Candidates are being asked to submit to tests when they send CVs
KEY POINTS:
When it comes to psychometric testing, many organisations see them as a pass or fail measure, says Grant Amos, a consultant psychologist.
"They are looking to see if the person 'passes the test'."
Amos works with Auckland psychometric assessment software developer Selector Group.
"I know one organisation that sits around looking at scores.
"The reality is, the behavioural difference between a 90 and a 94 is negligible.
"Organisations which see themselves as the top of the order can make the mistake of getting people with high scores but not high abilities."
Amos says psychometric testing has gone well beyond simple personality tests.
It should be seen as a set of tools which can contribute to assessments of who should be hired and how they should be used in an organisation.
Amos says much of Selector's work is with existing workforces.
"A lot of our clients are using it for accurate predictions of team performance and for building effective work units," he says.
"Testing can allow managers to find reasons for dissatisfaction which can lead to lower motivation and is often not understood either by the individual or by their manager."
But personality is not set in stone.
"There are a number of tools that put you into a box. The assumption is that you are what you are, when in fact who you are, what motivates you and what attracts you to a job is fluid. It is more important to understand what motivates a person so you can know how to reassess where a person is going."
While psychometric testing is widespread, a lot of organisations have not bought into it.
"One government department I know of assesses staff with verbal and numerical measures.
"That's not going to tell you anything about the applicant."
Unlike its main rivals, Selector's tools are developed in New Zealand and Australia.
"A lot of clients like the ease of access to the developers," Amos says.
"Some of the feedback we get is that the use of language by younger New Zealanders has shifted and it's important how you ask a question. Some of the UK or US tools may not ask a question in a way a Kiwi or Australian reads a situation."
From its start in 1999, Selector's tests were designed to be delivered over the internet.
Amos says it's much harder to cheat than a pencil and paper-based system, because candidates have to answer every problem in sequence - they can't skip the ones they're unsure of and come back later.
Dr Ray Glennon, the director of professional services for Australia and New Zealand for another test provider, British-based SHL, says part of what makes someone a good employee is how the employer wants them to behave.
"The tests give the potential employer first cut on how they will behave," he says.
"What a lot of employers look for is smarts, grey matter, cognitive ability, whether the person has the capability to deal with the amount and type of information crossing their desk on any given day."
That means tests need to be tailored for the sector people are working in.
Glennon says the most important part of the process is mapping the tests to the organisation's requirements.
"We need to look at the job, the success criteria, what behaviours you want, the complexity and only then can we say what assessments are appropriate for the role."
Users need to be trained in how to interpret test results.
But, he says, compared with other recruitment costs and the cost of upskilling new staff, psychometric assessment is not expensive.
"Larger organisations may invest more to make sure the outputs are tailored to things like culture and values, and what makes them a unique entity.
"At the small industry end, we could deploy a personality questionnaire as part of the process, with no extra overhead.
"At the other end, say an investment bank that might want to hire thousands of people globally, our platform may be integrated with job board, be in multiple languages and have automated outputs so the organisation is alerted to suitable candidates."
Anne Fulton, the New Zealand director of Talent Technologies, says where psychometric testing started as a personality measure, it also now includes testing for ability and job fit.
"We have multi-method assessments," Fulton says.
For larger clients, focus groups and job analyses are used to create competency-based assessments for each position, and Talent Technologies then chooses from the tools it has available.
"We do a lot of pre-work to take the guesswork out of it."
Fulton says most candidates accept testing as part of the job- hunting process.
"A lot of people have a fear their CV won't be read, so it becomes an opportunity to tell the organisation more about themselves," she says.
"We have minimal drop off from candidates, less than 1 per cent."
The fact tests can now be done online from home at a convenient time means people aren't spending half a day to do one onsite.
"They are more convenient, and, because they are job-relevant, they are seen as being more relevant whereas before people were asked strange personality questions." Fulton says psychometric testing removes a lot of the bias and prejudice around screening CVs.
"We create a level playing field round a person's capability, because, in a talent-short market, employers must look more."
RIGHT ANSWER?
Some myths about psychometric testing:
One: You can pass or fail them.
Two: The bigger the score, the better the person.
Three: It's easy to cheat on them.
Four: Personality is fixed.
