The benefits of psychometric testing in HR recruitment strategy

[vc_row][vc_column column_width_percent="100" gutter_size="3" back_color="color-717908" overlay_alpha="50" radius="sm" shift_x="0" shift_y="0" shift_y_down="0" z_index="0" medium_width="0" mobile_width="0" sticky="yes" width="3/12" uncode_shortcode_id="124708" back_color_type="uncode-palette"][vc_custom_heading heading_semantic="p" text_size="fontsize-180572" text_weight="500" text_height="fontheight-179065" uncode_shortcode_id="106858"]Summary :1. Psychometric test: What is it?2. What are the different types of psychometric tests?3. How can HR benefit from psychometric testing in recruitment?4. Conclusion[/vc_custom_heading][/vc_column][vc_column column_width_use_pixel="yes" gutter_size="3" overlay_alpha="50" shift_x="0" shift_y="0" shift_y_down="0" z_index="0" medium_width="0" mobile_width="0" width="8/12" column_width_pixel="800" uncode_shortcode_id="618477"][vc_empty_space empty_h="2"][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id="613824"]Psychometric tests are of vital importance in recruitment. They are used by an organization to evaluate and compare the aptitudes of different candidates for a job vacancy, in order to recruit the best profiles. In a complex and unstable economic environment, recruiting and retaining qualified candidates is essential to ensure competitiveness and reduce turnover.HR professionals all agree that people skills are just as important as know-how. So, if know-how is no longer enough to select the right profiles, psychometric assessment brings greater accuracy to recruiters' decisions. This article highlights psychometric tests and their importance in recruitment.

Psychometric test: What is it?

Psychometric testing in recruitment aims to determine a candidate's specific traits by comparison with a standard (usually the job description).It measures the latter's potential and psychological make-up by assessing his or her general behavior and basic skills.In other words, through a psychometric test, the recruiter will try to identify the candidate's talent in areas such as values, leadership, personality, motivations, reasoning, communication, cognitive abilities, etc.You can go even further in the cognitive assessment of your candidates with our Brain test which describes intelligence and cognitive abilities. A totally reinvented assessment inspired by gaming. The test takes just 10 minutes to complete, so there's no time for boredom or impatience. The test takes the form of specific questions designed to reveal a candidate's strengths. These include questions frequently asked during the recruitment process, but much more besides, in order to gather sufficient information to assess a profile's suitability for a given position. While psychometrics reveal a candidate's natural behavior, it also rationalizes HR decision-making, as with CV-free recruitment. For this reason, psychometric testing should ideally be combined with everything you need to know about CV-free recruitment in order to have a 100% objective approach and recruit the most appropriate profiles.

What are the different types of psychometric tests?

Psychometric assessments cover a wide range of tests. These include tests of personality, intelligence, aptitudes and skills, etc.

Personality tests

Why take a personality test? Personality tests are psychological tests that evaluate candidates on non-cognitive aspects.Instead, they focus on the candidate's personality, i.e. their conative and affective nature, as well as their deviations. Among other things, these tests address personal aspects such as :

• Friendliness;
• Open-mindedness;
• Moral conscience;
• Adaptability;
• Emotional stability;
• Internal and relational conflicts, etc.

The most commonly used personality tests for recruitment purposes are :

• The Big Five, a psychometric test that highlights 5 essential personality traits (adaptability, tenacity, agreeability, extraversion and emotional state);
• The 16PF Test, a test identifying 16 character traits whose proportions differ from one individual to another and offering 170 questions to assess reaction in a work situation;
• The SHL or OPQ32 offers 104 questions and measures 32 characteristics, showing the impact of character traits on professional performance;
• The SJT measures responsiveness in work situations and problem-solving skills.

In addition to these, there are many other psychometric personality tests, such as the House Test, Emotional Intelligence and others.

Intelligence tests

Unlikepersonality testan intelligence test focuses on I.Q. and the talent's ability to learn, apply new knowledge, analyze and draw conclusions.Similarly, a cognitive aptitude test assesses decision-making skills, as well as initiative, improvisation and adaptability in the face of habitual or changing situations.Among the most typical cognitive aptitude tests are :

• The Raven Test;
• The Terman Merrill Test.

The implementation of these psychometric tests promotes the detection of potential: an asset of definite value. While the former favors logical analysis, concentration and observation, the latter is practical for measuring I.Q. and is used primarily for administrative positions.

Interest and motivation tests

Interest tests give recruiters the opportunity to question a talent's motivations and expectations. These tests are also useful for revealing a candidate's values and highlighting his or her areas of interest. HR will be able to submit their candidates to it, in order to determine the work contexts in which they will be able to flourish and work to their full potential.

Skills and competency tests

Professional aptitude tests measure the job-related skills and competencies of candidates by comparing them with those in the job description. The aim here is to find the candidates with the most outstanding professional skills. As with other psychometric tests, there are a number of different tests for measuring professional aptitude. The most representative are :

• The Moss test, which measures a candidate's ability to integrate socially in order to understand his or her behavior;
• The Cleaver test, which looks at how people react and work under stress.

