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Future-proofing recruitment strategies with psychometric insights.

There’s no avoiding the pace at which jobs are evolving, and along with them the skills required to succeed. Recently, LinkedIn highlighted the top 25 fastest-growing job titles from Data Science Manager to Machine Learning Engineer. Many roles didn’t exist ten years ago, others have developed as technology has advanced.

Add to this mix - the development of AI and digital technology, changes in the economic and global climate, new generations taking up positions in the workplace and shifts in work-life priorities - and we have a talent market that is continually being shaped and moulded by these factors into something new. 

Organizations are looking for ways to navigate this evolving talent market and identify candidates who have the right skill sets, abilities and shared values for their business. Research indicates that “just over half (52%) of talent leaders in the UK are using analytics or technology to support their hiring and workforce planning decisions,” making psychometric assessments an ideal way to help recruitment/hiring managers, select top talent, develop current employees and evolve employees into future roles.

 

What is Psychometric Testing?

Psychometric tests for recruitment are the key to matching the very best candidates to the most suitable positions. They are used to measure a range of crucial skills which can aid the recruitment process, such as:

• Numerical skills
• Verbal skills
• Abstract skills
• Critical thinking
• Logical reasoning
• Personality traits and values
• Ability testing

 

How Can it Assist?

Interviews assess a candidate’s suitability for a role up to a certain point, but psychometric tests can assist in determining other crucial factors. These include how well that individual will fit into the existing team, their development within a certain role and their specific preferences and personality traits. Psychometric testing supports the recruitment process by offering specific information about an individual’s fit for a certain role.

 

The Benefits of Using Psychometric Tests

There are numerous reasons why psychometric testing can be of benefit to the recruitment industry, including:

• Reduce hiring costs and increase candidate pool - Adaptive testing means that you can use just one test to assess a diverse pool of individuals with differing abilities along the performance spectrum. On average, a 'bad hire' costs companies 30% of each hire's annual salary. Tools including the new RAVEN'S Adaptive can help you strengthen your decision-making process.
• Quickly sift out unsuitable candidates - with Talent Match you can reach a wide range of candidates who fit your requirements. Skills-based hiring can ensure you’re not ruling out candidates too early, which helps to improve your efficiency and supports candidates’ quality up to the final stage of recruitment.
  
• Predict performance - Tools such as the Watson Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal test is seen as a successful tool for predicting job success. Research shows that organisations can predict over 70% of performance by using the right tools. Results can help you identify and select good team members and possible future leaders.
• Full picture of a candidate - Combining tests into one assessment package enables you to get a full picture of a candidate from skill sets and personality to their ability and values. Helping you to identify the likelihood of a candidate fitting into a team, role or environment.
• Reduces unconscious bias - Taking into account variations in personality, values, learning styles, for example, is a very important “though often a ‘hidden’ and so overlooked, form of diversity” Angus McDonald. Including psychometric tests in your recruitment process can help to reduce bias because they are standardised and objective unlike other methods such as interviews.

“We need to look at people as individuals…individuals bring diversity into the workplace.” Angus McDonald 

 

Harnessing Technology in Psychometric Testing

Types of Tools Available

• Watson Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal - This test measures critical thinking ability. It assesses the ability to look at a situation, understand it from multiple perspectives and effectively separate facts from opinions and assumptions. This appraisal is particularly suited to graduates and managers and looks at comprehension, analysis and evaluation.
• SOSIE™ - This tool measures personal and interpersonal values and personality traits. It can be used to create an even broader picture of a candidate when combined with ability tests within the recruitment process. This test will also offer an insight into the personality and motivations of the candidate, as well as their fit with a role or organisation and, ultimately, their performance.
• Numerical Data Interpretation Test™ (NDIT) - This test is designed to assess an individual’s ability to interpret and manipulate data. This skill is crucial for numerous roles and offers an additional insight alongside academic grades, which do not necessarily predict how well a person will perform when interpreting data in the workplace.
• RAVEN'S™ Adaptive/Advanced Progressive Matrices - These tests are widely used within recruitment for graduates, as well as for IT and engineering. They measure inductive (abstract) reasoning and identify advanced observation and clear-thinking skills.

