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With their experience in the Tech & IT sector, working at a digital services company (ESN) and then as a partner at a digital sector-focused headhunting firm for Estelle Calestroupat, currently a Work Psychologist and Key Account Consultant at Pearson TalentLens, and 5 years at Cisco, a globally renowned IT company, for Anna Ballerand, current HR Manager of Pearson France, they have agreed to share strategies to better attract, recruit, and retain employees in this sector.

7 Strategies to Better Attract, Recruit, and Retain Employees in the Tech & IT Sector

• Strategy #1 - Highlighting Company Culture: Employer branding must align with the company's values and reality on the ground. "To attract Tech-IT talents, a company must assert its difference, its added value," asserts Estelle Calestroupat, supported by Anna Ballerand, for whom it is essential that the company clearly showcases its corporate culture, and its CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) initiatives. Estelle Calestroupat also emphasizes the importance of developing a managerial culture aligned with the company's values and ensuring it is deployed at all levels of management.
• Strategy #2 - Anticipating Future Needs: Being visionary and proactive. The tech and IT sector is continually evolving, HR leaders need to work alongside their business counterparts to proactively plan their talent needs in order help reduce skill shortages in the future and reduce the risk of increased pressures on current staff workloads while new roles wait to be filled.  Modelling future business models HR leaders can see in advance any need for training and development giving employees time and the valued investment to develop. 
• Strategy #3 - Building Internal and External Networks: Creating a community of former employees and a pool of candidates for potential future employees. The value of networking both internally and external to the business cannot be overestimated. Former employees who have felt valued and invested in can be brand ambassadors for your organization and provide a much-needed route for recommendations. Consider networking events from graduate fairs to community groups. 
• Strategy #4 - Improving Recruitment Processes: "Recruitment processes are often too lengthy and discourage many," laments Anna Ballerand. "Streamlining processes is necessary to increase efficiency and enhance the candidate experience," she recommends. The skills sought in candidates are also evolving. "It's no longer possible to recruit solely based on technical skills (hard skills)," explains Estelle Calestroupat. "Adaptability and learning ability, as well as the ability to analyze complex, multiple, or even contradictory data, having a broader perspective, as well as pedagogy, interpersonal skills, and teamwork, have become strong success criteria in Tech-IT professions. Values and commitment also play an essential role in the alignment between an employee and the company."
• Strategy #5 - Investing in Training: To address the challenge of skill development, which is even faster in this sector than in other fields, it is important for companies to invest in employee training. "It involves supporting employees both in constantly evolving technical skills to ensure a solid foundation of expertise within the company and to meet the strong technical appetite of some employees (e.g., investing in certifications), and in the development of certain behavioral skills (especially for career advancements in project management, management, or sales)," specifies Estelle Calestroupat. Anna Ballerand gives the example of Cisco, which offers several training initiatives, including renowned technical certifications in the sector. Their "Graduate Program" (recent graduate program) that she herself implemented at the European level is another example, offering several days of training abroad for new recruits.
• Strategy #6 - Offering Attractive Working Conditions: The Tech-IT sector is known for offering relatively high salaries to its employees. "There is a fierce battle among digital players to attract the best profiles," testifies Estelle Calestroupat. "This power struggle is reflected in salaries and benefits (company cars, bonuses, profit-sharing, installation bonuses for remote work, proposals for company stock options, etc.). "Competition is such that differentiation between various sector players involves offering additional benefits such as greater work flexibility or a recognition program," confirms Anna Ballerand. "In the technology sector, a culture of pure onsite work makes no sense," reminds Estelle Calestroupat. Flexibility in working hours and formats (remote work, hybrid, onsite) is essential.
• Strategy #7 - Encouraging Career Development: Managing professional advancement. For Estelle Calestroupat, it is important "to support mobility within the company without confining employees to predefined career paths, provide visibility on advancement opportunities, and support mechanisms in place."

An 8th Strategy - Using Psychometric Tests

To better recruit talents in this sector, support their skill development, and career progression, HR professionals can use psychometric tests: personality and values inventories, intellectual aptitude tests, critical thinking assessment tests, as well as motivation and professional interest questionnaires.

They allow them to:

• Identify individuals most suited to the position and the company's culture.
• Predict job performance.
• Reduce turnover rates by fostering better alignment between employees and their work environment.
• Implement personalized development plans encouraging talent retention.
• Improve engagement by creating a positive and productive work environment conducive to personal and professional growth.

