A recent study of over one thousand HR professionals from companies throughout the world showed a significant proportion of businesses are using psychometric tests as part of the pre-hire process. For example, 62% are using personality assessments.*

Indicators organisations look to when determining validity of an assessment:

1. Quality of hire
2. Productivity
3. Retention / Staff turnover
4. Process efficiency
5. Financial metrics
6. Training effectiveness/cost
7. Legal compliance
8. Performance ratings
9. Employer brand

Yet, according to a 2014 study (registration required) only 14% of organisations have data to prove the positive business impact of their assessment strategy.

A validity study is key in helping determine the effectiveness of your assessment strategy. You might remember validity from a previous blog article. A buzzword in psychometric assessment, it shows that the tests used go beyond something that looks relevant, ensuring they provide true value. The key questions a well designed validity study can help you answer are:

• Can you be confident that the prediction of a psychometric test is accurate for your situation?
• Can you be confident the investment you are making in pre-hire assessments is providing a worthwhile return?
• Is the test truly enhancing your ability to predict future performance?

Running a validity study: Is it a hassle?

No it is not. Especially, if you compare the potential benefits it can bring to your organization to the efforts it takes from you to run the study. In a nutshell, the process goes like this: The aim of every validity study is to let expert psychologists look into how well your chosen psychometric, or any other, assessment tool is performing. To carry this out, first, data that characterizes the on-the-job performance of candidates who has been previously assessed with the tool in question is gathered. Then, test results are compared to on-the-job results and the link between the two is scientifically demonstrated and translated into real business terms.

So how could a validity study help you?

• It will be created bespoke to your needs and your company.
• A validity study demonstrates the value you will get out of using psychometric tests, proving how they work for your own unique workplace environment.
• This provides you with solid ROI information to support your use of such tests – you won’t just be telling people you use them because others do or because they usually work, but because they work for you.
• The analysis will let you know exactly what to look for in each candidate’s results – to ensure you pick the best people for you.
• With the right data, candidate attributes can even be modeled into your future reports.
• You want more specific predictions about how well someone will meet your competency requirements? Given competency performance data, this is possible.
• Want to know whether someone has the characteristics of a good salesman in your team? If you have appropriate sales data, future sales performance can be predicted for each new candidate.

A validity studies are essential parts of data-driven HR processes, and great tools to prove you are using the right tools to select, develop and retain talent.

Talentsift offers psychometric selection tests and the best online assessment centre solution on the market. Our validity studies are complementary to all our tools, to ensure you make the most effective use of psychometrics. Contact us for more details!

*CEB Global Assessment Trends report 2014

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Although there is evidence that many HR professionals don’t always know everything about the hiring process, will HR professionals, or anyone with suitable experience understand exactly what they’re being asked? And if so, does that mean we cannot use psychometrics when recruiting for these roles?

Testing people’s abilities

Let’s start with tests with right and wrong answers first. The argument against an ‘expert user’ being able to beat psychometrics is weakest against ability or reasoning tests, as well as tests of skills or knowledge. For tests of skills and knowledge, the aptitudes a person needs to complete the test will be the same aptitudes they need to perform in the role, so this is not a concern.

For ability tests, there are dozens of websites out there that help candidates prepare for online assessments. The candidates can take these tests over and over until they perfect them. And HR professionals? They would be ideally positioned to have hundreds of practice runs.

When it comes to reasoning tests, they are designed to provide a pure measure of somebody’s raw underlying ability. What this means is that they focus on ability that a person cannot learn or develop. As a result, even with lots of practice, it is impossible for someone without the raw intellectual horsepower to answer the questions quickly and accurately.

To expand on the above point, the purpose of practice websites is really to help nervous candidates understand the type of experience they are going to face and think about how to prepare for it, but they won’t let someone ‘beat’ a test that they just don’t have the ability to do. Practice and example questions beforehand can help some inexperienced candidates to more accurately demonstrate their ability meaning that their performance is as reflective of their actual ability as possible.

Personality measures: Beatable by an expert user?

Personality questionnaires are increasingly being used in the hiring process and could be viewed as more of a concern for being ‘beaten’ by an experienced test user. If you know what an organisation is looking for, can’t you just agree with the statements that fit in with this? Does this logic can also apply to other similar questionnaires, such as those looking at personal values or motivations? Let’s take a deeper look.