Ability and Personality

When it comes to hiring, it is crucial to achieve a good balance between sufficient ability and the type of personality that is best suited to and compatible with an organisation.

Psychometric testing offers a deep insight into the personality, behaviours, motivations and aspirations of an individual, enabling the recruiter to see if these factors are as closely aligned with the environment, company and role as the candidate’s ability and CV. Psychometric tests enable recruiters to gain a fully rounded insight into a candidate, offering an effective evaluation and thorough understanding of skills, ability and personality.

 

Valuable Insights 

Insights into aptitude, skills, personality, and motivation are essential to select the very best candidates and to develop and guide your workforce throughout their career at your organisation. Reliable and scientifically proven, our solutions support you in your daily work to get the clearest possible picture of a person’s current and future potential.

Contact our team to review how psychometrics can assist you.

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Recruit talented employees & eliminate the cost of hiring the wrong candidates.

According to research conducted by CareerBuilder in 2016, the average cost of hiring the wrong employee amounts to $17,000. However, based on a study from the U.S. Department of Labor in 2021, this figure can escalate to as high as $240,000, depending on the company and role.

On average, the total costs to lay-off an unsuccessful hire and recruit a new hire is 30% of the annual salary. Consequently, making the correct hiring decision becomes imperative. But how can HR and hiring managers ensure they select the right candidates? Below are strategies to avoid making poor recruitment choices and avoid the financial ramifications of an unsuccessful hire.

 

Preventing Unsuccessful Hires

Traditional recruitment processes often involve a straight forward formula where people apply on a vague or generic job description. Afterwards, several applicants are chosen for interviews, and one candidate is selected soon after. However, what may have initially appeared to be a suitable fit can swiftly turn into a hiring mistake. It can turn out that the new employee doesn’t possess critical skills that he or she claimed to possess. Or their personality, values and behaviour turned out not to match with that of their colleagues.

The primary challenge in a recruitment process is subjectivity. Quite often, HR and hiring managers ask questions like 'What are your main weak points?' and receive responses such as 'I work too much’ or ‘I’m a perfectionist’. This reveals nothing about the actual skills required for the job." If you realise that nearly 60% of unsuccessful hires fail due to an employee's inability to meet the expected level of performance, it becomes crucial to have a clear understanding of the required skills right from the start to avoid hiring disasters. To tackle this, you can consider the following:

1. Clearly define prerequisite and trainable skills 

Prerequisite skills are essential for the role which candidates should demonstrate during the interview as they won't be trained after hiring. They can range from general qualifications like prior experience in a specific field to specific expertise in a particular software program. On the other hand, trainable skills are those that employees will learn on the job, requiring some level of proficiency but not necessarily prior experience.

2. Avoid open-ended interview questions that provide little insight

Ask questions that will make candidates showcase their prerequisite skills instead of open-ended questions that provide little insight. For example, a question like “What experience do you have with working with this CRM software?” will provide you more valuable insights than “What do you do when you have a conflict with a colleague?”. Once the skills have been demonstrated, you can delve into other questions if necessary. However, there is no point in asking them with candidates who cannot prove their ability to perform the required work.

3. Transform subjective 'soft skills' into objective criteria.

When it comes to qualities like "cultural fit" and being a "team player," the interpretation typically vary across companies. To make these soft skills more objective, you can break them down into specific components. So clearly define the qualities you seek in a team player or cultural fit and assess whether your candidates possess these concrete traits. Structure interview questions that allow you to evaluate these components in your candidates as well.

4. Make use of psychometric tests

Psychometric tests for recruitment can be used to objectively measure a range of crucial skills, such as:

• Numerical skills: the ability to carry out arithmetic computation and reason with numerical data.
• Verbal skills: the ability to reason with concepts framed in written and spoken words.
• Abstract skills: the ability to solve unfamiliar problems and learn new things quickly.
  
