What is the Value in Employee Psychometic Testing?

With employee shortages in so many industries, everyone is well aware of the importance of staff retention. But getting the right people in the first place is also critically important. This is where pre-employment psychometric testing can be invaluable.

Essentially, psychometric testing screens applicants for their suitability to a job, including their likely stability, punctuality and motivation.

Such testing can be an excellent indicator of the likely future performance and longevity of prospective employees. Of course, tests, no matter what sort of tests they might be, do not work on their own. Psychological profiling can supplement interview and resume information, to give an employer a more complete picture of an applicant’s ability to succeed on the job.

The most successful employees combine the skills needed to do their jobs, with the particular temperament needed to be successful and fulfilled in their work. Psychological profiling helps employers select candidates who have the skills and the temperament to succeed. By identifying the personality traits that the best performers share, you can determine which prospective candidates are most likely to succeed.

Most professional recruiters would accept that psychometric testing can be very beneficial in helping to determine the total suitability of a candidate. The personality of a candidate does not always become totally clear within the normal interview situation.

Such aspects of a person can be identified and translated more easily within a test environment. Various scenarios with questions can be put forward to candidates in a more relaxed atmosphere, giving them the opportunity to really think about their answers.

Some Human Resources specialists would suggest that not using a psychometric test is akin to buying a second-hand car without getting the engine checked. Sure, it is possible to rely totally on what the salesman says, but good salespeople can make any car sound fine.

For years now, it has been commonly believed that some of Australia’s largest companies including BHP Billiton and Holden, have been strong users of psychometrics. Now, it seems that psychometric testing of candidates is increasingly expanding into the blue-collar area.

Apparently psychometrics has become more common as machinery has replaced repetitious jobs. This change has freed assembly workers to take on more complex roles such as maintenance, trouble-shooting and more customer-oriented tasks that require new skills and specific personality traits.

Some companies have found that testing among the blue-collar industry is crucial. It helps in assessing an applicant's potential to work safely and produce high-quality work. And it also helps in predicting their likely reliability and commitment to the role and the organisation.

Once a person graduates from "candidate" to team member, the applications for personality testing are far from exhausted.

Employees often put themselves forward for testing in order to help them get past a barrier in their career progression. Typical sorts of barriers are poor self-awareness and resistance to feedback. Test results, delivered to an employee by a skilled coach, can be used to help an individual break down these barriers.

In personal or career development, tests can provide information that can serve as a foundation for future coaching, although they should not dominate coaching. Probably post-hire testing is on the rise because the merits of testing are now so widely accepted.