I'm curious what you all would do if a strong prospect asked you to fill out an assessment.

Since we are a service provider, and we are business owners, would you comply and fill out an assessment? I'm curious to hear your thoughts before responding.

Lisa

Do you mean an application? (I'm not familiar with the term 'assessment' in this circumstance...)

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I think you need to be perfectly clear with your potential client on what type of assessment it is. If it is skills, no, I wouldn't do it. If it is personality, yes, I'd do it.

Personality testing is illegal (in the US anyway) prior to a person being hired as an employee. Since you are basically contract that won't protect you but if they want personality then they are probably trying to determine if you would work well with them. I would ask to know their type in return though.

Skills assessment is not illegal prior to employment. I think references from clients should cover that area.

My two cents!

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Sundi D. Hayes
Chief Virtual Officer - My Office Zilla
www.myofficezilla.com

Oh! I don't think I've ever filled one of those out...I think I understand what it is now.
I agree with Sundi, if it's a personality based assessment to see if we'd work well together I guess I wouldn't mind.

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Personality assessment, maybe. Skills assessment - NO!

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Julia

Technically it is broken down into Cognitive Competencies and Interpersonal Competencies. The test is timed, questions are on Numerical reasoning, verbal reasoning, spatial reasoning. Then it goes on to rate your level of organization to outgoingness and some more.

I suppose this is a personality assessment.

I hear warning bells because typically personality tests aren't timed. I'd find out the name of the test and do some research online. If they tout being a skills test I wouldn't do it. To me it sounds like a blend of both but I can't tell you for sure without knowing the name.

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Sundi D. Hayes
Chief Virtual Officer - My Office Zilla
www.myofficezilla.com

I wouldn't do any kind of assessment. In business, I would not ask this of any supplier or service provider I did business with. I think I provide very professional and trustworthy references that could validate my skills, experience, and personality. Plus, personality natural tendencies, are nothing like trained customer services skills. Every aspect of customer service training I have had, teaches to adjust to various styles of those around you. A good customer service person, does not get caught adhering to their naturally relationship tendencies, the adjust and accomodate their customers, internal and external. So with that said I think personality tests are worthless. Your real skill lies in whether or not you can adjust to different situations and only real relationships can determine that.

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Sarah Bernstein
Jackson Administrative Outsourcing
www.jacksonao.com

No, I wouldn't. I'll happily give out references but I'm not taking an assessment.

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Rebecka Melson ~ Virtual Business Services

Lisa,

I wouldn't do any kind of assessment either. I like to build my client relationships first and foremost on a foundation of trust. If a prospective client asked me to complete any kind of assessment, I would already feel like they do not have enough trust and faith in me. There will always be clients who are unsure about working with a virtual assistant or curious about your skills, offering to complete small tasks to see how well you and a client work together is a good way to go in this instance, or providing a solid reference list to validate your skills.

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Darlene Victoria Gonzalez
The Voice & Vision Behind Your Business