• Critical thinking: the ability to separate facts from assumptions, to evaluate these and to draw the right conclusions.
• Personality traits and values: measures whether personality traits (such as dominance, responsibility and recognition) and values (such as achievement, orderliness and goal orientation) of a candidate will likely match with the values and culture of the company. Personality tests that are very useful for recruiting. 

Psychometric testing enables the HR and hiring manager to see if ability and personality are closely aligned with the environment, company, and role. Insights into aptitude, skills, personality, and motivation are essential to select the very best candidates and to develop and guide your workforce throughout their career at your organisation.

5. Review candidate’s digital credentials

Digital credentials – often in the shape of a digital badge – provide proof of someone’s learning achievement. These are issued by an educational organisation following a learning experience, such as the completion of a (digital) course or the successful passing of an exam. Such credentials are valuable as they can support or question the skills a candidate claims to possess.

6. Don’t rush!

Approach the hiring process gradually instead of hastily filling an open position. Although your team may be stretched thin with one or more employees short, remember that an unsuccessful hire won't solve the problem. Opting for a quick hire might provide temporary relief but will ultimately bring you back to square one. It's crucial to prioritize quality over speed, so take the necessary time to find the right candidate and sidestep the expenses associated with a poor hiring decision.

7. Withhold subjectivity until the end

Despite the various ways to make an objective hiring decision, you may have two candidates possessing pretty much the same skills, values, and personality traits. In such situations it can be inevitable to make a final decision that is based on subjective grounds like representation, DE&I or shared personal interests. It is important that such decisions are made only at the end of a recruitment process, so it is certain that the selected candidate possess the required skills and has the desired personality and values.

 

Unlock the Power of Psychometrics with Pearson TalentLens

Learn how Pearson TalentLens can help empower your talent acquisition and learning and development teams so you can start building a future-proof workforce today. Learn more about our talent assessment library or get in touch with us today to find out.

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Artificial intelligence, automation, cloud computing, blockchain... companies in the Tech and IT sector are constantly seeking new ways to improve and push the boundaries of existing technology. To remain competitive, they must be agile and source talent with specific skills. What are these skills? How can organizations attract, recruit, and retain talents in this rapidly changing sector?

 

Essential Skills for Success in the Tech and IT Sector

The sought-after skills include:

• Programming skills: knowing how to code in multiple programming languages.
• Knowledge of emerging technologies: staying updated with the latest technologies.
• Data analysis skills: data manipulation, statistical analysis, data visualization, and predictive modeling given the increasing amount of generated data.
• Cybersecurity skills: risk management, intrusion detection, data protection, and incident response to protect systems and data considering rising cyber threats.
• Project management skills: planning, execution, control, and communication to ensure the successful delivery of technological solutions.
• Critical thinking and problem-solving: being able to analyze complex problems, propose innovative solutions, and make informed decisions.
• Communication skills: effectively communicating with technical and non-technical colleagues and clients to collaborate effectively and ensure understanding of technological requirements and solutions.
• Agility and adaptability: being able to quickly adapt to technological changes and new challenges in a constantly evolving environment.

Recruiters in this sector now attach as much importance to soft skills (behavioral skills) as they do to hard skills (technical skills). According to a Deloitte study, leadership skills (54%), problem-solving and decision-making (47%), interpersonal skills (44%), creative and innovative thinking (41%) precede data analysis (40%) as the top essential skills in Tech-IT professions for the years to come.

 

Tips for Recruiting Talent in the Tech and IT Sector

• Specify the required skills (hard skills and soft skills) in the job description.
• Communicate your employer brand, company culture, and the benefits offered as part of the position. Tech and IT profiles are attracted not only by attractive compensation but especially by good working conditions.
• In addition to job sites and social networks, take an interest in dedicated forums, Tech events, hackathons, establish partnerships with training institutions and schools, consider co-option in this highly community-based field.
• Test candidates to identify their skills and use digital tools (remote testing and interviews) that reflect the innovative technological environment of the employer.

