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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.

Like the World Wide Web at one time, AI (Artificial Intelligence) is developing more and more in the business world. All areas of business are impacted, and its powerful technology is revolutionizing the world of work. For some of us, AI is seen as a threat, while others, on the contrary, view it as a great opportunity to transform our work "for the better". 

One thing is certain: AI is changing us. To take full advantage of AI in your business sector, there's one golden rule: anticipate the skills you'll need to evolve your job and use your role as a human being as added value. 86% of respondents to a BCG X study believe they will need training to upgrade their skills [1]. What impact does AI have on professional skills? How can we best prepare for the growing integration of AI into the world of work? Here's how.t

The potential impact of AI on professional skills 

1. Automation of routine tasks: AI automates many routines, low value-added tasks, often characterized by repetitive, predictable and structured actions, freeing up workers' time to concentrate on more complex, creative and strategic tasks, where their human skills are required. 
2. Strengthening analytical and cognitive skills: Professionals need to develop analytical skills to take advantage of AI's capabilities, interpreting the many results it generates. In an increasingly data-driven business environment, AI helps professionals develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills to make better decisions. Listening, humility, curiosity, open-mindedness and the ability to take a step back are personal qualities in high demand in this sense. 
3. Increasing demand for social and emotional skills: The ability to collaborate with, understand and interact effectively with intelligent systems specific to AI requires professionals to have social skills such as communication, collaboration and understanding of mutual needs for better teamwork and conflict resolution. In addition, workers need to adapt quickly to new technologies and accept change. Emotional skills such as resilience, flexibility and stress management are expected for this.

Key skills to develop for the new world of work 

1. Analytical and problem-solving skills: It has become essential to be able to analyze data, identify trends and find innovative solutions to problems. 
2. Creative and critical thinking skills: Developing original thinking skills to encourage innovation and critical thinking skills to step back and manage complex and novel situations is a priority. 
3. Communication and collaboration skills: Perfecting written and oral communication skills, as well as the ability to work effectively in a team and manage constructive interpersonal relationships, is key. This can only benefit collective intelligence and better performance at work. 
4. Adaptability and lifelong learning skills: It's important to be well prepared to adapt to technological changes and evolutions in the job market by adopting a lifelong learning approach. 

Strategies to prepare for AI in the workplace

1. Keep abreast of technological trends: It's vital to keep abreast of advances in AI and the fields likely to be impacted by this technology. 
2. Develop transferable skills: Investing in general and transversal skills that can be updated and applied to different professional contexts can only be beneficial. 
3. Take training courses and obtain new certifications: It's a good idea to strengthen your skills by taking specific training courses, obtain certifications and benefit from practical experience in the field of AI. 
4. Network and learn from experienced professionals: Exchanging with experts in the field of AI to gather valuable advice and information is also recommended. 

The world of work is undergoing a paradigm shift with the increasing arrival of AI in many industries. To take advantage of this, it's important to understand its scope and prepare optimally for its integration within the company. The human skills required for a job are not necessarily the same as before. Everyone can make the most of this changing environment by developing new key skills, useful for adapting to the evolution of their profession. The rapid progress of AI also requires a culture of continuous adaptation. In this sense, it's important for human resources (HR) managers to support employees in developing their skills throughout their professional careers and encourage continuous learning. In this way, employees will feel better supported in this ongoing transformation and the impact it has on their jobs.

[1] Study by BCG X, BCG's tech entity, on the impact of AI on jobs among employees in 18 countries across all industries and statuses https://www.bcg.com/publications/2023/what-people-are-saying-about-ai-at-work

In the competitive world of recruitment, companies are constantly looking for ways to streamline their HR processes and save time to be efficient. This is where cutting-edge AI-powered technologies such as ChatGPT or BARD can become invaluable. This blog post gives you 5 tips to help automate many of the tedious tasks involved in recruitment, allowing recruiters to focus on more strategic initiatives. Don't miss out our top 3 AI solutions that HR managers shoud use in 2024. 

