Changing Role of Psychometric Testing

Changing Role of Psychometric Testing

Will there continue to be a role for Psychometric Assessment in management processes?

June 2016
Author: Keng Pang, Senior Consultant – Asia, Logistics Executive Group

In recent years there has been a trend for employers to develop a more inclusive workforce that incorporates all sorts of differences including geographic and cultural boundaries, gender, age or anything else. This is where psychometric testing has really come into its own as an impartial testing tool. It is particularly useful as employers move towards strategies aimed at hiring a more diverse workforce were these assessments provide information on skills and abilities in areas that are usually hard to measure like behaviour.

Their impartiality is also an enormous advantage in assisting organisations meet the increasing legislative requirement for equality in the workforce.  Psychometric testing in this instance can provide a transparent, evidence-based recruitment tool that satisfies equal opportunity standards.

They will also be used more widely as other recruitment measures are outdated, such as the new trend by companies such as Google and Ernst & Young to remove graduate requirements from their recruitment processes becomes more prevalent.

Even universities are moving away from placing a value measure on their degrees as new research suggests that when hiring decisions are made more on a candidate’s soft skills better decisions are made.  As Universities remove grading from their assessments, testing can be used as a replacement means of assessing ability in different areas such as literacy, as required by job roles.

More companies than ever are using psychometric testing.  According to the (May 2015) Aberdeen Group study, 71% of Best-in Class companies used psychometric testing. This was an increase in their use by 13% which correlated with an increase of 15% year-on-year improvement in hiring manager satisfaction.  They also state “Businesses that use pre-hire assessments are 36% more likely than all others to be satisfied with their new hires.”

DISC training, such as Logistics Executive Group’s Myprofile, provide valuable information about how a person is likely to behave and react in certain situations. This is of huge benefit to managers, teams and to individuals as it offers a deeper insight into how they can benefit from their differences and how to communicate and motivate each other. “We have been incorporating Myprofile in our recruitment process since 2005 to help us find the right person, with the right attitude and the best talent for our clients. Our clients tell us that Myprofile is one of the fastest, most cost effective and easiest ways to identify the best candidate for the job,” said Kim Winter, CEO of Logistics Executive Group.

Myprofile provides a report for each applicant assessed that features:

• A profile summary for each applicant
• Style graphs indicating intensity of each behaviour
• Preferred working conditions for this person
• How to communicate effectively for maximum performance
• Key behaviour traits
• Value to the organisation
• Career choices that best suit this person’s behavioural style
• Management style and strengths
• Work style review
• Is this person good for the job?

Different psychometric tests also assess cognitive ability such as critical thinking, numerical or abstract thinking that can be tailored to the requirements required by specific roles in the hiring process.

Whilst psychometric testing is known in today’s business world for its role in the recruitment process, in assessing candidate suitability, it has enormous potential for various ongoing uses.

It has the potential for multiple uses to engage existing employees, build teams and assist in career development. As an interactive tool it can build an employer brand by for example incorporating a questionnaire on an employer’s website or it can be used an ongoing tool that gauges and manages corporate culture. Employers are also using assessments in internal talent development and to help employees further their own careers. For example, at cut-e, they’ve built an internal assessment for Dubai Duty Free which assesses the strengths, interests and behavior of their 7,000 staff at Dubai Airport. Individuals can then be automatically identified and matched with future jobs that might suit them.

It is clear that psychometric assessment is a part of the human resources function that is here to stay but what about its use in other areas? It can be uses to attract talented candidates by incorporating trends like gamification on websites.  Gamification is the process of incorporating elements of a game to other areas of activity such as online marketing to encourage engagement. “Gamification is really exciting because it makes the hard stuff fun” says Kim Winter. For example, easyJet use various interactive questionnaires on their website that allow candidates to find out more about the company.

App-based psychometric testing is another area that will develop as a means of providing candidates with a more user friendly experience that is more user friendly and inclusive in keeping with the trend of a more diverse and geographically challenged candidate pool.

“The bottom line” continued Kim Winter, “is that companies want the best people working for them and to cultivate an environment that will bring out their best.  Psychometric tools can provide an ongoing way of helping managers achieve this in ways that are only limited by our imagination”.

As part of their consultative process, Logistics Executive Group offers a complete set of tools to enable managers and their staff find work satisfaction from Assessments for Recruitment and Selection, Professional Development, 360 Degree Surveys, Graduates, Team Effectiveness Measures, Team & Team Member Personality Profiling, and Executive Team and Board Reviews.

It is predicted that the use of psychometric tests will only continue to grow and develop in all sorts of exciting ways. Darryl Judd envisages that the use of psychometric testing can only continue to evolve. “In time they will become immersed in new and exciting ways. They will continue to enhance our work environment and enrich our personal satisfaction through a deeper self-awareness. This can only be a positive thing.” It is also incredibly useful thing in a work environment that is continuously more demanding in pace, complexity and change.

To find out more about the psychometric services offered by Logistics Executive please visit our website: www.logisticsexecutive.com/talent/online-behavioural-skill-assessments/myprofile-online-behavioural-assessments

Keng Pang
Senior Consultant – Asia, Logistics Executive Group

Keng has a total of 20 years of working experience; of which 17 years were focused on the logistics industry, in both Singapore and China. She has accumulated experiences in a 3PL environment for sectors in high-tech manufacturing, luxury retailers , FMCG, Oil & Gas, Chemical and Banking and Financial industry.

The 10 years of general management experience has sharpened her insight into customers’ needs and constraints versus the market trends enabling her to understand corporate and shareholders’ perspectives. This has enabled her to make important and critical decisions and effectively manage resources, focusing in areas which reap desired results.

Keng is also a PMC trained Business Advisory Consultant and has also been trained in assessing Organization Business Excellence.