Hiring typically comes down to the opinion of one individual or a select few who have taken part in an interview process. A decision can be often be made on a hunch, based on references or on an individual who was very convincing during the interview process and often a combination of all three. Over the years, I have heard a number of stories related to hiring disasters which many of my contacts would love to forget.
As part of our search process, we encourage our clients to include psychometric tests to aid interviews and the final decision. For decades, businesses worldwide have long been reaping the benefits of psychometric tests. This invaluable candidate assessment method can help businesses identify an individual’s long-term potential by exploring and measuring their personality, behaviours and cognitive ability.
Psychometric testing refers to a variety of tests and tools that measure a candidate’s suitability for a role or organisation. These tests cover several different areas and subject matter areas.
Psychometric aptitude tests measure a candidate’s abilities as well as their intelligence levels and help explore aptitude which pertains to numerical, verbal and logical skills to determine problem-solving and information processing speed. Other psychometric assessments explore personality, behaviour and emotional intelligence to look at how candidates communicate as well as their potential for leadership.
Using Psychometric Testing during the interview process
Typically, candidates are assessed by reviewing their CV or resume, conducting an interview (or a series of interviews), and perhaps assigning them a task or project.
Psychometric tools in recruitment offer detailed and insightful information to assist the additional information gained from the interview process. They can help to assess aptitude and personality, and exploring things like an individual’s communication style, emotional intelligence and behaviours as they relate directly to the workplace. We recommend introducing psychometric testing after the first or second interviews. The additional information gained from the testing can be used to help create useful questions for interview.
By using psychometric tools, employers are better equipped with a deeper level of understanding to determine whether a candidate has the skills and personality traits for the role in question. To find out more about psychometric tests and how it can help your recruitment process, please contact Tom McNally for more information.
