For many people, hiring staff can be a hit and miss affair. Maybe you interview your candidate, speak to their old managers and - more than you’d like to admit - you listen to your gut feelings. This approach can lead to good hiring decisions; on the flip side, it can also lead to the employee from hell. To assist in making more objective hiring decisions, psychometric assessments offer an objective tool that allows you to assess potential candidates on a range of relevant abilities and personal characteristics, and compare them against a large pool of similar individuals.

What are Psychometric Assessments?

Although HR professionals use a number of innovative techniques to identify potential high-performers, some of these techniques can introduce unintended bias into the recruitment process. To eliminate the potential for bias, psychologists developed personality and ability assessments that assess candidates on a standard set of questions that are statistically refined and validated. These assessments are effective because they standardise the way a candidate’s abilities and personality are evaluated, allowing for a more objective and meaningful comparison of their results to a similar reference population (e.g. graduate engineers).

Why use Psychometric Assessments?

In a fast-changing and increasingly competitive market place, selecting, developing and retaining the best talent is vital for long-term success. Likewise, avoiding the costs associated with hiring the wrong candidate is also important. To ensure the best available talent is being hired, more and more businesses are using psychometric assessments to guide their recruitment process. The reason for this is simple: psychology research consistently shows that abilities assessments are a strong predictor of future job success(1), when used in combination with interviews, reference checks, bio data and assessment centres.

The Assessments

To assess candidates’ potential performance, and to identify the most talented individuals already working for you, PSB Solutions offer a series of assessments that can be utilised and customised to the specific job type and organisational culture. PSB Solutions' assessment suite includes:

• Personality assessments.
• Aptitude and ability assessment (graduate level).
• Aptitude and ability assessment (manager level).
• Career preferences.
• Values and motives.

At PSB Solutions, we’re looking forward to what 2013 will bring. If you’d like to make 2013 the year you maximise your recruitment and development processes, we are here to help. Please don’t hesitate to contact us to discuss how psychometric assessments can assist your business.

References and Further Reading

(1)Schmidt, F. L. & Hunter, J.E. (1998). The validity and utility of selection methods in personnel psychology: Practical and theoretical implications of 85 years of research findings. Psychological Bulletin, 142, 262-274.