How can employers tell whether the people they hire have integrity, are responsible, are drug-free, and are hardworking? The answer to that question is to use the Step One Survey in the job applicant screening process.

The Step One Survey is a new concept in honesty evaluations that is a step ahead of the traditional integrity tests on the market. The Step One Survey not only measures attitudes toward integrity, it also measures a job applicant's attitudes about personal responsibility, drug use and work ethic. This enables employers to gather information about job applicants' attitudes toward stealing, acting responsibly in the work place, using drugs and giving a full day's work for a full day's pay.

Many problems facing employers today result from a lack of employee integrity. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has studied the reasons businesses fail and has concluded that employee theft contributes to a third of business failures. It can be said these employers have their businesses stolen from them by their employees.

The developers of the Step One Survey employed an innovative technique in developing this 21^st century hiring tool. While many other integrity tests were designed to be paper and pencil lie detectors, the Step One Survey uses an entirely different concept. Section I uses direct admission questions to explore an applicant's attitudes and background, while Section II compares the applicant's responses with those of two distinctly different groups -- recently released ex-convicts and long-term retail store employees with excellent work histories. The ex-convicts' crimes were predominantly offenses dealing with theft and drug use.

Test items for the Step One Survey consist of questions in which there were statistically significant differences between the two groups. By administering the Step One Survey to prospective employees, an employer can tell whether they think like people who have been convicted of serious crimes or people who have histories of integrity, responsibility, and drug-free, long-term employment.

The Step One Survey can make the difference between having a profitable, successful business and one that fails. It is an economical tool to help protect the assets of any business.