Most people will be familiar with them – whether it was part of an interview process for a new job or as part of a training and development program at your current employer, you will more than likely have encountered these multiple-choice based assessments at some point or another. But what exactly is psychometric testing? The clue is in the name – simply the measurement of the mind.
They are particularly popular with law firms and HR teams at the extreme ends of the hiring spectrum. They are often used at early stage assessments of training contract applicants to whittle down large numbers of hopefuls to a more manageable pool of candidates. They are also common tools in senior and executive recruitment and selection, where they can augment the interview process, providing additional insight into an individual’s cognitive abilities, motivations, psychology and even their moral compass.
The real question is – do they work? Paul Flowers, infamous ex-chairman of Co-op Bank was reportedly awarded the job over more qualified peers due to his outstanding psychometric scores – he was spectacularly proven to be completely inappropriate for the role, after a £1.5 billion hole was discovered on the balance sheet, not to mention the drugs and sex scandal that came along with it.
Advocates of testing assert that problems like this arise, not due to the effectiveness of the assessments, but how they are used. Psychometrics should be used as a tool in the decision-making process – rather than being the sole basis for a decision. They can be incredibly useful in aiding interviewers in mitigating bias and strengthening objectivity if used correctly.
With digital tools becoming increasingly common in the hiring process it is predicted that use of psychometric testing will only grow, so it’s important that hirers get to grips with which tools to use, when to use them and how to integrate them into a well-rounded, objective decision-making process. Careful role analysis should be carried out and desired competencies and behavioural traits identified before embarking on any testing, rather than trying to retro-fit test results to a brief.
In senior and executive recruitment, they are best used as a platform for discussion and should be seen as a tool for assessing risk and success factors, rather than in labelling a candidate as ‘right or wrong, good or bad’. It is also very important that hiring teams decide what factors they want to prioritise and what exactly they are testing for – if you are assessing a CEO who you already know to have a great track record, then it makes more sense to test for cultural fit and motivations that it does to have him/her sit a cognitive ability test.
In summary, psychometric testing remains an integral part of the assessment process for senior hires. With the ever-growing prominence of data driven decision-making in business, it is likely that the tools available will become more sophisticated and prevalent. It is however, imperative that testing is applied thoughtfully and intelligently to avoid bad decision-making and unnecessary friction in the interview and assessment process.
As part of our Executive Search and Selection service, Panoptic offer psychometric testing programs that are intelligently tailored towards your vacancy and critical success factors.
