Serious Talk

Hi everyone

I would kindly like thank all who have taken the time to look past my typo and answer my question.

Does psychometric testing give an accurate description of an applicant?

All of the expert opinions and facts raised, has brought me to a clearer understanding of psychometric testing  as well as all the complex factors that go along with its accuracy,

I have come to a still swayable conclusion that the test, factoring in all the variables, is one of the best well refined psychological tools out there……………………………………….

……………………………………………………………..However, me not being an interesting person much less Psychological Scientist of any sort, think that the human mind is an extremely complex device and then adding a personality that is shaped by even more complex emotions and life experiences makes it easy to remember why sometimes we don’t even understand ourselves .

In light of this and all the comments I think it appropriate that psychometric testing be used for development purposes and not in the recruiting of personnel. Though it eliminates people who may not fit company profile or culture it can easily blind the recruiter to a possible gem amongst the dirt, simply because a test painted a vague outline of a person and could not, in personal opinion, give a complete picture. If it is used in recruitment it should be as an additional component of the process not a determining factor.

One of the things that personally stand out about the test as a great variable, I do not fully understand is that of an emotional stand point.

 If a candidate completes a test today and completes the same test six months from now and the results show two different (not the extreme on the scale of difference) profiles how much can be said about the emotional variance  involved on  each of the days tested and is this accounted for in the test?.

The comments I most find myself agreeing with are the following:

Marcel Harper

Cognitive abilities: your ability to solve complex problems, the speed at which you solve these, and the degree of difficulty you can master, are the best predictors of job performance, psychometrically speaking. On the other hand, personality measures, being self-report, are far less predictive.

Dr Douglas Halliday

In my opinion, psychometric tests are better suited for people development than they are for recruitment.

They provide a very good foundation for discussion rather than an accurate description ie where the test may suggest areas which can be explored further to discover the truth / behavior / how can improve etc.

Rajiv

This is a complex question, and I agree with some of the other responses that test results must be considered within a holistic process.

Ralph B. Perhaps the biggest problem with this type of profile is the way that clients fixate on just one or two phrases in a five or six page report and use them to reject a perfectly capable candidate. I encourage you to educate your clients to see these profiles as profiles, not tests

Toby Marie W.

Yes they are a great tool for job fit, cultural fit, company fit, etc... But it is only one third of the hiring decision

Christopher L.

Business Development Manager - Leader Space at Australian Institute of Management

The use of Psychometric Testing in determining the "fit" of a candidate for any particular role should only be used in the context of a holistic and robust recruitment process.

Ral P.

A critical issue with psychological profile testing is that subjects often respond with answers they believe interviewers wish to hear. Furthermore, the brighter the candidate is, the more of an issue this becomes. A candidate will never knowingly give an answer suggesting they are impatient, overly emotional, prone to making biased judgments, etc.