Due to increased demand for care, healthcare staff face high workloads, irregular schedules, and stressful situations. This often leads to professional burnout and high staff turnover rates, compromising care quality and job satisfaction. What strategies can be implemented to preserve the mental health of medical personnel? 

Healthcare: A Stressed Sector

According to the WHO, professional burnout is "a syndrome resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed." Several factors contribute to this:

Staff shortage: In the medical sector, all positions must be filled to care for patients. Staff shortages result in overtime and increased workloads to manage a higher number of patients, leading to physical and mental fatigue, decreased productivity, medical errors, absenteeism, and departures.

Innovation: Besides constant advancements in medications and treatments, the medical sector increasingly relies on technology to modernize equipment and surgical techniques. Staff must adapt to these innovations while maintaining transparent and connected patient relations, adding to stress.

Exposure to risks: Staff are continually exposed to health risks (infections) from contact with sick patients in overcrowded facilities where protective equipment, safe facilities, and prevention measures may be insufficient. Psychological risks also exist due to the emotional burden of the job. Patient deaths or verbal abuse can be stressful and traumatic, influencing staff well-being.

Professional Burnout: A Problem in Healthcare

Alarming Figures

According to surveys, nursing has the highest professional burnout rate at 70%. Nurses often feel they can do more than permitted or are unable to provide adequate care due to high patient loads. Overwork triples the risk of professional burnout, leading to intentions to leave the job. About one-third of nurses (32%) consider leaving the profession, while over half of physicians and other healthcare professionals feel exhausted, stressed, and ready to quit due to factors such as staffing shortages, low salaries, mental and emotional strain, job insecurity, inflexibility, and lack of support. 

Cause and Effect

Staff burnout results from both staffing deficiencies and high turnover rates, causing a cumulative effect. Burnout affects patients as medical staff struggle with emotional, mental, and physical fatigue, impairing patient relations and care.

Tips to Prevent Healthcare Staff Burnout

By actively listening to staff, considering their needs, and supporting their learning and career development, HR managers can prevent burnout:

• Encourage open dialogue to assess well-being, understand needs, and listen to improvement suggestions. Tools like 360-degree surveys or motivation and satisfaction questionnaires for employees or teams are useful for empathy. 
• Provide recognition and rewards (praise, bonuses, promotions) for highly engaged employees.
• Invest in training and professional development to keep staff up to date on industry trends, best practices, medical and technological advancements. Motivation and satisfaction measurement tools help tailor career development and training programs.
• Reduce workload: Use advanced analytics to anticipate care demand and align resources in real-time; rethink roles and processes with new technology (digitization, automation of administrative tasks) to reduce working hours; explore reliable and efficient recruitment methods. Psychometric assessment tests (personality inventories, cognitive ability tests) can assist in this.

"Every member of the healthcare team is crucial to patient outcomes and experiences," says Dr. Lisa Rotenstein, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. "It's vital to remember this as we strive to optimize both patient outcomes and our staff's experiences." Healthcare staff burnout is a significant issue facing healthcare facilities and HR professionals in this sector. It is imperative to address it to preserve employee mental health and ensure exemplary care quality.

Estelle Calestroupat, Work Psychologist and Key Account Consultant at Pearson TalentLens, and Anna Ballerand, HR Manager of Pearson France, share a common background: experience in the Tech & IT sector. They have agreed to share their experiences regarding the specific HR challenges in this field.

A Dynamic Sector in Full Expansion

Estelle Calestroupat and Anna Ballerand agree that the Tech & IT sector is highly dynamic and constantly evolving. While this trend isn't new, it has accelerated significantly in recent years. "Technological innovations are constant. New products, services, and solutions emerge continuously to meet the changing needs of users," notes Anna Ballerand. The attraction to this sector is undeniable. "It no longer appears reserved only for a few experts. The new generations are comfortable with technology and digital tools; it's part of their daily lives, which draws them to work in this field," adds Estelle Calestroupat.