 

Strategies for Evaluating Required Soft Skills

There are various methods:

• Problem-solving scenarios to observe how a problem is approached, available options analyzed, and solutions proposed.
• Technical case studies (challenges encountered during software development, implementation of IT infrastructure solutions, or data security management) to assess the ability to quickly understand technical issues and propose effective solutions.
• Coding and programming tests, to measure a candidate's ability to solve problems logically and effectively, their ability to learn new programming languages, or adapt to specific development environments.
• Psychometric tests evaluating critical thinking, cognitive abilities, or intellectual aptitudes to assess candidates' learning and adaptation potential, their problem-solving abilities. Personality inventories will provide insights into their communication skills.

 

Tips for Retaining Tech-IT Talents

• Offer continuous training programs 

According to Sacha Kalusevic, Director of Michael Page Technology, "There should be more continuous training to support employee progression. To attract more IT candidates, companies could highlight the skills that their future recruits will develop in the projects they will undertake and offer them a training program to update or develop certain technical skills." 

• Encourage self-learning and career development 

Tech profiles, accustomed to self-learning, want to enhance their skills to stay aligned with market needs and those of their employers. It is essential to support this and support their career development. 

• Create a stimulating work environment 

It is essential to offer flexible/hybrid work environments (telecommuting, flexible hours, flex office, four-day week) as well as meaningful work with missions, a vision, and clear objectives.

 

The profile of talent in the Tech and IT sector has evolved. Individuals are now recruited not only for their technical abilities but also for their behavioral skills; they are even considered a priority. Such skills should therefore be evaluated during the recruitment process and, also developed among existing employees.

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It's never too late to improve your recruiting process. Follow these 8 tips and best practices to improve your recruitment and hiring decisions. 

The methods and means used for recruitment differ from one company to another. However, most HR professionals agree that mistakes in the recruitment and hiring process can have serious negative effects on the organization. Recruitment issues should therefore not be underestimated in terms of work climate, motivation, productivity and financial impact. To help you limit the risks and find the right candidate, let's define bad recruiting practices and explore our top tips for successful recruitment.

 

What is bad recruiting?

For various reasons, recruiters sometimes make recruitment errors: incomplete job description, imprecise missions in the job offer, etc. Sometimes it's the candidate's profile that does not correspond to expectations: lack of skills, or conversely, too qualified. Another scenario is recruiting an employee without having formally assessed their soft skills: here, the recruiter relies on their intuition and somehow skips the different stages.

What are the consequences for the company?

The consequences of bad recruiting are sometimes not felt until a couple months after a hire has been made. An employee who does not share the values ​​of the company can become a disruptive element in a team and be a source of demotivation over time. Moreover, their lack of involvement can negatively impact the productivity of the team and organizaiton.

The direct consequences of poor recruitment are also an increase in turnover, or even an increase in work stoppages. In the long term, the cost for the company is significant: cost of another recruitment process for the same role, cost of possible replacement and training of the new employee, drop in productivity, consequences on the rest of the team if certain tasks are to be distributed, etc.

 

8 Tips for an Effective Recruitment Process

It's never too late to improve your talent acquisition and recruitment processes. Here are a few tips:

1. Create an Accurate Job Description

One of the reasons for poor recruitment is the lack of clarity about the responsibilties and the skills required for a position. As you write the job description for an open role, be sure it includes the precise responsibilities, the environment and the working relations within the team and organization, the candidate profile sought (level of training, experience, background, skills, etc.), and the relevant success metrics for the role. An accurate job description defines the ideal candidate profile for both hiring managers and recruiters, simplifying sourcing and improving communication between the entire hiring team.

2. Write a Transparent Job Post

Now that you've written an accurate job description, it's time to post and promote the open position. In addition to the responsibilities, skills, and experience required, it's best practice to also include work location (in-person, hybrid, fully remote), type of employment contract (part-time, full-time, contractor), and the expected salary range for the position. To further improve the candidates experience, you can also include detailed information about the stages of the recruitment and hiring process at your organization. Once you have all that information, promote the job internally on your company's intranet, as well as externally on popular job boards such as LinkedIn, Indeed, and Glassdoor.