Quality of questionnaire

There are many personality tests on the market, but providing you have selected a well developed psychometric questionnaires they won’t be as transparent as to make ‘gaming’ them an easy job. Good tests are built around questions that show mathematical links to behaviour, not around questions that psychologists (or informed test takers) think will work.

Such a test won’t let you be perfect at everything.

Even though some questions may seem obvious, they may not measure what people think they measure. Good tests will have a number of questions, with many designed to identify the same factor. What each question is actually measuring is hard to spot, and over the course of the personality questionnaire even the savviest test user won’t be able to predict what most questions are after – or have a good enough memory to remember their faking patterns!

Forced choice questions

Psychologists have built in several countermeasures to prevent people painting the perfect portrait of themselves. One example of such a device is forced choice questions (the psychologists here at Talentsift call them ‘ipsative’ questions). For example, do you prefer working in a team or seeing a job through to the end? Are you more likely to plan ahead or to remain resilient in tough situations? These are crude examples, but illustrate the idea that such a test won’t let you be perfect at everything.

Social desirability scale

Another countermeasure that is found in quality questionnaires is a social desirability scale, sometimes known as impression management. These are carefully crafted questions that check someone is answering honestly and not creating an overly favourable impression. HR Professionals or otherwise experienced test takers can be aware of the presence of these questions but given their liberal and carefully crafted inclusion many will find it difficult to spot all of them, so they’ll want to be as honest as possible to avoid scoring high on this measure.

The cost of a bad choice

A final, key reason HR professionals are not likely to try faking the test is, that of all people, HR professionals are probably the most aware of the human impact of making a bad career choice. They appreciate the value of maximising their fit to a role, and although they migt have some insight into the competencies that a company is looking for, will know that a dishonest approach could well put them into a role they are ill-suited to and may not enjoy.

A company should know their own culture and values and determine what traits will be most successful in any given position. Psychometrics are a strong input into this process, particularly if they are corroborated with other sources of evidence and key areas are probed via other methods too.

This is no different for HR roles. Knowing the strong predictive power of psychometrics when used well, you may well have difficulty persuading a competent, data-driven HR Professional into your team without them! They show a commitment to creating a well-rounded recruitment process.

Talentsift offers psychometric selection tests and the best online assessment centre solution on the market. If you would like to know more about psychometric testing, read our introductory guide on psychometrics, or get in touch and our occupational psychologists will readily answer your questions.

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In this second part, we will discuss the benefits to look for and the pitfalls to avoid when it comes to applying psychometrics and understanding the results.

The major benefit of psychometric tests lies in their ability to help you make more objective, data-informed decisions. It was said that the first step in choosing the right psychometric tool is knowing what the problem is you are trying to solve and identifying what characteristics (e.g.: competencies, skills, personality traits) need to be assessed in order to help you solve this problem. Having done this, you can pick a valid tool that actually measures what you want to measure, and can accurately predict the outcomes of your decision. This latter is of paramount importance in a business environment, so let’s take a look at a key aspect of validity a little closer.

Psychometric testing: Effective but not stand alone tools

The “accuracy” of a tool is referred to as predictive validity. It is a statistical term describing the extent to which a score on a given assessment correlates with future success when measured against job performance indicators such as supervisory ratings. Predictive validity is typically measured using correlation. It is scored on a scale from 0 to 1 and tools with r scores closer to 1 have higher probabilities of predicting future performance effectively. This is why predictive validity is important when choosing a test!

Conventional selection methods like interviews, reference checks and biodata all have lower predictive power than psychometrics. While conventional employment interviews have predictive validity scores between 0.2 and 0.3, for cognitive ability tests these scores are around 0.5. Putting it into a business context: without considering other factors for the sake of simplicity, these scores mean that for a high performer on a traditional job interview the likelihood of being an above average performer in his future role is approximately 62%. This same probability for cognitive ability tests is around 75%. Do not forget that if you hired the next person you randomly met on the street, the chance of her being a high performer is 50%. It is like flipping a coin. Either yes or no, but you have absolutely no a priori idea of how it is going to be. So 62% is already good, 75% is very good.