HR Challenges in the Tech-IT Sector:

• Talent shortage and volatility: The Tech-IT sector is not immune, like many other sectors, to candidate shortages. "The demand for qualified IT professionals often exceeds the available supply, making talent acquisition and retention highly competitive," says Anna Ballerand. Estelle Calestroupat agrees, confirming that "although the number of candidates is growing, recruitment needs are increasing even faster." She warns that "companies in the sector must rethink their approach to recruitment, management, and employee training. Those who succeed will have a real competitive advantage."
• Skills obsolescence: The rapid evolution of new technologies requires continuous training. Anna Ballerand emphasizes that "keeping staff skills up-to-date can be a challenge for HR in terms of continuous training and professional development."
• Need for inclusion: The Tech-IT sector faces challenges regarding inclusion. "Companies need to implement strategies to encourage variety in their teams and address underrepresentation of women and minorities," suggests Anna Ballerand.
  

The Increasing Use of Psychometric Tests to Assess Skills

The skills sought in the Tech-IT sector are varied and necessarily depend on the context, the company, and the position. "All these elements require, as with every recruitment process, an analysis of expectations," recalls Estelle Calestroupat before specifying that "generally, there will be expectations in terms of technical skills/knowledge (or at least an inclination towards new technologies), adaptability/learning ability, analytical skills, and transversal skills (such as organization, rigor, teamwork, communication, etc.)."

To assess these skills, HR professionals can rely on personality and value inventories, tests of intellectual aptitudes, and tests of critical thinking. "Psychometric tests allow either the evaluation of a candidate's strengths and areas for development in relation to the expectations of a position, as in the case of an assessment during recruitment, or to accompany an employee in becoming aware of their comfort zones and areas for improvement (self-awareness, understanding of their functioning) in a developmental logic," says Estelle Calestroupat.

Their advantages are numerous, adds Anna Ballerand:

• Finer selection of candidates: Evaluating candidates' cognitive abilities, personality traits, and behavioral skills helps select individuals most suited to the position and the company's culture.
• Prediction of job performance: Identifying candidates' strengths and weaknesses enables recruiters to predict their performance and make more informed hiring decisions.
• Reduction in staff turnover: Matching employees' skills and personality with the job and company requirements reduces turnover rates.
• Professional development: Understanding employees' development needs leads to personalized development plans that promote talent retention.
• Improvement of employee engagement: Recruiting individuals whose values and personality are compatible strengthens team cohesion and fulfillment in a positive and productive work environment.

Estelle Calestroupat has worked in the IT and new technologies sector for over 10 years. Initially, she worked internally at a digital services company in project management (defining competency frameworks and building evaluation processes), training for recruiters and recruiter managers, and operational recruitment (recruitment and internal mobility) for manager, sales, and bid manager profiles. She then collaborated with a headhunting firm specializing in the digital sector, again focusing on sales, bid managers, project managers, and managers.

Anna Ballerand spent 5 years at Cisco, a globally renowned IT company, responsible for recruitment and employee and manager training support, implementing social benefits, conducting professional interviews, and promoting campaigns such as Great Place To Work®.

The retail sector has long been associated with high turnover rates. It hovers around 60%, meaning that more than half of the staff is likely to change within a year, according to McKinsey. It is imperative for companies operating in this sector to refine their HR practices to optimize employee retention because high turnover rates have significant impacts on their commercial performance. They can rely on psychometric assessments for this purpose.

Turnover Rate: A Key Performance Indicator

The turnover rate (or employee turnover) is a key performance indicator (KPI) that quantifies the rate of voluntary or involuntary departure and replacement of personnel within an organization during a specific period. It assesses the stability of its workforce and its overall health.

A high turnover rate often reflects employee dissatisfaction, inefficient recruitment or onboarding processes, and any potential organizational issues within the company.

Conversely, a low turnover rate reveals employee satisfaction, effective talent retention strategies, and a pleasant work environment.

The Proven and Hidden Costs of High Turnover Rates

 Understanding and analyzing the turnover rate is a strategic imperative. It directly impacts the company's finances and indirectly affects its operational effectiveness.

• Costs of Departure/Recruitment: On average, turnover costs in the retail sector represent 1.5 to 2 times an employee's annual salary, according to Built In. Each time an employee leaves the company, the recruitment, onboarding, and training process must be restarted, and human and financial resources must be allocated to ensure their replacement. The departure of an employee can also entail severance payments. Furthermore, the time it takes for vacant positions to be filled and new employees to become operational, the workload for existing employees may lead to overtime payments, directly impacting the company's financial costs.
• Loss of Production: Turnover affects operational continuity, team cohesion and productivity, and company performance. Constant staff turnover can lead to dissatisfaction among existing employees, even encouraging new departures. Turnover, in this sense, can lead to decreased employee engagement, especially if it is high, and impact on the customer experience and sales due to a loss of service quality.
  
