Why should organizations use psychometric tests?

There are many benefits of psychometric tests as a part of the talent identification processes. You can find them widely described in scientific publications as well as popular science. Despite evidence for increased objectivity, fairness, and ability to identify individual characteristics that predict job performance, doubt around the usefulness of psychometric tests still exist. This is very unfortunate! The lack of using psychometric tests is likely to limit organizational success, as valuable information and data are being ignored.

Your concerns are unwarranted

There are some common concerns regarding tests. People usually worry about decreased candidate experience, increased drop-out rates, and the fear of adding time to the process. Based on research as well as our own experience, these concerns are unwarranted. In fact, the opposite tends to be true.

Organizations can make better and more objective talent decisions when they use well-developed tests in the correct way. And the result? Higher-performing employees and teams and increased diversity! At The Talent Company, we therefore strongly recommend using psychometric tests. It’s an important part of the talent identification processes, as well as for building great teams and improve team processes. 

When well developed psychometric tests are used correctly, organizations are able to make better and more objective talent decisions

The most important aspect of making an assessment of a person is accuracy. And that goes for all purposes, such as evaluate job applicants, assess future leaders within your organization or successors for key positions.

Having an accurate understanding of an individual’s strengths and development needs in relation to a specific role is critical. At least if you want to make the right talent decision. To accurately assess an individual, we need to use methods that are objective and gathers relevant information. By that, we mean that the information we obtain is predictive of future job performance.

We know from research that tests are a valid method

Research shows that psychometric tests outperform most other assessment methods. And it does it on both these criteria. Tests provide unique insights into areas of talent. Not using psychometric tests as part of talent assessment processes means you are likely to miss out on valuable information that will make your talent decisions more informed and accurate. 

Psychometric tests are good for team dynamic as well

If hiring successful individuals can be difficult, building high performing teams is even trickier. Truly understanding whom you have in your team and how the team members influence each other is key to understanding what the team needs. Otherwise, you won’t understand how the team can best work together. Psychometric tests can give you this insight. For example, they can help you understand why some teams are performing better than others or seem to have more conflicts.

Psychometric tests can provide insight into what the team needs to do to improve their performance. In a team, function, or organizational context, psychometric tests can also provide you with unique data on what characteristics you might be lacking in a specific group, hence provide invaluable insights into future recruitment needs. 

Time to rethink your process?

If you are not using tests as part of your recruiting process, internal leadership programs, succession planning, or for team performance purposes, maybe it’s time to start considering it. Are you already using tests? Great! Just make sure that the tests you are using are of high quality. Use tests designed for your intended purpose. Also, make sure that they have proved to predict what you are interested in predicting.

If you liked this post about psychometric tests, you should check out why you should hire for humility