The Power of Psychometrics
Clare Suzanne Borg
May 13, 2019
5
mins

Psychometric assessments are personality and ability tests that are used to measure personal qualities and measure performance. Psychometric assessments are widely used within organisations for a variety of applications. Starting at the recruitment stage, psychometric tools allow employers to make better, less risky decisions, as well as hire candidates who will be strong performers for the position.

A personality assessment tool can provide insights into a candidate’s strengths and areas of development in a vast range of areas. These include important factors such as leadership styles, introversion and extroversion, career interests, communication styles and their impact on others, and many more. An ability assessment tool can be used to measure a candidate’s ability in areas such as numerical, verbal reasoning, abstract reasoning, mechanical reasoning etc.

The following are some specific examples for using personality and ability assessments in recruitment:

  • When candidates can only be considered for a role if they are up to a certain level of ability, for example numerical and verbal ability;
  • At the final stages of the interviewing process to help guide and inform the final selection
  • At the final stages of an internal promotion programme to assess personal qualities and understand development needs.

Psychometric assessments are also used to assist with talent management, leadership development programmes, succession planning, training and development, and coaching and mentoring. They can be used alongside other workplace interventions to provide an in-depth assessment of an individual on specific qualities or abilities and to facilitate the process of the intervention. The following are some specific examples of applying psychometric assessments in the scenarios just mentioned:

  • Providing a team profile which is very useful for identifying the elements of an existing team as well as potential strengths and weaknesses in relation to the specific team make up.
  • Assessing the risk-taking behaviours that financial traders would engage in, and assessing those risk-type behaviours against the risk-type behaviours of their team.
  • Measuring emotional intelligence at a leadership level and understanding how this can impact people and the organisation.

Once an organisation chooses to use psychometric assessments to enhance the precision and effectiveness of their internal processes, the next step is to identify the right practitioner and most suitable assessment tool to meet their needs. An essential part of the psychometric assessment process is to assign a qualified and licensed practitioner to ensure an objective, fair and valid process that benefits the organisation as well as the person being assessed.

When an assessment tool has been selected, it is both the licensed practitioner’s and the organisation’s responsibility to ensure that the purpose of the assessment has been clearly communicated to the persons being assessed. They need to be clear about the procedures that will be used for testing process, how the test information will be used and to whom it will be communicated. It is also the licensed practitioners’ responsibility to ensure that they understand why the tests are to be used and that they raise any issues or concerns in advance of assessment process. It is the also the licensed practitioners’ responsibility to ensure that the assessment tools used are reliable as well as valid, in other words, is the assessment tool accurate and does it measure what has been chosen to measure.

Following the use of any psychometric assessment, each person who worked through a specific assessment,  must receive appropriate feedback about their performance (ability assessments) or results (personality assessments). Personal feedback should be provided by a licensed practitioner and by means of a detailed feedback report.

When properly utilised, psychometric assessments at work can boost the effectiveness of a number of processes, and are highly recommended as objective, standardised and precise tools that supply an organisation with valuable, unbiased and valuable information. PsyPotential Ltd. offers a wide selection of psychometric tests that are suitable for the various applications mentioned above. All our tests are administered and interpreted by licensed practitioners.

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Written By
Clare Suzanne Borg