3. Don't Overlook the Importance of Your Employer Brand

Now more than ever, emplyees want to work at organization that share similar values as them. To help attrach the right profile of candidates, companies should promote their values and culture across the various channels that make up the candidate lifecycle, including the careers website and social media. Portraying corporate/social values, business projects, team outings, employee testimonials showcases the attractiveness of your employer brand and contributes to a positive candidate experience.

4. Prepare for Job Interviews

Besides the interviewer not showing up, nothing is more frustrating for a candidate than facing redundant questions from different interviewers. Interview preparation ensures a shared understanding of the ideal candidate profile. A well-prepared interview team builds trust and encourages candidates to share their experiences and motivations. To implement this best practice, develop interview guides that specify the attributes or skills each interviewer should assess, include useful questions, and incorporate a standardized scoring rubric.

5. Assess All Skills

Before making a hiring decision, it's essential to assess all their skills. This includes soft skills, hard skills, as well as attributes like personality and learning style preferences that impact individual and team culture and productivity. To do this, use tools like psychometric assessments to measure cognitive, behavioral, and interpersonal skills. You can use separate assessments to measure each area.

6. Make Objective Hiring Decisions

Your recruitment process and the tools you employ throughout the candidate journey should improve decision-making for hiring managers by gathering objective data. By using precise job descriptions, pre-employment and psychometric tests, well-informed interviews, and standardized candidate scoring criteria, you can identify the candidate who aligns best with the role and the organization. Additionally, this approach helps reduce biases that may emerge when making judgments based on intuition or interview interactions.

7. Reply to All Applicants

HR should promptly inform all candidates of their application status. Failing to respond, even to candidates who were not selected for interviews, can damage the company's image and employer reputation. Encourage interested applicants to consider future roles within the company and wish them luck in their job search. For candidates who were interviewed but not selected, consider providing constructive feedback that could benefit them in their future interviews.

8. Refine Your Onboarding Process

The initial days and weeks within the organization can significantly impact the employee's overall experience. Effective onboarding should encompass various activities and topics to ensure a seamless transition into the new role. These elements include orientation, introduction to the company history and culture, access to essential resources, familiarity with policies and procedures, clear role definition, mentorship and buddy systems, open feedback and communication, performance expectations, and focused training. A well-structured onboarding process not only helps new hires feel appreciated and engaged but also equips them for success in their roles, benefiting both the individual and the organization. It lays the groundwork for a positive and productive working relationship.

 

Optimize Your Recruitment Process with Pearson TalentLens

Learn how Pearson TalentLens pre-employment and psychometric assessments can help empower your recruiting and hiring teams with the right talent insights. Learn more about our talent assessment library or get in touch with us today to find out more. 

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Improve HR strategy with psychometric assessments to select top talent.

Personality questionnaires, logic tests, evaluation of intelligence quotient, multiple choice questions (MCQ) of general knowledge, the psychometric test comes in different forms, all with the aim of providing greater insight and/or evaluating the aptitudes of candidates. Thus, at a time when soft skills prevail, more and more companies are asking their candidates to carry out tests during the recruitment process, and also their employees. But how should organisations use these tests? What are the advantages? Here are some good reasons to integrate them into your HR processes.

 

Defining Psychometric Testing

Used for professional selection and orientation, the psychometric test is used to measure an individual's logical, verbal and numerical skills, as well as personality, motivations and professional behaviour.

Test Categories

In occupational psychology, the aptitude test sits alongside personality tests, intelligence tests and situational tests or projective tests. Among the different types of tests, we publish the personality inventory (SOSIE), intellectual aptitude tests (DAT™  Next Generation, Watson-Glaser™ lll), and the motivations and professional interests (Which Career For Me).

 

What Situations Are Psychometric Tests Used In?

Psychometric tests are used in various situations of personal and professional life, in particular for a skills assessment or as part of a recruitment process.