It is important to note that psychometric testing works best when used in combination with other methods. Tests greatly enrich the information you can gather about an individual but, as with other selection methods, they only show part of the picture. Interviews and reference checks can show things tests cannot and vice versa. When different methods are used in conjunction it increases the overall predictive force of your selection process, giving you a higher confidence that you are choosing the right candidate.

Is psychometric testing going to turn my HR processes upside down?

It is up to you. Psychometric testing has the potential to help you reengineer your HR processes, but it is absolutely not a must. Well considered psychometric tests will compliment your existing methods and it is your decision how much to rely on them. You can use the insights gained by psychometric assessment as a guide to structure your interview questions. However, you can also choose to replace existing methods by psychometric testing. It is a common practice to abandon phone interviews in favour of psychometric testing to preselect candidates for the personal interviews or assessment center. Placing them well within the process can save significant time and resources.

It is always good to know in advance what the intended use of the test is and you should discuss with your provider how they can fit into the rest of your process. This is true for the technical aspects as well. Check if your provider offers an online psychometric test platform or if the tests will be running on your own infrastructure. Check what IT integration is needed, because this can be costy. Check that results are reported in a clear format and that they can be fed into your existing system easyily.

Easy to use?

The question of ease of use is not only important from the HR or the IT departments’ point of view. Keep in mind who is going to take the tests eventually and to see if the user interface, the instructions, the platform’s stability and accessibility make the test easy to use and let test takers concentrate on doing their best. This can reflect very well, or very poorly, on your recruitment process. Try a demo test or request a trial, and if you do not like what you see just try another one.

Price is not an indicator of quality anymore.

It could be argued that test interface design will not improve any core value of the test. However, think about who is going to take the test? If you are using psychometric testing for selection, chances are that completing a test will be one of the first experiences a candidate has with your company. The test platform will be part of your company’s image. A well designed, highly user-friendly platform strenghtens your reputation the same way a good customer service interface does.

If the system is counterintuitive or ugly, it will demotivate candidates and lower performance. The flipside of this is that a clean, intuitive system will reflect well on your company and make them want to perform as best they can. Test providers recognized the additonal value candidate’s experience of psychometric testing can create in building your brand, and some of them offer you the option to brand the online test interface your candidates will be using.

How much all this is going to cost me?

Psychometric testing is used to make down to earth business decisions, so financial considerations are critical. Used as a workforce science it leads to lower staff turnover rates, helps you to identify talent, and foster organisational efficiency, which will all increase your bottom line. Therefore, if you believe in the values behind psychometric testing, and I hope by now you do indeed, your first concern should always be the quality of the tool. Using a badly designed test will cost you much more in lost revenue and wasted resources than what you can save on the price.

However, price is not an indicator of quality anymore. Thanks to the wonderment we call the internet, well researched, valid and reliable tests running on online platforms are available today at prices affordable for every company. New pricing models are also appearing on the market: now you are not obliged to pay per individual candidates or assessments, you can also choose subscription based plans if those fit your needs better.

Reading the results and providing feedback

The meaning of the results varies by test types. Ability test scores can be given in percentiles comparing the candidates’ results to a norm group, or in absolute values. Usually the overall scores are expanded upon and separate scores for speed and precision are also shown, which provide important insights in some cases. With personality tests, the interpretation is even more delicate, as there are no right or wrong answers. These tests show how the individual would typically behave in certain situations, and “good” or “bad” are relative to the specific job or team fit requirements.

Read a sample report before you start using any tool. Make sure it details for each test type how the results are to be interpreted, what they mean and what they do not. If any questions remain, someone from your provider should be available to talk you through the report. In most cases, this will be sufficient to prevent misuse while keeping administration costs low. When using a particularly technical or complex psychometric tool, earlier in the process a trained assessor or psychometrician might be necessary to help you correctly interpret the results. However, after a few rounds of consultations you are likely to become more independent in these as well.

Feedback can be an important motivator, thus a good way of keeping participants engaged during the testing process. Whether existing staff or new candidates, feedback promises test-takers that they can learn new things about their favourite subject: themselves. If you provide feedback, make sure candidates understand how their results should be interpreted, as both intelligence and personality tests can touch sensitive points.

Summary

We began the first part of this guide by asking: Should I be using psychometric testing? Hopefully, by now you too have an answer for it, but here is ours as a conclusion: Yes, you should. However, know what you need it for, find a trustworthy provider, pick the right tool, use it right and make the most of the data it provides you with.