1. Revitalize your job offers  

Writing job descriptions can sometimes be laborious, even more so when you want them to be different, convincing and attractive. AI (Artificial Intelligence) solutions such as ChatGPT or BARD can help you write more engaging, effective descriptions that highlight your company's culture and specific advantages. The benefits are twofold: attract more qualified candidates and improve the overall recruitment experience! 

So how do you go about it? Provide the tool with all the information and instructions on the position you're recruiting for and ask it to write an impactful advert for you. Then make your choices from the suggested wording (ChatGPT, Bard) picking and choosing only the parts you like. In short, do your own cooking!

2. Optimize your interview planning  

Scheduling interviews can be a real logistical headache, especially when you have to deal with the agendas of several candidates and interviewers. ChatGPT and BARD can simplify this process for you by automatically scheduling interviews according to individual availability and preferences. The advantage? Save time and frustration and ensure that interviews are conducted in a timely and well-organized manner.   

How do you achieve this? Integrate ChatGPT and BARD into your interview management system and provide the availability of candidates and interviewers. Intelligent algorithms analyze this data to automatically suggest compatible time slots, simplifying the scheduling in an efficient and automated way.

3. Communicate effectively with your candidates 

Interacting with potential candidates can be a time-consuming task. Use AI to craft dynamic, personalized contact messages. Whether you're responding to inquiries or conducting preliminary interviews, ChatGPT or BARD's natural language capabilities improve communication, enabling you to connect more effectively with candidates and speed up the early phases of the recruitment process. 

How do you get started? Integrate ChatGPT or BARD into your candidate communication platform. By providing contextual information, these AIs can automatically generate personalized messages, facilitating interactions and speeding up the initial stages of recruitment.

4. Ask the right interview questions  

Preparing interview questions can be a time-intensive task. Generative AI enables you to speed up the process of creating questions and thus preparing for the interview. Your interview questions will be tailored to assess whether the candidate matches the company's values and expectations. 

How do you do it? Provide ChatGPT or Google's BARD with key details about the position you are recruiting for and let them suggest a set of questions that could be asked during the interview to assess candidates' skills. In addition to the job description, don't hesitate to provide information about the company's culture. This will enable AI to generate questions that assess candidates' cultural fit.

5. A smooth onboarding experience 

A smooth onboarding experience is essential if new employees are to feel at home and integrate quickly into your company. By tailoring induction content to the role and experience of each new employee, you can significantly improve the quality of the employee experience right from the onboarding phase. A positive, welcoming atmosphere right from the start of their journey with your organization will remain a pleasant memory for them. And as the saying goes, "You only have to make one good impression".  

So how do you go about it? Ask AI to help you generate personalized onboarding materials: welcome emails, training schedules, relevant company information etc.

Pearson TalentLens has partnered with HirePro, a leading online proctoring provider, to offer secure and automated proctoring across our talent assessment library. This partnership ensures all clients of our globally recognized suite of psychometric assessments continue to drive a fair and data-driven talent acquisition and development process.

As part of the partnership, HirePro’s automated online proctoring will be fully integrated with Pearson TalentLens standalone talent assessments. Bringing decades of experience in recruitment automation, HirePro delivers a secure platform that is:

• ISO 27001 Certified: ensures the platform follows the world’s best-known standards for information security
• GDPR Compliant: meets the requirements for properly and securely handling personally identifiable candidate and employee data.
• Proven Success Rate: boasts video and image proctoring success rates of over 99%.

Automated Proctoring Features Now Available

Talent and human resource professionals using Pearson TalentLens assessments can now benefit from the following automated proctoring features:

• Video & Audio Monitoring: auto-detect suspicious activities in a test taker’s video or audio during the session, including a change in the person taking the test or too many human voices in writing test.
• Image Monitoring: auto-detect suspicious activity in images, such as a face mismatch flagged due to a missing face or obstruction of the webcam.
• Browser Monitoring: auto-detect suspicious browser activities like camera view and tab change warnings.
• Complete Recording: video recordings are available for the complete assessment session and can be accessed anytime for audits and reviews.

HirePro records the entire session and provides recommendations generated by AI to highlight possible infractions. Even with these recommendations, the final decision on test takers will needs to be taken by the client and/or talent acquistion team. The session recording and recommendations are for helping with the review.

