Is Psychometric Testing Relevant?
What Is Psychometric Testing?
Psychometric testing is a way of profiling behavioural traits to attempt to identify personality types. There are many psychometric testing modalities available, many of them are free. Psychometric testing is used in workplaces to help employers understand how to leverage employee talent and build a mutually rewarding relationship between employer and employee.
Ruth Brooks from Wrexham University explains psychometric testing in today’s world.
‘A psychometric assessment is a psychology examination that is used to measure an individual’s personal characteristics. Through specialised testing, measurements, assessments, scales, graphs, and activities, psychometrics can be used to objectively assess a person’s:
Behavioural style.
Intelligence and knowledge.
Personality and traits.
Beliefs.
Attitudes.
Educational and academic achievements.
Introversion
Mental capabilities.
While psychometric assessments were initially developed for psychological and educational scenarios, today they are most commonly used by employers and recruiters to determine the most suitable candidates for vacant job roles.’
Benefits of Psychometric Testing
Ruth goes onto say ‘Psychometric assessments are easy – and often quick – tests that can reveal a lot about an individual. Through aptitude, personality, and ability tests, employers, educators, and health professionals can gain valuable insight into a person’s intelligence, competency, and mental health as well as their behaviours and motivations.
Nathan Thompson from ‘The Trading Journal’ writes Highly effective- As compared to other assessment methods, psychometric testing is highly effective. It helps businesses to identify the best candidates for a role, assess training and development needs, and improve accuracy in selection decisions. This is especially true if the test has high job-relatedness and content validity.
Joe Caccavale from ‘Be Applied’ states ‘Psychometric testing can provide relatively accurate measurement of ability, and can generate useful data when used alongside other recruitment methods. Below, we explore some of the key benefits for recruiters:
Find the most qualified candidates
Reduce bias
Increase efficiency
The Hazard of Psychometric Testing
Ruth Brooks warns recruiters ‘to remember that psychometric assessments are not a perfect science, and will never provide 100% accurate results. This means it’s imperative to view assessment data, test scores, and exam percentages alongside interview responses, CVs, and cover letters.
‘Over-interpreting test results is a common pitfall in psychometric testing. This can happen when tests are administered without proper context or test-takers place too much importance on their score. Over-interpretation can also occur when tests decide things like job placement or college admission. In these cases, a high score may give a false sense of assurance, while a low score may lead to feelings of inadequacy. Neither of these extreme reactions is warranted, and both can be avoided by understanding the limitations of psychometric testing. Psychometric tests measure specific constructs, such as intelligence or personality. They are not intended to be all-encompassing measures of an individual’s worth or ability. Therefore, it is essential to consider the test results in the proper context.- Nathan Thompson from The Trading Journal
Joe Caccavale from ‘Be Applied’ goes on to say ‘It's important to note that psychometric testing is not an exact science, and with that in mind, the results of the tests should not be the only factor in making a hiring decision. Rather, psychometric tests are tools that employers can use to make more informed decisions about who they hire.
Combined with relevant interview questions, reference checks and work samples, recruiters should find themselves securing an accurate hire in far less time (in fact, you could see a 66% reduction in time spent hiring).
Alternative to Psychometric Testing
The information so far has been written in the context of hiring for job-roles. I have seen employers facilitate well-ness days and events with a Jungian theory and MBTI coaches and the feedback has been mixed. More on that below.
When following Pop-psychology here at Embrace Life we did a lot of research and testing with psychometric tests, IQ tests all based around problem solving and personality traits with the aim of helping us and our clients to give and get the best of our services. Overall this was very flawed and we started to lean a different way which was to look at what actually drives behaviour because this affected the way questions were perceived and answered. We found Maslow’s hierarchy of needs actually bridged a huge gap of understanding here. One could then question depending on someone’s overall level of actual and perceived stress and survival state would determine whether psychometric testing is appropriate. A prospective employer should not be making that call on behalf of a candidate, as this will not work in their favour.
If we follow Maslow’s idea, all our decisions are made as a result of a perceived level of stress, threat, or desire to thrive. This will affect personality and IQ test results.
Feedback from Employees and Coaching Clients using Psychometric Testing
We have had experience working in care as part of learning and development (L&D), in employability and facilities management as co-workers, coached scientists and regulatory specialists and finance professionals in health and fitness and without exception the psychometric testing element in a workplace has always been delivered as gimmicky, a way to tick the ‘well-being L&D box’ not something that people who work on the front-line gain any real benefit of insight from. On the other hand I have seen supervisors and managers finding elements of these approaches helpful in being able to navigate difficult conversations. For us the jury is out on psychometric testing, Maslow’s hierarchy and a good dose of self-awareness and awareness of others is more than enough to make working easer and helping people progress toward goals. When people can comfortable and consistently meet their fundamental needs creativity and productivity is a natural side effect, add to this a few basic people and communication skills and you probably won’t need to take psychometric tests to get the results you are looking for individually or as a business.
Summary
There is usually always a place for everything and many pop-psychology tools can be useful in the short-term if not the long-term when it comes to reducing stress, making decisions and generally moving forward in business and life, but even the experts see to agree to caveat’s and limitations and these should be taken into account before choosing what is right for a business or writing off an individual.
I hope you enjoyed this article and took some useable knowledge from it to help you understand your biology and meet your needs in relation to your goals. Please leave a comment, press the heart button and share it to help more people take control of their health, well-being and fitness.
Samantha
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