Talentsift offers psychometric ability and personality tests and the best online assessment centre solution on the market. We help you in your decisions throughout the selection process. Try our tests. It’s free!

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And these are impressive numbers indeed. Yet, they do not really answer the question you are asking: Should I use them? Can they bring real added value to my organization?

There are well over a thousand different kinds of psychometric tests and instruments on the market to assist you at all stages of workforce management. From selection, through engagement, to talent development and organisational planning there are several tools you can use to make more informed, more objective decisions. If you want to improve your talent management processes by starting to support your decisions with proven data-informed methods, the question is not whether you should be using psychometric tests or not, but rather: When and how to use them? What is the best tool for you?

Walking hand in hand

Picking the right tool goes hand in hand with picking the right test provider. Unless you want to develop your own tests, which would be quite a hefty investment to start with, you do not have to become a psychometrics expert yourself. However, you will need a basic understanding of how psychometrics work and knowing what to look for when selecting your partner in implementing psychometric assessment into your workforce management process. This guide was put together to help you with these challenges.

Measuring the mind – But what exactly?

Psychometrics means: measuring the mind. These tests are designed to measure complex psychological phenomena objectively. However, different test types measure different things. So, the first thing you have to ask yourself is: What is the problem you are trying to solve?

Transparency is a good indicator of quality here.

Say, you want to build a new creative team and want to predict how the members would work together. You‘d probably use a motivation test and mix and match profiles to get your A team, but may not need to back up the same decision with numerical reasoning test results. On the contrary, when selecting a new payroll officer, numerical reasoning scores can be very good indicators of candidates’ future work performance. A good tool ties closely to the problem you are trying to solve and yields relevant data to support your decision.

Am I measuring what I think I am measuring?

Another, more technical, aspect of the same question is the test’s validity. Validity shows that a test really measures what it is said to be measuring. A math test on addition, for example, is valid if it measures your ability to add up numbers, and not your reading or drawing skills.

It should be noted that there is no such thing as a 100% valid test. This is especially true when looking at complex phenomena. Even with the most basic maths test in our example, your reading skills will influence your results to some extent, because you will have to read the questions before you can start doing maths. Furthermore, there may well be other factors in play when the test taker has to use her mathematical skills, such as her motivation for example. However, in a well-designed test these effects are minimised, well understood and documented.

A trustworthy test provider has to be able to present you, amongst other technical data, with a series of validity studies. This should include information about how the test was developed, how many people it was tried on, and scientific evidence on how much you can trust the results and what they tell you. The best providers will even offer you advice and support in conducting a validity study in your own organisation. This step is always the ultimate test of the tool’s validity, as it controls for factors specific to your organisation, so you do not have to solely rely upon what another organisation has shown works in their setting.

An occupational psychologist should also be available to consult you anytime on choosing the ideal test suite for you. If something is not clear, go ahead and ask questions, look for client testimonials, case studies, try a demo test, or request a free trial if available. Transparency is a good indicator of quality here.

The second part of the guide on pitfalls to avoid and benefits to look for when applying psychometrics is coming next week. We’ll cover some technical and financial aspects to consider and discuss what the results can and cannot tell you.

*The number of test publishers is estimated to be in the thousands, but only a small number of them conduct proper validity studies. Hogan, R. (2005). In Defense of Personality Measurement: New Wine for Old Whiners. Human Performance. 18(4), 331-341.

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The study walks the reader through the process how a medium-sized tech company effectively implemented psychometric testing in their selection method for the first time. It describes the different aspects of the cooperation between an external psychometric tests provider and a client from the SME sector from the first steps of selecting the ideal test suit, till the final reporting phase and the follow up of the successful candidate’s later work performance.

This study is intended to be an introductory material, an example case for enterprises using psychometric testing for the first time.

If you would like to dig deeper in the subject matter, you might also want to read about the financial aspects of introducing psychometric testing into your recruitment process, or our experts’ tips on what to consider when choosing your test provider.

Click to get the study in pdf!

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These are the things HR professional expect from a modern sifting tool:

Relevant norm groups: who wants to compare today’s candidates to graduates of the eighties or nineties?