For career guidance: Career Counsellors in guidance centres and skills assessment centres commonly use psychometric tests to support their clients in their professional development. Doing a personality test, or evaluating an individuals motivations and professional interests, makes it possible to identify the main elements of an individual's profile and inform the types of roles that may appeal or be suitable for them. For example, tests can highlight their interests, values, predispositions for manual or intellectual trades, creative or analytical temperament, as well as their ability to work alone or in a team, etc.

For certain competitive roles: A number of professions use psychometric tests as part of their pre-employment assessment process. The Watson Glaser-lll for example is most commonly used as a screening tool for recruitment in the legal sector, whilst the NHS employs the use of a number of psychometric assessments to sift and select candidates. Many sites offer free psychometric practice tests in order to help candidates prepare and train for the skills required.

For access to certain professions: The application process for specific professionals such as training to become a train driver or pilot also sees candidates required to undertake technical tests and targeted psychological assessments. Aptitude tests measure in particular the ability to concentrate, resistance to stress and even cognitive abilities. For example, Air France’s selection process, one of the most demanding, includes difficult psychological tests, with a series of logical consequences, as well as group and individual interviews, all over two days!

 

The Advantages of Psychometric Assessments

Scientific Reliability

Psychometric tests make it possible to evaluate an individual, based on an objective statistical approach. As part of its scientific validation, the psychometric assessment must be calibrated to situate a person in relation to a representative sample of the population, with criteria such as age, gender, level of study etc.

The effectiveness of these tools is guaranteed by three criteria: reliability (similar results and scores if the test is taken several times by the same person), validity (the usefulness and specific performance of the test), and sensitivity (the discriminating power that distinguishes individuals from each other). It is strongly recommended to complete the tests with a feedback interview, conducted by a psychologist or a person trained in the tools.

Improved Candidate Experience

Completing tests allows a candidate to check that their profile is suitable for the position offered and that they do not waste their time applying for it. Taking a personality test allows them to identify or confirm their character traits. Similarly, candidates can test their know-how and appetite for a position, with a practical simulation test. Passing tests therefore allows you to get to know yourself better, to identify both your strengths and your points of vigilance, and to assess your ability for which you are applying.  From the employer’s perspective, by collecting complete information on the candidate, the employer can best support them in the onboarding phase, a crucial period for retaining talent.

Secure & Objective Decision-Making

For certain technical positions or management functions, candidates must pass a battery of tests before the job interview. These tools indeed help to objectify recruitment, thanks to the concrete and reliable information they deliver, which is not always communicated via a CV and cover letter. In addition, they make it possible to avoid cognitive biases and discrimination, even unconscious.

In order simplify the recruitment process, it is possible to give a test only to applicants on the short list, for example to decide between two applicants of the same level. The SOSIE, for example, provides the recruiter with details of the personality traits of the prospective candidate and their values. In fact, the results of a test, scientifically proven, support the recruiter in his decision-making, whatever the outcome. However, to evaluate the candidates in an optimal way, it is recommended to cross all sources of information (CV, letter, tests, recruitment interview).

Greater Candidate Insights

Completing assessments allows the recruiter to ensure the suitability of a candidate to occupy a specific position; by verifying that his profile meets the expectations of the role, both in terms of know-how (hard skills) and behavioural skills (soft skills). Among the tests used by companies is the Watson-Glaser™ III , which assesses the critical thinking ability of candidates called upon to manage and make decisions. Salespeople can also be tested in a targeted manner on their behaviour in a professional situation (relationship with the customer, conflict management, etc.).

In addition, psychometric tools can help to predict candidate success, helping to reduce turnover and the costs associated with recruitment errors. As a recruiter, you can assess the candidate's ability to perform in the role and, in part, their professional development. How will this person fit into the existing team? How are they likely to evolve in the company? Are they capable of innovating? Knowing a candidate's potential also helps shape and inform HR teams long-term strategic skills management.

 

Unlock the Power of Psychometrics with Pearson TalentLens

With the right strategy and tools, you'll empower your talent acquisition teams to make the right hiring decisions. Want to see how Pearson TalentLens can work within your hiring process? Learn more about our talent assessment library or get in touch with us today to find out.

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