Psychometrics and Recruitment
By Stuart Shepherd
For the vast majority of graduate training schemes the days of the ‘interview only’ candidate assessment process are over. In fact for many employers they have been for years. Psychometric testing is the name of the game when it comes to determining your suitability for that all-important first foot on the company career ladder.
You may think you have no idea what they are or how they work. You may believe you have never done one before. But if you have ever completed a personality questionnaire in one of the countless men’s or women’s lifestyle magazines or websites that are kicking around these days – because curiosity got the better of you and you were desperate to find out ‘What kind of a friend’ of ‘What sort of life partner’ you are - then you already have a flavour for what to expect.
The multiple-choice, tick-box format is very typical of many of the psychometric tests around and graduates looking to break in to corporate management training will usually face a mixed set of aptitude and personality tests.
More than ticking boxes
With aptitude or ‘abilities’ tests you will be displaying the verbal, numerical and reasoning skills you bring to a job by working out the correct responses to a series of questions. They are often done on a computer within a set time limit and call for accuracy and speed. The more general tests are measuring how a candidate would apply language and numbers to their work in an office-based post. More specific tests will be used for specialist positions, in IT, sales or finance for instance.
Personality tests however, which will examine things like motivation, people skills and situational responses, don’t have right or wrong answers.
"Take the 16PF Personality Questionnaire as an example," says Sherridan Hughes, occupational psychologist, psychometric test assessor and member of the British Psychological Society (BPS). "Rather than contain positive or negative features, it places people along scales or continuums for the personality traits it is assessing."
"At the opposite ends of one scale," she continues, "you can have people who are very practical and others who are very imaginative. Each are positive attributes within particular employment sectors – marketing and advertising want people who can generate a lot of ideas, whereas a firm of surveyors or accountants would look for a much more practically minded recruit."
Objectivity and reliability
No matter what they are testing for though, the common features that all questionnaires bring to the recruitment and assessment process are objectivity and reliability.
"People who are suspicious of psychometric tests tend to consider them wishy-washy," says Sherridan. "That couldn’t be further from the truth. They are scientific instruments with a high degree of validity, statistically tested for rigour against a wide range of theories and other measures. Practitioners also need to have gained BPS accreditation before they can start putting them to use."
In contrast, the subjectivity and unreliability of the job interview as a selection process has been understood for a long time and is something many companies have discovered to their cost.
Failed interviews
An interview panel equipped with a candidate’s test responses can take a different approach to traditional interviews. Now they can get under the skin of an apparently excellent CV and set of references to explore in detail, from the impartial information they have in front of them, what might be a tendency to adopt an authoritarian leadership style or a disorganised approach to tasks.
"Let’s face it, for somebody that’s hiring, the interview process is too short and doesn’t give them any guarantees at all," says Sherridan. "It’s rubbish really. I quite often hear about interviewers who have had their suspicions about a potential recruit but gone to take them on anyway and then a year later it hasn’t worked out. That is frustrating for both employer and employee."
When psychometric tests are used well and the results inform a balanced and considered approach by the panel at interview, both sides stand to gain. The company get a well-resourced member of staff who will thrive in the working environment and has the potential to develop into a genuine asset. The new employee starts their new position knowing they have what it takes and, equally importantly, they are in a job that suits them.
A learning process
If the unsuccessful applicant on this occasion happens to be you, getting constructive feedback from a well administered psychometric profile can still prove very worthwhile. A genuine opportunity to challenge a set of test results or to explain personal or external factors that could have influenced your responses may also present itself. It is important though when raising a query to stay calm and support the position you take with evidence.
"This is a great way of finding out more about your innate skills and potential," notes Sherridan, "and whether or not you are putting yourself forward for the right kinds of openings. You are entitled to feedback under data protection laws, so ask for it and take it on board. If, for example, they are telling you that you come out as highly imaginative but the post you are going for doesn’t call for that, then ask yourself if it really is what you should be going for."
"That said," she continues, "I have still seen people who against the odds and having registered low verbal reasoning scores, worked very hard and fulfilled their dream of becoming a barrister."
Which just goes to show that a positive outlook still counts for an awful lot and despite the support of scientifically validated material, determination will get you a long way.
As will preparation. While many undergraduate careers services are probably to stretched to offer you full-blown dress rehearsals for the psychometrics ahead they should at least be able to point you towards one or two careers guidance books or sites that include self-assessment aptitude and personality questionnaires to work through prior to interview.
"As indicators of the kinds of careers you should be thinking about these are far better than the computerised interest questionnaires you might be offered,’ says Sherridan. ‘The better you know yourself when you go for interview the better you can anticipate and respond when the panel want to know about why you should get the job."