•  Negative Impact on the Company's Brand Image: Employees who work in a company with high turnover are unlikely to recommend it to others as a place to work or even to use its services or buy its products. The company loses attractiveness.

The Role of Psychometric Assessments in Employee Retention

Psychometric tests explore personality, assess abilities, identify motivations, interests, and values of an individual.

• Personality Inventories: They assess personality traits, which are behavioral tendencies and interpersonal characteristics related to relationships with others (leadership, sociability, cooperation, empathy, etc.), emotional management (stress resistance, flexibility/adaptability, etc.), work approach (reliability, attention to detail, regulatory compliance aspect, success/effort, perseverance, initiative, etc.), and mode of thinking (innovation, analytical reasoning, independence, etc.).
• Intellectual Aptitude Tests: They provide information on numerical, verbal, spatial, and mechanical skills as well as the ability to solve complex problems and the ease of learning. They also assess critical thinking (ability to quickly grasp key aspects that will impact any decision, distinguish assumptions from facts, evaluate arguments in favor of possible actions, and draw conclusions that will lead to objective decision-making).
• Motivation and Professional Interest Questionnaires: They provide information on an individual's motivational state, sources of motivation/demotivation, professional interests, needs, and values to better support them in developing their career plan and make them feel fulfilled professionally within the company.

In recruitment, psychometric tests allow retail companies to:

• Gain in-depth knowledge of a candidate's potential, beyond their resume.
  
• Secure recruitment through concrete and reliable information provided.
  
• Ensure the candidate's profile matches the job requirements and reduce turnover.
  
• Enhance the candidate's experience by identifying their strengths and areas for improvement.

In development, psychometric tests allow them to:

• Identify and develop the potential of their employees.
• Identify their skills for better development.
• Support internal mobility.
• Better understand each staff member to improve their employee experience.

To reduce their turnover rates, retail companies must rethink their talent acquisition and retention strategies. The use of psychometric tests allows them to recruit individuals whose profile aligns with the company's culture and the position to be filled, ensure they have the necessary skills, and evaluate those that are useful to develop to encourage them to stay and evolve within the company for as long as possible.

Possessing critical thinking skills is sought after and highly valued in the banking sector to adapt to changes, make decisions, address issues, and propose solutions.

Banking: A Sector Undergoing Rapid Transformation

In the banking sector, customer expectations are evolving rapidly: They demand user-friendly and intuitive interfaces for their online and mobile banking transactions, as well as a smooth and transparent experience across all communication channels with their bank. They are very open to adopting new technologies such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, and chatbots to facilitate their operations. They also expect efficient and responsive financial services tailored to their needs and preferences. Finally, they attach great importance to the protection and confidentiality of their personal data against fraud and cyber-attacks.

To meet these requirements, employees in the banking sector must master technical skills related to online banking operations, data management, cybersecurity, and the use of new technologies. Additionally, they increasingly require behavioral skills in:

• Communication to effectively interact with clients and respond to their needs clearly and concisely in person, by phone, email, or chat. 
• Negotiation to reach agreements, resolve conflicts, and achieve favorable conditions for both the bank and clients.
• Critical thinking to analyze complex situations, identify problems, and find solutions.
• Attention to detail as precision and thoroughness are essential for managing financial transactions and ensuring compliance with regulations.
• Adaptability and time management to quickly adapt to new technologies, processes, products, and services, and juggle multiple tasks while meeting deadlines. 

The banking sector employs many people but experiences high attrition and turnover rates. To remain competitive in a market marked by uncertain economic and geopolitical conditions, increased technological disruption, fierce competition between traditional banks and new, more innovative and agile players, banks must compete to attract and retain top talent. They must evolve their talent acquisition processes to improve efficiency and speed, and focus on assessing these skills, particularly critical thinking.