In today’s remote-first world, online talent assessments have become a crucial part of the recruitment and hiring process. Companies often rely on these assessments to identify and select the most suitable candidates for open roles.

With the increased scrutiny placed on online assessments due to the rise of automated language modeling and artificial intelligence, it’s now more important than ever for companies to ensure their assessment results are valid and lead to accurate data-driven hiring decisions.

A study conducted by HirePro, a trusted recruitment automation and proctoring solution provider, found that “30% to 50% of candidates cheat during entry-level job assessments.” While this figure drops to 10% to 25% for lateral job assessments, companies must be proactive in curving cheating in their talent assessments. This is where online remote proctoring provides the most value to talent acquisition professionals.

What is online proctoring?

Proctoring is the practice of monitoring candidates during an assessment. Its role during the testing process is to ensure the fairness and security of the assessment, prevent cheating, and ensure all test takers follow the given rules and guidelines. There are three main formats in which proctoring is utilized:

• Live Proctoring: involves a real-time proctor monitoring candidates during the assessment process through a live video call.
• Automated Proctoring: utilizes advancements in AI-driven algorithms to analyze the candidates’ behavior during the assessments (eye movements, background noise, etc.).
• Recorded Proctoring: records the entire assessment session so that it can later be reviewed by the talent acquisition team.

The Challenges of Proctoring Online Talent Assessments

Online talent assessments offer numerous advantages, such as flexibility and accessibility, but they also pose specific challenges that can compromise the accuracy and validity of results. Some of the key challenges include:

• Cheating: without proper supervision or proctoring, candidates can participate in cheating using unauthorized materials, online assistance, and help from others.
• Impersonation: there is a risk of impersonation, where someone else takes the assessment on behalf of the candidate.
• Technical Issues: disruptions can occur due to technical glitches on a candidate’s computer internet bandwidth constraints, causing disruptions and a frustrating assessment experience.

The Role of Proctoring in Mitigating Challenges

Online proctoring plays a pivotal role in addressing the challenges associated with talent assessment platforms. By incorporating online proctoring measures, companies can enhance the credibility of their candidate evaluation process. Here are some key benefits of proctoring:

• Ensuring Assessment Integrity: proctoring solutions ensure that candidates follow all the rules and guidelines set by the assessment.
• Verifying Candidate Identity: leading proctoring solutions offer identity verification, which matches the face on their webcam with a valid form of a picture ID provided by the candidate prior to the assessment.
• Minimizing Technical Issues: proctoring solutions are often seamlessly integrated into the assessment process, reducing the amount of software the candidate needs to use.

Pearson TalentLens & HirePro Remote Proctoring

Proctoring is an essential part of our talent assessment platform. Our goal is to ensure the fairness and reliability of your talent acquisition process. That’s why we have partnered with HirePro, a leading remote proctoring provider, to bring you automated proctoring solutions across our talent assessment portfolio.

As technology continues to evolve, you can be sure we’re continuously improving our proctoring methods to safeguard the integrity of our assessment and strengthen the confidence in your candidate evaluation process.

Learn more about how Pearson TalentLens uses proctoring to deliver valid results.

What is the Pragmatist Learning Style and how can it help shape L&D plans?

Why and how to use a personality test to recruit?

Almost 50% of workplace skills will change within five years, putting learning and development high on the growth and furture of work agenda. But how people learn depends on multiple variables. From cognitive receptiveness to information, emotive state of mind, personal preference, motivation and also an aptitude for engaging with new information or learning materials. 

Today’s employees want something more from work – they want an opportunity to evolve and grow – and this is where understanding an individuals learning style can really help employees. Focussing on their individual goals, looking ahead to new roles – and in the long-term for organisations driving talent retention.

We often assess learning styles by using learning cycle model’s like David Kolb’s learning cycle or to better understand individual proficiency for learning. Understanding one’s learning styles is more complicated than an immediate decision on whether someone is an aesthetic learner or a visual learner. Especially, when you consider that a learner may go through the learning cycle, often reverting between multiple learning styles before settling on a specific learning preference. But the insight gained can assist in shaping learning and development plans for employees for the future. Below we take a look at one of the four key learning styles – the pragmatist learning style. 

