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Psychometric/Psychological Profiling:
Skills testing and psychometric/psychological profiling are becoming more and more common in contemporary recruitment and management practices. But what are they exactly? What is the impact of their use? How can DLA Consulting help you to adopt these HR practices? Good questions indeed – we thought we’d have a go at answering them.
DLA Consulting has two avenues to assist you. We have our own in-house capabilities with qualified, experienced consultants ready to advise on the use and interpretation of results - DLA uses Belbin team based profiling. We also have a strategic alliance with a national organisation that uses registered psychologists to provide these services.
Ready to go – what’s available?
Skills Testing:
Skills testing assess’ the match between a job applicant and job requirements. Classic examples are typing, keyboard skills and software proficiency tests. DLA Consulting provides skills testing as follows:
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Computer-based testing processes for typing, keyboard skills and software proficiency. These tests provide a detailed precis of test results showing speed, accuracy and level of knowledge and training needs.
Beyond computer skills testing, DLA also provides a full range of ACER (Australian Council for Educational Research) Occupational Skills tests which include:
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Spelling and Grammar
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Word Meanings
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Verbal Checking
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Decision Making
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Numerical Awareness
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Numerical Estimation
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Filing
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Numerical Checking
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Technical Checking
Also available are abstract reasoning tests (Standard and Advanced Progressive Matrices) which measure such elements as a person’s capacity to learn new information, clear thinking ability, work under pressure etc
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You the client can decide which should be administered for your particular recruitment exercise (or we can help if you are already confused!).
Testing and EEO (Equal Employment Opportunities):
EEO requires that if tests are to be used in making employment decisions, they must:
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be proven as being able to predict job performance
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not discriminate
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be job-related
The National Committee on Discrimination in Employment and Occupation consequently strongly recommends that any selection tests used by a company 'be checked to ensure that they do not incorporate any discriminatory elements’.
Guidelines for the use of tests:
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Analyse these jobs thoroughly to determine the precise requirements needed to successfully perform the job.
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Review the types of tests available that measure the 'critical factors’ for successful job performance identified by the job analysis.
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Check that the 'climate’ in your organisation is right for testing. Will there be employee opposition? Will the union react negatively? Will testing deter good candidates?
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Ensure that your company has an objective performance appraisal system. Unless you can clearly discriminate between high and low performing employees, it is difficult to demonstrate that a test is an effective predictor. Consequently, any EEO challenge concerning the validity of the test will be virtually impossible to refute.
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Ensure that the conditions under which tests are administered are appropriate and the same for all candidates.
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Ensure that qualified personnel administer tests and that the results are treated as strictly confidential.
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Employment tests, because they are job-related, are accurate and objective predictors of particular skills that are needed on the job. More controversial are psychological appraisals that measure an applicant’s or employee’s interests, aptitudes, personality or behaviour.
Psychometric/Psychological Appraisals:
Both systems can be used to provide valuable, objective information to facilitate decision making in a broad range of areas such as:
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Recruitment and selection
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Career planning and vocational guidance
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Training and development
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Reviews and appraisals
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Stress and risk management
The benefits for the individual are enhanced job satisfaction, increased self-awareness and a better basis for career decision-making. The result? Happier people, more effective teams, higher workplace productivity.
Psychometric/Psychological appraisals are becoming more and more common in recruitment and management processes in the contemporary workplace. There are many, many instruments available, far too numerous to list here, but some examples are:
Aptitude: These are tests of special abilities that are required in specific jobs; i.e. tests of mechanical, clerical, linguistic, musical and artistic abilities; manual dexterity; reaction time, and hand/eye coordination. Such tests are often used to predict aptitude for a particular job or type of training. Thus, the use of aptitude tests can be of value in situations where an applicant has had little or no experience related to the job requirements, for example in the selection of trainees.
Personality: These profiles assess underlying personality traits, and the likely effects of these in relation to reasoning processes, management styles, interaction with others, personal adjustment, etc.
Examples are:
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Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), based on the work of Carl Jung and widely used in workplaces today.
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Preference (e.g. 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire, Occupational Preference Questionnaire).
These aim to measure how an applicant’s occupational preference patterns compare with the interest patterns of successful people in a particular job.
The underlying assumption in the use of preference tests is that applicants are more likely to succeed in a job they like. If you have benchmarked a job, you can then measure applicants against that benchmark.
Behavioural Profiling: Based on behaviour in the workplace rather than personality typing, these profiling instruments can provide an accurate reflection of an individual’s preferred operational style. In many cases behaviour can differ from personality because of external influences on the individual.
DLA Consulting offers the use of Belbin Team Profiling, which can not only assist in the recruitment of appropriate individuals for teams, but in the allocation of team roles and management of team behaviours.
We have three accredited Belbin evaluators on staff and provide profiling using this instrument frequently to our clients.