Critical Thinking: A Highly Coveted Power Skill in the Banking Sector 

According to a global study by PwC, while digital skills are considered important by 70%, 77% recognize that critical thinking skills, such as emotional intelligence and judgment, are crucial in banking professions. Isabelle Jenkins, Head of Financial Services at PwC UK, adds: "Being adaptable, collaborative, and demonstrating critical thinking skills is important. If we truly want to leverage technological advances, we will need the right people with the appropriate skills so that we can truly solve problems, drive productivity, and create growth. Investment in technology is essential to achieve all these goals. But it must be guided by human ingenuity, expertise, and understanding."

Carole Fortier Bidan, Senior Product Developer at Pearson TalentLens, and Christelle Cadoret, Psychologist and HR consultant, authors of the book "Embracing Change and Making Informed Decisions - Critical Thinking & Adaptability" (Pearson, Human Skills collection), define critical thinking as a mindset aimed at logically analyzing situations for a specific purpose, such as problem-solving, explaining a viewpoint, interpreting, or justifying a decision. It involves searching for facts, evidence, understanding and analyzing different perspectives, and personal qualities such as listening, humility, curiosity, open-mindedness, and taking a step back. It requires self-awareness regarding one's own biases, beliefs, stereotypes, and cognitive biases to limit their impact on decision-making and positioning. It is practiced through constructive effort that involves and promotes a collaborative spirit in the service of collective intelligence.

It is qualified as a power skill because reasoning and decision-making are the least automated tasks in the workplace. 

Providing the Means to Assess Critical Thinking 

Laure Bogeat, current Director of HR Development and former Head of Recruitment, Career, and Employment Services at BPCE Infogérance et Technologies, the IT GIE of the BPCE group, the second largest French banking group, testifies to the importance of critical thinking in the banking sector: "Our environment is complex, systemic, and evolving rapidly. In the context of recruitment challenges, it is a tight market at the heart of new technologies and the digital transformation of the group, we wanted in our recruitment processes to ensure a level of analysis, an understanding of our challenges, and intellectual flexibility allowing our new recruits to thrive in our structure. The Watson-Glaser™ III Critical Thinking Assessment naturally emerged. It informs us of the intellectual approach of the candidate to solve a problem and make a decision, but also on the understanding of their environment, their interpretation of factual data, and synthesis capacity, all relevant elements in our selection criteria."

Critical thinking skills are crucial within the banking sector and the ability of HR professionals to assess this ability can make a difference to the long-term talent acquisition process. Helping to identify and develop new candidates into roles and spot potential high-performers for training and leadership roles in the future.

Overall, exercising critical thinking ability has a crucial role in the banking sector for making informed decisions, identifying and evaluating potential risks in financial operations, proposing creative and innovative solutions to clients, in compliance with established regulations and standards, and with a focus on confidentiality and data protection. It is an essential skill to assess and develop in candidates and existing employees.

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.

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.

According to the authors of the Which Career For Me program, too many companies rely on skills as the only basis for internal mobility. Between job descriptions and skills repositories, the concept of motivation is still not included, yet it is central.

Competences fade, motivations last

In a job description, we generally find professional activities and technical skills, recently completed with some soft skills and personality elements. When it comes to internal mobility, the standard tool remains the intranet job board, which consists of posting job descriptions, their geographical characteristics, and the associated salary.

However, skills are rapidly becoming obsolete in a world of constant change. The OECD has confirmed this: their lifespan used to be estimated at 20 years in the 1960s-1970s and will not exceed an average of one year in 2025. In a context of mobility, it is not necessarily those who have the skills for a job who are most motivated to get it. Today, employee motivation is key. The latest generations prioritize purpose in their jobs. People leave a company when motivation fades and they no longer relate to it.

Becoming an active member of your own mobility

Each person has his or her own motivating factors. This is why employees need to have tools that empower them to take ownership of their careers. Questioning themselves about their own professional interests or even their frustrations helps to regain this power. Many people undergo mobility as a result of reorganizations, for example.

Nevertheless, even in this context, it is possible to involve employees by giving them the opportunity to identify positions that interest them. It is important to trust them. 

Acquiring new skills using motivation

Competence, which is transient, is ultimately not a barrier to mobility. Science has proven that brain plasticity allows for the development of skills in any field. Therefore, there is no such thing as being "good at math" and "bad at French". In reality, skill acquisition is primarily a matter of motivation. A person motivated by research and inquiry will likely have difficulty in building business skills.

