You’ve probably heard all about psychometric testing. You’ve maybe even taken a few yourself, curious to see what personality traits make up your individual profile. Based on this data alone, it’s easy to understand psychometric tests as a form of assessment used to measure an individual’s mental abilities, attitudes, and behavior styles in a standardized and systematic manner.
While it may be tempting to view BuzzFeed quizzes as a similar assessment, professional psychometric platforms, are backed by hard science. With 40% of employees in the US reporting that they hate their jobs, psychometric assessments are a way of helping them feel more engaged.
On our blog this week, we take a look at psychometric testing in the workplace – how they work and what they seek to achieve. Continue reading to discover one of the most explosive trends in HR management!
For any business, success often depends on the people running the ship. This means that much of your profit, output, and growth depends on your employees – how satisfied they are, how well they fit into your team, and whether or not their potential is being realized.
These are just a few of the many indicators psychometric tests attempt to identify. They also seek to highlight the unique personality traits and thought patterns of employees, which can help discerning managers understand how to maximize their value in the workplace. They are various forms of specialized leadership assessments, as well, although many of today’s psychometric tests are used on both leaders and employees alike.
These tests label individuals according to groupings of certain characteristics, highlighting a range of useful insights, including the kind of working environment they thrive in, what management style suits them best, and what their individual strengths and weaknesses are.
In 2016, a survey demonstrated that around 94% of companies used psychometric tests in the recruitment stage. This demonstrates that many businesses now consider personality profiles to be an important determinant in choosing individuals for a job. While this is by no means surprising, the lengths we now go to, to pick the right individuals is what has changed.
Here at Wired2Perform, we believe that this is more than justified. Attitudes and behavior patterns can make or break a team – one strong personality is more than enough to shift tides in either direction. That’s why HR managers now carefully consider how an individual performs in these tests and what kind of skills they’re bringing to the table. That being said, most tests work just as well for existing team members and is an invaluable resource for a team lead or HR manager.
With these tools, employers often uncover the hidden aspects of a recruit’s behavior and thinking styles, which are often impossible to glean from a face-to-face interview.
According to the same survey highlighted above, 81% of companies that used psychometric tests said they expected to make more reliable and less risky decisions. If this isn’t indicative of how effective these tests can be in pre-empting the recruitment of an unsatisfactory employee or in averting sensitive, and potentially explosive, HR issues, we don’t what else can be said.
Psychometric assessments aren’t perfect, but they do eliminate the room for bias and faulty judgments at the hiring stage. While these tests don’t categorize individuals as good or bad, they certainly help employers understand what kind of personality they’re bringing on board – for better or for worse.
Psychometric testing is one of many of tools in an HR manager’s arsenal. It’s also one of the most important, given its ability to dive deeper into an individual’s mind and glean insights you may not discover otherwise.
By resorting to these tools, both at the recruitment stage and in order to better understand your existing employees, you can expect a range of returns for your business – increased output, improved growth rates, and even better profit. The secret behind this is employee satisfaction and happiness – a factor, which you can uncover through the insights derived from the right psychometric assessment.
At Wired2Perform, our psychometric testing platform helps you unlock your employees’ full potential. Contact us to find out how!
