What Personality Traits do Treasurers Have?

What personality traits should make a good treasurer? The results of the Treasurer Test help to better understand a candidate’s natural predisposition to specific personality traits. Editor of the Treasurer Test, Máximo Santos Miranda, gives us his take on what the most important personality traits are that treasurers should have.

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In Search of Treasurer Excellence

Is there an ideal skillset and personality of a treasurer? Can we see common denominators among the treasury population? What is in the handbook “finding a treasurer”? Pieter de Kiewit and team Treasurer Search speak about this all the time, as their clients ask about this but also because it is part of the essence of their work. They discussed some observations on how challenging it can be to find “the treasurer” for the job in their recruitment work, and how the Treasurer Test can ease this challenge. Read the article below.

Source

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Treasury Career Service – Find new possibilities in your Treasury Career!

After marriage, children, and buying a home, career decisions are the most important for many of us. An increasing number of people want to create conscious career directions for themselves. On their initiative or of their employers. Adriana Ciuche, certified Treasury coach and treasuryXL, house of the Treasurer Test, found each other in the “Treasury Career Service“. This is a service that helps (aspiring) treasurers create a foundation for their careers.

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Objectifying and Clarifying the Treasury Match

Treasurer Search, a partner of the Treasurer Test, noticed an increased number of candidates taking the Test. In this blog, Pieter de Kiewit tells us two examples where the Treasurer Test helps them with recruitment processes.

 

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Career Calibration and the Treasurer Test

Contributor to the Treasurer Test, Pieter de Kiewit (Founder & Owner of Treasurer Search), explains in this article how the Treasurer Test adds value to a usual calibration meeting.

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Example Question #1 | Treasurer Test

How is your Treasury knowledge? Today we investigate your Treasury Expertise and ask you an example question that you might face when taking the Treasurer Test…

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Launch of the Treasurer Test 2.0, the new version of the assessment tool for Corporate Treasurers

treasuryXL announces the launch of the Treasurer Test 2.0, the new version of the assessment tool for Corporate Treasurers.

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The Launch of Treasurer Test 2.0 Is Just Around The Corner. Why and How did We Create a New Version?

In 2017 we created the Treasurer Test, an online, peer-based assessment that measures the technical knowledge in treasury and the personality profile of the candidate. The idea for this originated from two important observations. First, in most labour markets there is no recognized qualification in treasury like CPA or CFA in other finance positions. Second, most companies do not employ many in treasury and they do not have the expertise to screen potential treasury staff. So how do you know your candidate brings what you are looking for?

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A deeper dive into the Treasurer Test Technical Knowledge part

Different from the multiple-choice questions in the Big5 Personality Profile assessment, a number of treasury technical questions require you to make calculations. Furthermore, there is a time pressure component: there are more questions than you will be able to answer within the limited time. You will have to balance between answering questions right and answering as many as possible. It is not possible to skip questions.

In previous blogs and in the Treasurer Test example report we mention the four corporate treasury sub-disciplines we work with. For each discipline you will have a limited time of 10 minutes to answer the questions.

In the below summary you can see what topics you can expect:

  1. Risk Management: future contracts, FX, interest, inflation, hedging, ALM, derivatives
  2. Corporate Finance: various bond types, valuation, equity, dividend calculations, rating agencies, bank loans
  3. Cash Management: zero balancing, liquidity management, bank account management, notional pooling, netting
  4. Treasury Miscellaneous: transfer pricing, withholding taxes, capitalization rules, investments, treasury organization, reporting & analysis, accounting & accounting principles, treasury technology and tender processes.

Together with industry and university experts we continuously work on updates of the questions catalogue. A challenge is to balance what is always relevant in corporate treasury, what is new and what will remain relevant.

It is possible to send your input for the further design of the questions catalogue. We are currently discussing topics like tax reforms, trade finance, treasury technology, alternative funding sources.

On behalf of Team Treasurer Test,

 

Wout van Wijlick
Marketing Coordinator, treasuryXL

 

 

6 reasons why we use Big5 for the personality profile test

Since the start of the development of the Treasurer Test we were convinced that including a personality assessment would bring added value. In a previous blog we describe why there are many well-known and documented typologies and standards for personality testing in the market.

Without describing others in detail, this is what we like about the Big5 model.

 

  1. Big5 consists of a set of traits that describe the personality of the candidate that consistently define behaviour. A number of other assessments measure a wide variety of other aspects in a person that do not necessarily predict behaviour
  2. The Treasurer Test questionnaire based on theBig5 typology is designed with a working and professional perspective in mind. The questionnaire is not derived from questionnaires that are used for clinical purposes. It is taken into consideration that candidates with various cultural backgrounds will make the test, although these will have an effect that cannot be erased completely
  3. As with many other assessments, Big5 is a self-assessment. Our test developers have chosen for accessible questionnaires and paid attention to wording that matches the audience (well-educated professionals). Repetition is unavoidable in order to measure consistency: there is no shortcut that delivers the same quality. The way questions are asked helps the candidate to avoid giving the answers he/she thinks are the socially acceptable
  4. Many scientific institutes work with Big5 creating a vast amount of data and thus solidifying the typology. There is no single, commercial institute that owns the concept and has to balance quality and sales. There is no monopoly in the training of experts using Big5
  5. Many typologies work with a binary mindset: “if you are red, you are not green” or “you are either introvert or extravert but not somewhere in between””. There are even models that put, for example, rational and emotional on one axis. It’s like comparing apples and oranges. This type of thinking is often quite convenient, but the reality is often not black and white. All this is taken into consideration with Big5: single aspects are measured on one continuum
  6. Statistics have proven their value in science and modern life. The fundament of Big5 lies in solid numbers, Gauss curves and related concepts. Results are robust and can be reproduced. Scientists from independent institutes, who focus on methods and techniques helped building Big5.

There is a vast amount of scientific literature on this topic. With your cooperation we will include links to relevant input.

On behalf of Team Treasurer Test,

 

Wout van Wijlick

Marketing Coordinator, treasuryXL