Psychometric Testing in Recruitment and Its Importance

In a time where every organization looks for the best talents, psychometric testing helps you choose the right candidate through logical reasoning. However, other companies are still struggling to adopt these tests, with only 18% of companies including personality tests in their hiring strategies. To survive in this advanced world, you need to understand the importance of psychometric tests. We have various tests, but the ones you should use depend on your organizational needs. In this blog, you will discover what psychometric testing is and its importance. Without further ado, let us start.

What is Psychometric Testing?

Psychometric tests are statistically backed tests that assess intelligence, logical reasoning, abilities, capacities, and personalities. A resume is full of catchy keywords where candidates hit your pain points. The resumes alone are unreliable because no candidate will present their vulnerability to you. But, psychometric testing will help you assess the hidden. There are many different kinds of psychometric tests, including logical reasoning, personality tests, verbal reasoning, and judgment. Personality tests judge your behaviour and attitude in given job situations. To be fully sure about your new hire, you must make precise and accurate decisions to avoid the cost of bad hires. Do not forget bad hires can cost you up to $240,000.

Importance of Psychometric Testing

Psychometric testing can reap many benefits only if the right tests are conducted according to the job roles. There is a wide variety of psychometric tests falling under two main tests, which are personality and aptitude tests. The importance of each test depends on the type of your hire and organizational requirements.  Around 75% of fortune 500 companies in the UK carry psychometric testing on their candidates to finalize hiring decisions.

Here is a list of important factors of psychometric testing.

Help in judging candidate behaviours

To keep a positive work culture and work under stressful situations your employees need to maintain their calm. Office culture requires high levels of commitment, and if your candidates behave negatively, they can cause a lot of disturbances. To avoid misconduct and ill-attitude, it is important to assess the candidates. For example, if you are hiring a customer representative, you will conduct tests to understand how the employee will react to an angry customer.

Analyzing problem-solving skills

If your organization is part of a flexible industry where external factors are highly impactful on the work, you need to know if your candidate has problem-solving skills. As your organization does not work in isolation, you need someone to be quick at problem-solving. For this, you can analyze the candidates by giving them unusual problems they may not have experienced before. They should think out of the box, as guaranteed by the psychometric tests.

Matches the candidates with the job roles

A candidate who perfectly matches your job description may not be so good in the practical field. Psychometric testing is vital for knowing which candidate will be the best performer on the ground. Suppose a military candidate is a high achiever but does not have anything on their resume other than academic skills. So, to test their logical reasoning to deal with abrupt changes in surroundings, you can take help from appropriate psychometric testing methods.

Grows your organization with cultural fitness

When you hire candidates who fit into your organizational culture, they add to organizational productivity. But to check if they are cultural fits, psychometric tests can reap great benefits. What if a candidate is perfect but leaves after some time because they feel suffocated in your work environment? You do not only need to judge their qualities but also their ability to adapt. According to a survey, 73% of employees reported leaving their organizations because of poor cultural fit.

Reduces turnover

When you choose the right fit for your organization with all the skills you seek who are also satisfied in your organization, it reduces turnover. Satisfied employees add to higher retention. Only through psychometric testing can you judge who may survive in your workplace and who may want to leave later. You will eventually know if an employee would stay committed or leave.

Types of Psychometric Tests

Now, we will discuss a few common categories of psychometric tests that many uses for candidate testing.

Logical reasoning

These are numerical reasoning tests in which candidates receive numerical questions to solve that they need to analyze with critical thinking before answering. Their ability to analyze the data tells you if the candidate is a job fit or not.

Verbal reasoning

This test assesses the candidate's oral language and comprehension skills required to convey information, form a link between the data and the problem, and critically analyze it to make informed decisions.

Diagrammatic reasoning

In a diagrammatic reasoning test, candidates receive charts, graphs, stats, and diagrams to assess as a demonstration of the job. Through this test, employers assess the candidates for their abilities to interpret diagrams and reach accurate conclusions.

Situational judgment

This test includes hypothetical situations similar to the ones on the job to analyze the decision-making power of the candidate and their ability to deal with unusual circumstances. It is crucial for organizations that face constant situational challenges, such as fire brigade companies.

Emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence assessment helps analyze the candidate's emotions under traumatic or pressured situations, such as doctors and military personnel. The intelligence tests check candidates' feelings by making them attend traumatic situations.

Conclusion

Psychometric tests help you analyze the abilities and skills you're looking for without solely relying on candidate resumes and interviews. Many companies are adopting this psychological testing method. Given its importance and the struggle to find job-fit candidates, employers consider it reliable. The world is facing talent shortages today with the higher turnover rate of all time. It requires you to make hiring decisions based on data instead of relying on emotional bias towards the candidates.