What is a psychometric test and what’s its role in the modern recruitment process? That question has the same answer as: “How can recruitment and hiring be science based?”
We’ve seen some big changes in the way companies attract new talent and most of the changes are connected with our continuously growing usage of social media. But, put aside Employer branding, well-worded ads, cross-platform posting, face-to-face/online interviews and all those stuff that take time and energy. Just ask yourself these two questions:
- Are you happy with your hire?
- How long do you think they will stay?
Attracting new employees is a cornerstone of every business, but how can you be sure you hired the right person for the job? Furthermore, even if you did hire the right candidate, what’s to stop them from leaving?
First things first. You don’t just hire for an open position. In most cases, what you’re doing is hiring a new team member. So, it’s not just aptitude but attitude as well you should be looking at. Secondly, what happens if that person “fits the bill” perfectly but wreaks havoc among the workers? And finally, what if you do find the ideal unicorn of a candidate? Someone with the perfect skill set and a great personality that you think will fit in perfectly with your existing team. Without a development plan and strategy in place, that person is going to leave if they feel they have no room to grow. And then what? Instead of developing someone to develop new hires in the future, you just invested so much time, money and effort to get just one person. And they leave.
As you can see, the more we look at the hiring process, the more layered it becomes. Which is why we called TTI Success Insight.
Psychometric tests & the story of TTI Success Insight
Padraig from TTI was more than happy to give us a bit more insight in the value of a science-based approach. And we definitely recommend you check out his video and read more on the importance of a psychometric test below it.
Unfortunately, this past year has been a difficult one for recruiters. A career builder study of 6,000 hr professional worldwide a few years ago stated that the top reasons for hiring badly are hurried hiring (37%) alongside inadequate talent intelligence (21%). The past year has made this even worse. In a subsequent study it emerged that nearly 74% of hiring managers and HR professionals say they’ve hired the wrong person for a position. So, what are the experts suggesting we do about these issues?
“People analytics tools will become a “must-have” for HR teams and recruiters.” – Josh Bersin, Deloitte
Recruitment and Psychometrics
The current thinking is that recruiters who want to stay relevant will need to up their skills through the use of new scientific tools and processes. However, the hiring decisions will still be made by human beings but using better analytics. The question you need to ask is how will you differentiate yourself? Can you imagine the difference it would make if your recruitment was 90% successful, scientific and fool proof?
The cost of a bad hire is nothing less than 3.5 times annual salary! Stop for a moment and consider exactly where that number comes from:
- Reduced productivity
- Poor quality work lowers the bar for others
- Disengagement is contagious in a team
- Negative impact on clients/customers
- Lost sales
- Absenteeism
- Additional training/ coaching to remedy issues
- Lost time and money to recruit and train new candidates
However, it’s not just the cost of the person’s salary. The cost to the employee brand and low team morale isn’t even quantifiable. So, can you guarantee a more successful outcome than this in 2021/2022?
We firmly believe high quality psychometrics can help you. We believe that the answer lies in you having a structured proven, hiring process. Most importantly, we know that the key is for you to use tools, reliable data and science to make the hiring process fool proof. Therefore, make a promise to yourself to stop using your gut and unfocused interview questions, to get serious.
For over 30 years TTI Success Insights have conducted research into human behaviour, motivators, EQ, acumen capacity and skills. We have generated over 35 million assessments that people all around the globe used to find, retain, develop and manage the best talent in the world. We’ve helped more than 100,000 companies improve the lives and productivity of their senior teams, employees and organisations.
Psychometric Test 101
Before you ever contemplate a psychometric assessment, stop and do a job benchmark. Identify what exactly is the job requires for superior performance? What are the Key Accountabilities?
HBR says- ‘psychometric tests will not help you if you don’t have well-established measures of job performance’
After you have done that, you can build a job benchmark using TTI SI behaviours (world famous disc) workplace motivators (driving forces), job competencies and potential (acumen capacity) in one multi-science report. Our tools allow you to see what the job requires in terms of a candidate’s behaviours, motivators, competencies and acumen and compare the candidates and the job in one simple report. You can even tell what candidates need from a job for engagement and satisfaction and whether they will fit the company culture.
Banish use DISC. JP Morgan, Procter & Gamble, Deloitte, Hewlett Packard and Citigroup all use psychometrics in their recruitment and selection process. Are you?
The benefits of this scientific recruitment process are that you have a job scorecard, a role benchmark and an ideal candidate profile. Moreover, you have clarity and precision when you communicate from the beginning of your campaign. As well as when you are posting to social media and advertising for your candidates.
63% of recruiters say that they fail at assessing candidate soft skills. And 57% say they fail at understanding candidate weaknesses, you are now in a position of power as a recruiter. The Job/Talent gap report also suggests questions that you can use during the interview which will help you to ascertain if this is the right candidate or not. It’s not guessing, it’s science. This is the gap between good and great. Why take the chance?
Learn more about psychometric test
During the last 5 years in a row TTI SI clients have achieved a 92% success rate using benchmarking in recruitment. Can you afford not to benchmark when the cost of attrition has been calculated at the very least one year’s salary? Imagine yourself making accurate hiring decisions? What sort of a difference would a 92% success rate make to you, your brand and to your bottom line? And what if we could quickly show you how to do it?
Don’t take our word for it and find out more on our website. We believe in empowering people to reach their potential. Therefore you can access our free complete guide to ‘hiring the best employees every time. If you are stuck for time or don’t like to read, we produced a webinar series outlining the whole process. Do your due diligence and don’t overlook our tti research. If you would like to speak to us directly and try out a job benchmark email [email protected].
Recruiters & science
Here at AR we firmly believe in taking an in-depth brief from our clients when taking on their roles. There’s a difference between staffing and recruitment. And we don’t care about only matching the skills set of a candidate to the role. We truly want the people who find work through our recruitment agency to be genuinely happy with their job. As well as work culture.
If you want to contact us regarding your recruitment needs, please follow this link.
In case you’re a candidate looking for advice on how to land a job, check our other content you might find useful.