidelines. Such leadership aims to keep the organization running smoothly and efficiently by focusing on control by compliance to rules and maintaining stability within the organization rather than promoting change.

To find more information on MindMill’s Leadership report, or other features in MindMill’s Assessment System Version 4.5, please contact us.

The Managing People Report can be used to help understand the employees within your organisation further. Employees differ in terms of their motivations and preferred ways of behaving at work and as a result should be managed accordingly. Employees have different strengths and weaknesses; managers who understand these differences have the key to unlocking potential and obtaining the best results from their employees.

The Managing People Report is based on six domains which are derived from the MindMill Self-Inventory. These domains are called Proactive, Interactive, Reactive, Intellective, Nurturant and Dispositional. To aid understanding of what these domains mean, key HI qualities and key LO qualities are presented in the report to indicate typical behaviours which may be endorsed by those who score on the upper and lower range. A candidate’s individual score will be presented graphically indicating the standing of the individual on each of the six domains. A further descriptive paragraph then follows to indicate what that score means in relation to the individual who has completed the assessment. This report can be used to make decisions about employees where individual differences have been shown to affect performance.

To find more information on MindMill’s Managing People report, or other features in MindMill’s Assessment System Version 4.5, please contact us.

Upgraded Technology

With the newly updated 4.5 release of MindMill’s Assessment System, MindMill have completely overhauled the reporting system. This has been upgraded to automatically generate dynamic content into a PDF within the browser. From here the Administrator can manipulate the document the same as if it was as a standard PDF; performing functions such as saving copies, or printing a report using a peripheral device.

Customisable Reports

Version 4.5 of MindMill’s Assessment System provides a more robust base to build new reports around. This has allowed MindMill to extend our services to the provision of customisable reports for our clients. Customisation includes full dynamic content generation – including new content MindMill doesn’t currently display in its reports, custom logos, and custom colour schemes all determined by the client to meet their specific requirements.

Enhanced Compatibility (iPad)

With the newly updated 4.5 release our software is now compatible with a larger range of screen resolutions. MindMill’s Assessment System now supports resolutions down to 1024×768, and is also compatible with the Apple iPAD in both portrait & landscape modes.

This further expands the list of hardware that our software is compatible with, in the hope that we are compatible to the widest range of clients’ hardware.

Applicant Filter Options

Version 4.5 of MindMill’s Assessment System provides a core filter system to allow an authorized user to parse users via user type in order to search through the various user lists more efficiently. The update also provides added functionality to sort through user lists by all the available fields in the table.

This is another step toward streamlining the Administrator process for maximum efficiency to make overseeing the assessment process a painless task.

Multi-lingual Support

Version 4.5 of MindMill’s Assessment System introduces multi-lingual support, which includes full support for Arabic, Arab Region English, South African Region English, & French.

We are also trialling support for Dutch, German, Tagalog, Tamil, and Hindi.

Enhanced Visuals, Layout and Animations

Version 4.5 of MindMill’s Assessment System introduces a complete graphical overhaul on the original design. More whitespace was introduced to enhance the information available from the system. This provides a less cluttered look that focuses on information & utility.

The layout has been totally changed to again provide a less cluttered look, and also specific task lists based on the tab accessed. Animations were added to improve the overall administrative process, including sliders to move between the various sections of the system interface.

What makes it different from our previous offering!? We have a host of new features in this update including: an updated look, integrated emailing system, a completely new reports engine and a number of new reporting options.

This isn’t just great news for all of our existing customers; this is also great news for all our prospective customers too! We can now offer you an even better customer experience alongside some of the most advanced psychometric assessments available globally. MindMill’s version 4.5 will allow us to tailor a system to fully meet all of your recruitment, training and succession planning needs.

Make sure to visit the blog next week as we will be showcasing one of the important new features to be integrated into the system every day!