Navigating the world of tech talent acquisition is like decoding a complex algorithm. To hire the right people, you need a certain amount of savvy to identify a candidate’s skills and way of thinking. Most hiring managers assume they can spot a great candidate immediately, but if that were true in every case, there would be no recruitment industry!
Psychometric testing has long been a valuable tool to help businesses find their best employee fit. Whether you’re on the hunt for an IT Project Manager to lead your team or a collection of IT contractors to shore it up, here’s how psychometric testing can help you find the best talent in the employee market.
What Is Psychometric Testing?
Some might say psychometric testing is a diagnostic tool for humans. It covers a broad range of tests that assess a candidate’s personality, behavioural style and cognitive processes to help you make an informed (and better) choice about the best person for a role.
These assessments can add some much-needed objectivity to the recruitment process, which often relies on ‘gut feel’, a potential recipe for eventual disappointment. It can take people less than a second to form a judgement about someone after seeing them for the first time — and their impressions are often wrong!
Psychometric testing is based on standardised objective scientific methods, removing a fair chunk of unconscious bias that we sentient beings are unfortunately known for.
There is a range of psychometric testing available to suit all kinds of hiring needs:
Ability tests: These assess a candidate’s specific skills and proficiency based on their past training and experience. It’s a classic way to measure a candidate’s IT competencies, basically confirming they have the right skill set for the role. An example: for a Software Developer role, a skills test might provide a faulty piece of code and ask the candidate to debug it.
Personality tests: Such tests give you a good glimpse into the candidate’s mind, assessing their motivations, preferences, interests and emotional makeup. It can help you understand if they’re a risk-taker or play-it-safe person, as well as how they might behave and interact with teammates.
Aptitude tests: These help you gauge how well candidates apply their skills when thrown into the practical deep end, as it usually involves logical, numerical and verbal reasoning tests. These are also useful for identifying those who can learn quickly and adapt to new tech environments. An example: The candidate is given a series of logical sequences or patterns, and is asked to identify the next item in the sequence.
Behavioural profiling is often used as a handy adjunct to psychometric testing. This really homes in on the individual’s behaviour, typically within specific contexts or situations. Profiling can incorporate interviews, situational judgment tests and/or observations to gather data.
As you can imagine, psychometric testing can determine not only how a candidate might fit in with the team, but with your company culture, too. The bonus? It can also shed light on their leadership potential.
Why Businesses Use Psychometric Testing
Bad hires are supremely costly, so they are best avoided completely. In this worthy quest, psychometric testing is a valuable tool for hiring the right candidate from the outset.
Think of psychometric testing as an objective data-based backend system that validates the front-end claims made in resumes and interviews. Testing can ensure every candidate has a fair roll of the dice by focusing only on their abilities, knowledge and potential — not just their interview performance.
But there are plenty of additional reasons to consider adding psychometric testing to your recruitment process:
- A 360-degree candidate view
Beyond codes and algorithms, the IT realm demands collaboration, communication and project management. Psychometric testing gives you a holistic view of each potential hire. You get to find out if they have the right technical prowess, cognitive abilities and interpersonal skills to be a productive and happy bee in your IT hive. You also get a glimpse of future potential.
As for the ever-elusive goal of cultural fit, psychometric testing also helps you understand if a candidate aligns well with your organisational values and beliefs. While it makes for a harmonious workplace, it can also go a long way towards ensuring your retention rate remains firmly in the black.
On that note, these assessments can help with onboarding, giving you insights into how to customise your induction program to the individual you’ve hired. After all, a better onboarding program ensures your new employee not only feels welcome, but comfortable and able to hit the ground running, all vital ingredients for retaining employees.
- Predicting performance
Predictive analytics isn’t just for your IT projects! Psychometric testing can be your crystal ball, offering a glimpse into how a candidate might perform in their role. It does so by correlating test results with specific job competencies, paving the way for data-driven recruitment and reducing the probability of hiring mishaps.
- Uncovering professional development areas
Results from psychometric assessments give both you and the candidate new intel about them. It helps them see their strengths, as well as developmental gaps. This information is highly useful for building employee progression plans, which are essential to keeping curious and ambitious employees happy.
You can consider using psychometric testing for your existing team and company too. Use the data to help your people become better communicators, decision-makers and leaders, not to mention building stronger, more cohesive and happier teams.
Get Psychometric Testing Support
The merits of psychometric testing are clear with decades of research to support them. When used alongside standard recruitment methods, you’ll get a holistic view of each potential hire. Think of it like accessing a hidden debug mode, providing insights that help you make informed and objective hiring decisions.
Here at Exclaim IT, psychometric testing is one of our specialities. We have access to over 700 tests through our vetted supplier network. We can tailor a recruitment and assessment plan to suit your needs, whether you’re looking for a new Business Analyst, IT Project Manager or a team of skilled IT contractors. Please contact us for professional support.
