Companies today look formultifacetedness in po-tential candidates, be-

sides the ability to performon their job. As a result ofthis, apart from looking intothe résumé, cover letter,transcripts, and even con-ducting a face-to-face inter-view, a number of firms inIndia now use psychomet-ric assessment to determinethe aptitude and personalitytraits of potential candid-ates. While psychometrictesting is becoming wide-spread, there is still a debateas to whether or not thesetests help make an accuratejudgment of a candidate’scharacter and ability tocomplete a job. For employ-ers, psychometric testingassists to gauge the futureperformance of a candidateand hopefully improve em-ployee retention by makingsuccessful hiring decisions.The word psychometric ba-sically refers to the mea-surement of the mind. Un-like education, skills andexperience, the behaviouraltraits and personality of acandidate can be muchmore di�cult to assess dur-ing an interview.

Psychometric tests are of-ten designed to test twoqualities of the applicants— personality and ability.The personality tests are of-ten done using question-naires while ability is mea-sured with tests like logicalreasoning, numerical reas-oning, verbal reasoning,mechanical reasoning andabstract reasoning.

How psychometric test-ing aids recruitmentdecisions?

The format and scientificoutset of this test alsostrengthens the results frombeing ‘duped’ or ‘faked’. Psy-chometric testing providesa powerful way of ensuringthe best candidates are se-lected by assessing theirability and preferred beha-vioural styles. Some keyproblems that these testsaid to solve are detailedbelow:

Scientific, standard-ised and pocket-friendly

It prevents the hiring of acandidate with only “goodinterview skills”. Test isstandardised which meansthat every candidate getsthe same questions and isgiven the same opportunitygiving applicants withweaker interview skills orcandidates who are shy achance to prove they can bevaluable to the company.The tests are fairly cost ben-eficial and could save thecompany money in the longrun.

Timely and e�ectiveThe personality assess-

ment examination helps tocut down this chain-longprocess of hiring. It im-proves the e�ciency of therecruitment process byidentifying the most suit-able candidates early on inthe recruitment processthereby reducing the timeand money spent on unsuit-able candidates.

It helps shape HRstrategy

Psychometric test resultscan produce lead indicatorsto help organisations withselection, talent manage-ment, assessing workforcecapability, employee en-gagement, understandingorganisational culture andsuccession planning with ahigh degree of confidence.

Meeting deadlinesWhile most promising

candidates are good withtheir job roles, it is seen thatmany a time they are unableto work under pressure of

meeting deadlines. Thismethod is used to give an in-dication of a candidate’sability to process bothverbal and numerical in-formation while working toa time limit.

Behaviour assessmentsgive an insight into import-ant workplace behaviourssuch as being organised,time conscious and adapt-ability which go a long wayin predicting on the jobperformance.

Healthier workforcePoor hiring decisions

have a potential to create adisturbed workplace envi-ronment. Psychological as-sessment helps employersform a productive work-place environment of like-minded people so a newmember cannot hinder theamity at the workplace.

It assesses more than just educationFormal education and

past experience will not al-ways provide a clear, up-to-date picture of a candidate.Talent assessing helps toprovide a better, more real-istic and current view of acandidate’s abilities than aformal certificate ofeducation.

It prevents candidatesfrom camouflaging

In an interview, a candid-ate has a tendency to an-swer only what an inter-viewer wants to hear.Systematised selectionprocess based on assess-ment of personality elimin-ates such factors fromarising. Some psychometricassessments also have thebuilt — in lie detectors thathelp identify inconsisten-cies in responses and cap-ture social desirability in-dex of the candidates.

It beats gut-feelingHuman instinct can often

cost a bad hire having im-mense negative e�ect on thestakeholders. HRs thereforerely on a non-human inter-vening approach for the ini-tial screening of talents.

It reduces the risk ofcheating

In order to safeguardagainst the possibility thatcandidates will ask others totake tests, especially cognit-ive ability tests, on their be-half, organisations “proc-tor” the assessment test,either by having the candid-ate take the assessments intheir o�ces or by monitor-ing candidates via videoconference if they are re-mote. The online assess-ments also randomise theorder in which the testitems appear and help pre-vent copying / cheating.

Training anddevelopment

Psychometric assess-ments are increasingly be-ing used for appraisals,identifying training needs,development areas and alsoto identify key strengths.Psychometric assessmentsare an integral part of as-sessment center to identifymanagerial skills and lead-ership potential, where be-haviour is a key ingredien-t.Assessing and appraisingpeople is a highly complexand subjective process, andpsychometric tests are a sci-entific method of object-ively measuring people's“hidden” traits. Startingfrom fresh recruitment tolong-term career expan-sion, these analytic tests canprovide a prodigious deal ofdependable information tomake significant personneldecisions. These tests en-sure that there are appropri-ate values measured foryour needs that have beenrigorously evaluated.

(Ravi Panchanadan isCEO at MeritTrac Services)

These tests can solve ten workplace problems

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RAVI PANCHANADAN