Psychometric testing has become a large part of the recruitment and evaluation process. Tests designed to understand different aspects of a candidate’s personality or cognitive abilities. In other words, it’s a way of understanding a person’s suitability for a job or their performance at work.
With a total suite of psychometric tests at your disposal, you can get to understand everything from a candidate’s behaviour to their emotional intelligence and how they would respond in a stressful situation, amongst other things.
Of course, these tools need to be managed correctly in order to get the best results. Today, we are going to take a look at the different types of psychometric tests and the best practices that should be used for each candidate.
Types of psychometric testing
At Thomas, we have a range of psychometric tests that cover everything from interviews to personal assessments and development.
Behaviour - Personal Profile Analysis (PPA)
The PPA assesses Fears, Motivations, Values and Behavioural Style with the aim to understand how the assessment taker behaves at work under different circumstances.
Workplace Personality - High Potential Trait Indicator (HPTI)
How well do you know if someone is suited to their role? The HPTI helps identify leadership potential by exploring a person’s personality traits.
Aptitude - General Intelligence Assessment (GIA)
Designed to measure capacity including problem solving and adaptability, the GIA measures an individual’s aptitude in 5 key areas; Reasoning, Perceptual Speed, Number Speed & Accuracy, Word Meaning and Spatial Visualisation.
Emotional Intelligence - Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue)
Emotional intelligence is being valued as one of the big skills businesses need to recruit more of in the future. The TEIQue measures how well candidates can understand another employee’s emotions as well as fostering engagement and loyalty. The TEIQue measures traits concerning Well-Being, Self-Control, Emotionality and Sociability.
360 Degree Feedback
The Thomas 360 quickly and easily enables people to gather performance feedback from their managers, colleagues, team members and customers and then compare this feedback with their own perception of their performance. This helps to uncover issues that may be affecting employee performance and can be used as a tool for increasing self-awareness.
Engage
Engage is the psychometric test designed to establish the levels of engagement within the organisation and help identify areas to help employee wellbeing, motivation and productivity.
Use of technology for psychometric testing
With more people working remotely and interviews being conducted over teleconferencing technology, the application of psychometric testing through digital channels has helped businesses with their recruitment and assessment needs - especially over the last year.
Candidates don’t need to come to an office and sit in front of a screen, instead they can take an assessment at a scheduled time and in return, the business gets results which will help identify the right candidate or highlight issues that need to be addressed by the management team with the workforce.
Being able to have this information all collated quickly and the results given immediately means that candidates don’t need to wait a long time - speeding up the recruitment process and ensuring that companies get to select candidates based on unbiased data and on the traits that work best for the business. I.e. requiring a candidate that is a little bit more assertive for example.
Remember, if you’re performing these tests online you must ensure that the candidate taking them has the ability to do so. If you are setting a time and a date, make sure that the candidate has received the scheduled appointment and seek confirmation. If the assessments require an updated browser or optimal internet connection, be sure to inform the candidate of this prior to the exam. Be prepared for any eventualities, such as the test ending abruptly or a connection being lost, means you will be able to put the candidate’s worries at ease.
Top tips for psychometric testing
When conducting psychometric tests, there are a few top tips you can use, here are the ones we recommend;
1. Know the business requirements
Why are you testing and what are you really testing for? What differences are being sought by using a psychometric analysis? By understanding this, you have a clear understanding of using the right test for your business needs.
2. Reduce the risk of cheating
Make sure that the tests are being taken by the candidate who has applied. This could be with a video call at the same time of the test being used or when interviewing in person.
3. Share the results with the candidates
Candidates will benefit from feedback and this will help with onboarding or if the candidate isn't successful, it will show a level of professionalism from the organisation.
Assessing and appraising people is a highly complex and subjective process, using psychometric tests is a good way of objectively assessing people's "hidden" traits.
From recruitment to long-term career development, psychometric tests provide a great deal of reliable data to help inform important decisions. If you use the tests, ensure that they are appropriate for your needs, and that they've been rigorously evaluated.
