Last weekend, I was walking through Costco and found myself fighting to make it through crowds of people all vying for food samples. On the weekends, there are multiple stations throughout the store where you can taste samples of different foods before you buy them. Because they sell food in bulk and customers are hesitant to buy large quantities without trying it first, they have found that offering a taste boosts their sales. In general, people like free food – but they also like to be able to try something before they commit. Wouldn’t you? And, the larger the commitment, the more likely it is that you’ll want to try it.

On Monday, February 28^th I will be presenting at the ATP Innovations in Testing Conference in Palm Springs, CA.  I will be talking about two interactive simulations that we developed at Select to measure a person’s ability to multitask effectively.  One of the simulations is more relevant for manufacturing environments while the other is designed for call centers.  Technology is making it easier for us as test developers to come up with creative, interactive solutions to address specific assessment issues and multitasking lends itself to such an approach. 

It is official, talent is a valuable resource and the systems used to find it and develop it will increase in demand over the next decade. One of those systems is testing and assessment.