What is the Pragmatist Learning Style?

The Honey and Mumford Learning Style Questionnaire has four types of learning style: Activists, Reflectors, Theorists, and Pragmatics. Like all learning styles in the LSQ, the Pragmatist Learning Style is unique in many ways. 

The pragmatist learning style is very forward-thinking in the sense that they actively encourage new trends, trying things out and from a philosophical standpoint, the pragmatist is often at the forefront of new ideas and concepts. This helps lead to new ways of thinking, ideas and processes within an organisation, but also generally from a social-economical standpoint. 

How do Pragmatist Learners Learn?

The pragmatist learner learns best when in collaborative problem-solving situations. This may for example be internal discussions or conversations surrounding a business problem where the pragmatist learner can see multiple perspectives and take away useful insights to consider. 

In most business cases, the pragmatist learner learns best from workshops, team huddles and conferences. They find documentation such as case studies and literature on the subject matter useful post-meeting to deliberate a concept or perspective. They use this time to fuel their learning by contemplating the concept and how this can be applied in the business environment.

Pragmatist learners make good problem-solvers

Additionally, the pragmatist's learning style benefits from solving problems. Naturally, being keen to take on board new ideas, perspectives etc. the pragmatist learning style often enjoys tackling business problems as this provides them with the perfect opportunity to employ new learnings in real-world working environments. This innate desire to test out things makes them a great advert for testing and learning. 

Challenges for Pragmatist Learners 

Pragmatists tend to be practical and realistic, over theoretically led. Hence, when shaping learning and development plans it is important to remember that a pragmatist learners learning can stagnate if the learning is all theory and there is no model or process they can test or learn from. They are not the learners to conceptualise without some grounding in previous learning/model/idea etc. But by identifying a clear benefit from the learning opportunity pragmastic learners can decipher what information is valuable and apply this to personalise and business opportuntiies. 

Interestingly, guidance is a key area. For example, a pragmatist learner may benefit from practice or guidance from instructions/experienced personnel who can show them the way. For many Gen Z learners mentors are reportingly having a positiv impact. According to research, '93% of mentees believe their mentoring relationship was useful’ (MentorcliQ). Identifying learning styles can help L&D teams drill down into what works for the individual and could help in establishing strong relationships with other learners. 

Testing Your Team’s Learning Styles 

In business, it can be beneficial to test your talents' proficiency for learning and the styles from which they most benefit. It’s important to have a varied pool of varied learning styles within each team and throughout each business function. This way, different types of learning, action and development can take place, catering for an improved learning and working environment. In doing so, individual team members can help improve each other and foster more collaboration on projects and tasks. Additionally, each learning style poses various forms of cognitive thinking that can benefit the business. From abstract reasoning to critical thinking, the more variety in the learning styles within the organisation, the more opportunity for various thinking types to emerge and benefit the solving of business probledxms both short and long term. 

The Honey and Mumford Learning Questionnaire

TalentLens has vast experience in administering the Honey and Mumford Learning Questionnaire to businesses and local governments throughout the UK.

We have worked with Global 100 companies and small businesses to improve their screening of candidates and team member learning styles.

Employability is a central issue in the workforce market. With soft skills a central component of this concept, the question of how to reliably measure these skills arises. Psychometric tools provide an appropriate method of reporting a skills profile, Guillaume Demery, Doctor of Psychology and Designer and Developer of Psychometric Tools at Pearson TalentLens, sheds some light on the subject.

Employability: an HR issue placing the individual at the heart of the labour market

A concept studied for several decades; employability has been the subject of several definitions. Thus, for Hillage and Pollard (1998): “In simple terms, employability consists of being able to obtain and keep a job. More generally, employability is the ability to move independently in the labour market to realise one's potential through sustainable employment”. This very general definition makes it possible to understand the importance of the concept as a possibility of adapting to a constantly changing labour market.