In addition, with Artificial Intelligence at the service of recruitment, AssessFirst makes it easier for HR departments to improve talent management with its Competency Framework module . This tool measures candidates' potential against their own skills repository to identify natural talent and areas for improvement.

How do you design a consistent psychometric test?

Developing a psychometric assessment test is a laborious and time-consuming process. First and foremost, it is essential to find the answer to the following three questions:

• What will the test measure?
• Who is the test for?
• What are we going to use it for?

The first question is useful for precisely defining the variable to be studied. While psychometric tests may vary according to the specificities of the job, the second question enables us to adapt them to the needs of the target group. The last question focuses on the usefulness of the test. The answers to these questions will serve as the basis for the construction of a valid and reliable psychometric test.

Test validity

The validity of a test is its ability to assess what it was designed to assess. Clearly, if the variable to be studied is intelligence, the test must measure intelligence and nothing more. So, if a test doesn't measure what it was designed to measure, it's not valid.

Test reliability

The degree of reliability, on the other hand, indicates the precision with which a test is measured. In other words, a test is said to be reliable when the same candidate takes it several times and obtains the same result. If the result differs with each test, this simply means that the test is unsuitable for its measurement.

Why should HR departments use psychometric tests for recruitment purposes?

Between reduced turnover, increased sales, time savings, resource savings and undeniable ROI, there are many benefits for HR in using psychometric testing in recruitment.

Save time and money

On the face of it, the use of a psychometric test shortens the recruitment process and the time it takes to hire talent. It makes HR's job easier by enabling them to quickly weed out unsuitable candidates and identify the best profiles. Save time in your HR management bycarrying out a psychometric assessment of your talents.

Combating bias in recruitment

Did you know? There is a 50% chance that a recruiter will choose the wrong people. 14% chance that traditional interviews will identify the best profiles. 99% certainty that candidates will be hired on the basis of a good first impression. Indeed, the decisions made by recruiters are often influenced by numerous biases (both conscious and unconscious). These may include :

• Affinity bias ;
• Anchoring bias ;
• Attribution bias ;
• Confirmation bias, etc.

Nevertheless, the application of a psychometric test enables HR to reduce the impact of bias. This leads to more objective choices. For an HR process geared towards diversity and inclusion.

Reduce the risk of turnover and build employee loyalty

In fact, the right fit between profile and job increases the rate of commitment and loyalty among a company's employees.To achieve this, the recruiter needs to implement an effective hiring strategy to select the talent best suited to the positions to be filled.If a psychometric test analyzes talent on its potential and psychological states, predictive recruitment reconciles soft skills and HR ROI for fast, optimal HR management.

Other advantages of psychometric tests

In addition to the advantages mentioned above, psychometric testing has many other benefits for both the company and HR managers. These include :

• Promote the company's employer brand;
• Objective, non-discriminatory recruitment;
• Empower managers and make HR's job easier;
• Predict the performance of candidates for specific positions, etc.

Conclusion

In the final analysis, psychometric testing is of undeniable interest to HR departments and companies seeking to improve their performance, because of the objectivity and accuracy it brings to recruiters' decision-making.The real challenge is to effectively integrate psychometric tests into recruitment processes, so that they can make a real contribution to identifying the best candidates for the positions to be filled.[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner row_inner_height_percent="0" overlay_alpha="50" gutter_size="3" shift_y="0" z_index="0" limit_content=""][vc_column_inner width="1/1"][vc_button button_color="accent" radius="btn-circle" outline="yes" border_width="0" display="inline" css_animation="zoom-in" animation_speed="800" link="url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.assessfirst.com%2Fen%2Fbook-a-demo%2F|title:Book%20a%20guided%20tour%20of%20AssessFirst|target:%20_blank|"]Book a product tour[/vc_button][vc_button button_color="accent" radius="btn-circle" border_width="0" display="inline" css_animation="zoom-in" link="url:https%3A%2F%2Fapp.assessfirst.com%2Fregister%2Fstart%3Futm_source%3Dwebsite%26utm_medium%3Dblog%26utm_content%3Dpsychometric-recruitment-test|title:Try%20out%20AssessFirst%20for%20free%20for%2014%20days|" button_color_type="uncode-palette" uncode_shortcode_id="149119"]Try it for free for 14 days.[/vc_button][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][vc_column width="1/12"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column column_width_use_pixel="yes" gutter_size="3" overlay_alpha="50" shift_x="0" shift_y="0" shift_y_down="0" z_index="0" medium_width="0" mobile_width="0" width="1/1" column_width_pixel="1200"][vc_empty_space empty_h="2"][uncode_index el_id="index-983816" loop="size:3|order_by:date|post_type:post|taxonomy_count:10" auto_query="yes" auto_query_type="related" screen_lg="1000" screen_md="600" screen_sm="480" gutter_size="3" post_items="media|featured|onpost|original,title,author|sm_size|hide_qualification" single_overlay_opacity="50" single_padding="2" single_title_dimension="h5" single_title_height="fontheight-179065"][/vc_column][/vc_row]