Psychologist Carol Dweck from Stanford University coined the concept of growth mindset. It reflects the fact that as long as a person believes that they can develop skills in a field, they will do so successfully. All it takes is the right training. Its opposite, the fixed mindset, could be summed up by the sentence, "I was never good at this, I will never get there." In reality, in a mobility context, technical skills are secondary. It is motivation that is the driving force behind success.

Support Talent Development with Pearson TalentLens

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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.

In 2020, the World Economic Forum estimated that one out of every two workers in the world would need re-skilling (training to acquire new skills needed to change jobs) over the following five years. According to projections from the Future of Jobs Report, companies will need to incorporate new job roles into their organizations in the same time frame: e.g., data analysts and data scientists, AI (artificial intelligence) and machine learning specialists, business development professionals, etc. In all, ten mostly new professions will represent a workplace demand estimated at nearly one hundred million people.

New technical skills, backed up by essential soft skills 

These staggering figures illustrate the scale of the challenge that is now facing all business sectors and companies of all sizes. In order to keep a competitive advantage, and to survive the emergence of new players, they have no choice but to adapt and transform in order to remain agile. 

The pandemic has added to this, accelerating the transformations already taking place, particularly in the digital space. More than ever, the question arises as to the need to adapt technical (hard) skills and improve behavioral (soft) skills to maintain employees’ employability. 

Such an approach is even more important given that employees are also voicing that expectation. According to the Great Insights 2022 study conducted by the Great Place To Work Institute, employability is one of their primary concerns.

Nearly one in two employees state that they will need to upgrade their skills and/or pivot job role in the next five years, but almost a third of them do not feel that they have benefited from specific career development support over the past year. 

Five ways hiring manages can help to create a culture of employability

The study also reveals that training and development programs are becoming one of the defining criteria when choosing to work for a potential employer. With this in mind, here are five ways you can create a culture of employability at your organization:

1. Future Proof your Talent Pools

The best talent pipelines are those that are nurtured. Building a talent pool takes time and requires a well-orchestrated strategy which focuses on the long-term aims of the business, as well as the immediate needs. Cultivating conversations with potential candidates for roles that may not yet be fully formed enables hiring managers to be future focused. This coupled with insight from team managers across the business as to what values, skills and personality will be the best fit for the team, can help hiring managers to make informed decisions to attract top talent.

2. Move to Skills-Based Hiring

Avoid restricting your candidate pool by only focusing on qualifications. Adopting a skills-based approach to hiring opens your talent pool, giving you a wider reach and the ability to attract candidates outside of your usual recruitment network. In the US, “LinkedIn has seen a 21% increase in job postings advertising skills and responsibilities instead of qualifications”. This strategic approach can result in a more varied and multi-skilled workforce, and even help to improve retention rates.

3. Use Psychometric Insight

Psychometric assessments supply detailed, data-driven insight into the values, personality, skills and potential of candidates. There are two forms of psychometric tools - personality and aptitude tests - which together can provide a comprehensive overview of a candidate. With tools such as Role Assessment, a custom employment assessment can be created to meet your roles’ requirements, and its results generate a fit-to-role score that aids in your decision making.

4. Evaluate Talent Retention Strategies

From quiet quitting to quiet thriving, today’s employees are making their feelings on employability known. Gen Z’s priorities are focused on a work-life balance where active steps in creating a culture of wellbeing and inclusion are sought after. Today’s candidates want organizations who echo their values and aren’t afraid to speak up or move on if they don’t align. Take time to review your company brand and values. How do you present yourself? Are you actively living your values? How are you working to upskill and retrain your teams?

5. A shared culture of upskilling and reskilling

The future-of-work challenge cannot be met solely by improvisation. The whole organization, from employees through to top management, needs to subscribe to a culture of “employability” so that each person takes ownership. Executive management sets the course and shares a strategic direction and its implications for the development of job roles. Line management then implements that strategy by identifying development areas for its teams and by working with employees to determine their own employability.

Employability must be embraced across business units to future-proof organizations. Priorities have evolved, technology has marched forward, and organizations can no longer afford to wait and see what skills gaps will develop in the future. Taking steps to reflect on your organization’s employability approach can help future-proof your talent pipeline and address the growing skills gap. For more information on employability, download our whitepaper - “How to Put Employability at the Heart of Corporate Strategy.”  

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.