Clean and modern interface for taking the test: too many of today’s sifting tools are built on legacy systems whose design is laughable to candidates ‘trained’ by the products of companies such as Apple that consider design crucial in everything they do.

Flexible and easy-to-follow pricing for easy planning of that recruitment budget: you shouldn’t have to rely on Excel formulas based on test types, time limits and a bunch of other factors just to estimate a campaign budget?

A comprehensive solution that can measure a range of skills used in various industries and for selecting people into diverse positions

#1 – Comprehensive Solution

When we developed Talentsift’s psychometric tests, we thought long and hard about a balance between keeping things simple and being able to measure everything important: this led us to develop three test types:

- abstract reasoning, measuring candidate’s ability to perform in unfamiliar situations and to connect the dots

- numerical reasoning, to measure basic mathematical logic, which is increasingly a requirement in even non-technical jobs due to the all-encompassing presence of technology in everything we do

- and verbal reasoning, measuring the ability to comprehend written information and make logical conclusions

Since using any or all of these test types comes at no extra cost, you have the freedom to use them in any combination and give them any weight you feel is suitable without having to worry about the budget. If you’re not sure about which ones to use, a trained occupational psychologist can help you decide.

#2 – Norm Groups

It sounds like the mother of all common places, but it’s true: technological advances have changed and will repeatedly change the workplace to such an extent that we all have to re-learn the use of the tools of the trade multiple times in our lifetimes. This is why it is important to find employees that really perform above average when compared to their true peers, and this is why an up-to-date norm group is so important. Talentsift’s tests were trialled using a 2013 norm group that was representative of the UK recent graduate population by age, gender, place of residence and ethnicity.

#3 – Clean and modern interface

What many HR providers forget is that the candidates that will use their testing platforms are technologically savvy and use and expect beautifully and cleanly designed tech products and web applications from the likes of Apple and Google. They expect to see the same when they are invited to a job test, and they are often sorely disappointed. We decided to change that and have the most beautifully designed testing platform on the market. In addition to helping candidates concentrate on the test and give their best performance, this is one of the most effective ways for an employer to make a good first impression.

#4 – Flexible Pricing

We know how frustrating it is to get lost in  a multi-page proposal and desperately try to figure out how much it will even cost to use the given service. This is especially true for HR services where industry customs call for pricing models based on the number and types of tests used, the number of candidates tested and the duration of the campaign: in other words, on factors that are next to impossible to predict when evaluating a potential supplier.

We decided to radically simplify things for the busy professional we know you all are: if you know how many positions you need to fill, you immediately know how much it will cost.

Interested in how this works or more details? Get in touch – we have case studies and examples of how this would work in your organisation.

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These tests allow accurate measurement of the applicants’ abilities in areas such as verbal, numerical and conceptual thinking and thus help to match people’s skills to role requirements. Assessing whether a candidate fits the organisation is not only beneficial for the business in terms of higher productivity, long term retention and reduced rates of employee turnover, but is also important in relation to job satisfaction and well-being of the employees.

Key features of psychometric tests

Standardised: everyone completes equivalent (but not the same) tests under the same conditions

Objective: reduced degree of bias and subjectivity

Reliable: results are consistent over time and are fairly resistant to outside factors

Valid: psychometric tests measure job relevant factors that can predict future job performance

Ability tests are standardised meaning that every applicant is required to complete items of the same difficulty under the same conditions ensuring a fair assessment. This is a distinct advantage over interviews, which are subject to bias. Psychometric tests are reliable, which means that a person’s scores are unlikely to vary over time. Thus, we can be sufficiently certain that differences in candidates’ scores reflect real differences and are not artefacts of the testing situation.

Candidates’ scores can be easily compared to one another by using comparison group data (which detail how well people have done who have taken the test previously). Furthermore, online tests allow candidates to complete the tests at any location and at a convenient time. If they are invited to the next face-to-face stage, a second testing session can occur to ensure they were the ones who filled out the original test.

Online testing is also beneficial to the organisation, as there are no associated costs with administration such as supervision, hiring a venue or compensation for the applicants’ travel expenses. Having a comprehensive selection process that relies on information drawn from multiple sources (e.g. interview, references, tests) demonstrates an organisation’s commitment to fair and professional testing processes and will pay dividends in terms of the quality of people they hire.

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