However, it is interesting to know and understand the existing levers that allow access to this employability. A definition from Hinchcliffe (2001) states: “Employability is defined as having a set of skills, knowledge, and personal attributes that make a person more likely to be secure and successful in their chosen occupation”. Thanks to this definition, we understand that the individual is at the heart of employability, whether through his knowledge, the skills he has acquired and certain attributes that are specific to him, such as motivation or interests (Fenouillet, 2016).

Soft skills: essential skills to remain employable

It is possible to model the factors influencing employability. Thus, Pool and Sewell (2007) consider that experience, levels of knowledge, soft skills, emotional intelligence as well as development and training throughout the career are key factors, working together to improve employability.

As a result, it is an important issue both for new graduates entering the job market and for professionals in transition and looking either for retraining or career development within their company. (Harvey, 2001; Guilbert et al., 2016). While experience and training within a company are factors that favour professionals over young graduates, soft skills are essential and useful skills upon graduation (Andrew & Higson, 2008).

The essential soft skills to boost your employability

Behavioural skills can be generalised to most trades offered on the labour market and are essential for good employability. Beyond hard skills, namely business skills, we understand that employability is essentially based on the ability of individuals to be able to integrate and adapt to a rapidly changing labour market.

A non-exhaustive list of expected soft skills:

• Professionalism
• Reliability
• Ability to cope with uncertainty
• Ability to work under pressure
• Ability to plan and think strategically
• Ability to communicate and interact with others, either in a team or through networking
• Skills in written and oral communication
• Skills in information and communication technologies
• Creativity and self-confidence
• Good self-management and time management skills
• A willingness to learn and take responsibility (Elias & Purcell, 2004).

Motivation: another factor to consider

Motivation referred to as “the reasons underlying behavior” (Guay et al., 2010, p. 712), and the “the attribute that moves us to do or not to do something” (Gredler, Broussard and Garrison., 2004, p. 106) is a non-negligible factor of employability, allowing, beyond the capacities of the individual, to understand the probability that he adheres and puts in place the appropriate behaviours to remain effective in his profession. It is therefore advisable to know the motivations and interests (Schiefele, 1991).

How to measure soft skills in order to support employability for individuals and companies?

Knowing the importance of employability in the labour market, it is necessary that reliable measures are put in place to help individuals, whether they are new graduates seeking to enter the labour market, professionals looking for retraining or development within their organisations, or companies looking for the best employability profiles in order to have long-term prospects with new recruits.

The advantage of psychometric tests

The evaluation of soft skills requires statistically valid and reliable tools, capable of measuring concepts that are sometimes difficult to observe (for example, the individual's ability to work under pressure). Psychometrics, which is concerned with the theoretical and practical aspects of psychological measurement (Chadha, 2009), is at this stage the most advanced discipline in the creation of such measures.

Several types of tools exist to measure these skills. For example, assessment tests are specifically constructed to measure work styles, those aspects of personality most important to success. Work styles can be thought of as an individual's typical patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaviour that can positively influence success in the world of work, and therefore employability, according to database studies. These working styles are organised around four major themes:

• The relationship to people, such as cooperation or leadership
• Managing emotions, such as stress tolerance or self-control
• Approach to work, such as initiative or reliability
• Thinking style, such as innovative or analytical thinking.

Aptitude tests for a good measure of adaptability

Aptitude tests also make it possible to understand the adaptability of the individual in the world of work, to measure essential skills such as the ability to solve problems, verbal comprehension, the ability to correctly interpret data in order to place entrepreneurial strategies, or the ability to evaluate arguments and issue unbiased conclusions.

These psychometric tests based either on the classical test theory or, thanks to the digital evolution of these solutions, on the item response theory based on a probabilistic reasoning of the calculation of the level of aptitude (Edelen & Reeve, 2007), make it possible to have statistically valid and reliable measurements of these soft skills, or even of the motivations and interests of the individual.

Thanks to these methods, it is possible to establish an employability profile of the individual, so that they understand their levers on the labour market while recognising the skills that they can improve, guaranteeing the establishment of a training circuit adapted to the needs of the user.

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 varied 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 aspect” 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.

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.