It’s well known that personality matters in the workplace.
Individuals thrive when working in environments that suit them and struggle in those that don’t.
Picture the introvert that finds striking up conversations with strangers, for example, in a sales environment where they must interact with others all day every day – are they happy and productive?
Probably not. Therefore, to get the most out of employees, it is essential to consider personality, and the best time to do that is before they start; recruit with it in mind.
But how? Getting to know potential candidates is notoriously difficult when relying on traditional recruitment methods such as CVs, hence why companies are turning to science and psychometric testing.
What are psychometric tests?
Psychometric tests assess elements of people’s personality and behaviour. They involve a series of questions that analyse how people think and react to certain situations.
For example, a test may ask candidates to rank themselves on a scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree for questions such as ‘I like to solve complex problems’, ‘I like meeting new people’ or ‘it is better to get a job done than to aim for perfection’.
Or, tests may offer a work-based scenario with possible responses and ask candidates to rank responses based on what they would most and least likely do in that situation.
Tests are often time-limited with candidates expected to answer quickly based on their first thoughts.
The Five Factor Model (FFM), which breaks personality up into five broad dimensions - conscientiousness, neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness and openness to experience - is at the heart of most tests.
The idea being that each trait is suited to a different industry or role; candidates that score highly on openness to experience, for example, are more likely to thrive in a creative environment.
But, other tests, like those included as part of
eTalent’s recruitment system, delve deeper and analyse sub-factors of the five traits such as: accountability, accommodation to others, detail orientation, empathy, flexibility in the workplace and preference for structure, which provides more detail and greater accuracy.
How do psychometrics improve your recruitment outcomes?
While not to be relied upon alone, psychometric tests are a valuable part of a recruitment process.
We’ve already shown that they help you find employees suited to your work environment and role, but what difference does that actually make?
Finding employees that fit will increase motivation, productivity and output as well as create a positive working environment in which morale is high, and employees are happy and healthy.
Conversely, fill your workforce with unsuitable employees and motivation and productivity will decrease along with morale, while stress levels and sick days increase along with your employee turn-over.
How to go about psychometric testing
There are many websites and recruitment companies offering psychometric and behavioural testing, but tests can be complicated to carry out, results difficult to understand and often specific training is required.
Also, they can be generic rather than specific to your role, limiting their value and increasing the level of interpretation required.
eTalent, on the other hand, understand that recruitment is time-consuming, stressful and something companies wish to simplify as much as possible.
Therefore, they tailor their tests to your workplace and role; results include only relevant information displayed in an easy to understand format.
Furthermore, eTalent include psychometrics tests early in the process and analyse results along with other factors such as skills and experience to give a complete overview of candidates.
One score considers everything and ranks candidates by suitability. You can create your shortlist in seconds by taking the top five or take a bit more time and look at all test results in detail; all the information is there for you if you want it.
eTalent really does simplify psychometric testing, but don’t take our word for it, try it for yourself;
contact us today!
