Psychometric assessments offer a scientific approach to hiring. Psychometric tests can help you identify the top performers with the skills, behaviours, and motivations that drive success in your company.
What is a psychometric test in recruitment?
A psychometric test is used to evaluate a candidate's cognitive ability or their personality traits. Psychometric testing can provide valuable insights such as job performance, competence, and motivations.
Types of Psychometric Tests:
- Cognitive Ability Tests: Assess reasoning, problem-solving, and thinking skills.
- Personality Tests: Evaluate traits like extraversion, conscientiousness, and emotional stability.
- Behavioural Tests: Assess past behaviour and predict future performance.
- Emotional Intelligence Tests: Measure self-awareness, empathy, and social skills.
- Skills Assessments: Evaluate technical skills, language proficiency, or software knowledge.
Why use psychometric tests when hiring?
When hiring new employees, psychometric tests provide the ultimate insight into a candidate's potential. Providing a comprehensive and highly accurate prediction of that candidates' knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics of good job performance.
Psychometric tests are administered online by test publishers, this means that hundreds, or even thousands, of candidates can be tested from the click of a button, and their data can be compiled and reported automatically. This saves a tremendous amount of time and money for hiring companies, as they can quickly identify those star candidates from their candidate pool with the greatest of ease. Psychometric tests hold no bias and are effective at testing candidates from all job levels from entry level to CEOs. (Harvard Business Review, 2019)
What are the benefits of psychometric testing when hiring?
Some of the main benefits of psychometric testing for hiring companies:
- Job performance: Psychometric tests are the most powerful and reliable predictors of job performance available today and are over 14 times more effective at predicting job performance than the average selection interview. As a standardised testing method, psychometric tests offer a highly effective way of predicting how effectively a candidate will perform in their new job. (Ryan & Ployhart, 2014)
- Organisational performance: The use of psychometric tests in the workplace has been found to lead to the following workplace outcomes: increased organisational performance, increased employee retention, reduced cost per hire, decreased employee turnover, decreased absenteeism and higher levels of employee engagement. Choosing the best candidates and ensuring a high-quality workforce is essential for any organization and psychometric testing is the ideal method for ensuring this. (Kristof-Brown et al., 2002)
- Convenience: Online psychometric tests can be sent to candidates at the click of a button, individually or by the thousand. Consequently, psychometric testing is significantly less time-consuming than other selection processes, such as interviews and assessment centres. This makes psychometric testing ideal for pre-employment screening, high volume recruitment, or busy human resources departments. (Breaugh, 2009)
- Return on investment: The cost of hiring a poor performing candidate has been found to be 3.2 times the salary of the individual (Gallup Inc, 2013). Whereas high-performing candidates were found to produce on average 43% more revenue than an average performing employee (Hay group). The cost of using a psychometric testing platform will likely save you money and result in a better performing workforce.
- Objectivity:Selecting employees using well-researched psychometric tests increases the fairness and objectivity of a selection process. This means that employees can be selected on merit using fair and standardised tests, rather than subjective (or biased) selection methods. Unstructured interviews are classic examples of subjective and inefficient selection tools, which may screen out high performing candidates unnecessarily. Fair, standardised, and valid selection tests are a great way to increase the fairness and objectivity of a selection process, helping organisations avoid legal disputes over unfair selection decisions. (Pierce & Aguinis, 2013)
Are psychometric tests reliable for recruitment?
Psychometric tests can be a useful tool for employers in the recruitment process as they are the most powerful predictor of job performance, but it is important to understand that they are not a perfect indicator of an individual's ability to fit into a job.
The reliability of a test depends on several factors such as the quality of the test and how well it has been validated. A well-designed and validated test can provide valuable information about a candidate's abilities, personality, and other aspects that are relevant to the job in question. However, to maximize effectiveness, it should be used in conjunction with other methods of assessment such as interviews and work exercises to obtain a more comprehensive picture of a candidate's qualifications.
Can psychometric tests measure IQ?
Psychometric tests can assess a person's cognitive abilities, which can include intelligence (IQ). However, not all psychometric tests are designed to measure IQ specifically. IQ tests are a type of cognitive ability test that is specifically designed to measure a person's general intelligence, which is often referred to as the ability to learn, understand, and reason.
How accurate is psychometric testing?
Psychometric tests are an accurate predictor of performance and an essential part of a well-working recruitment strategy as they provide objective measures of cognitive abilities, personality traits, and work-related skills that can help predict a candidate's potential for success in a particular role. By utilizing psychometric tests, employers can make more informed decisions regarding recruitment and selection, and tailor their training and development programs to meet individual needs.
References:
Breaugh, J. A. (2009). The use of psychometric tests in employee selection. Journal of Business and Psychology, 24(1), 21-33.
Gallup Inc. (2013). State of the American Workplace Report, 17 – 18.
Harvard Business Review. (2019). The benefits of psychometric testing in hiring.
Hay Group (2013). The Right People in the Right Jobs: Research Report.
Kristof-Brown, A. L., Zimmerman, R. D., & Johnson, E. C. (2002). Consequences of individuals' fit at work: A meta-analysis of person-job, person-organization, person-group, and person-supervisor fit. Personnel Psychology, 55(2), 281-342.
Pierce, C. A., & Aguinis, H. (2013). The effects of psychometric testing on diversity in personnel selection. Journal of Applied Psychology, 98(2), 221-235.
Ryan, A. M., & Ployhart, R. E. (2014). A century of selection and assessment: Looking back and looking forward. Journal of Applied Psychology, 99(2), 191-206.