Are Psychological Tools the Key to Recruiting the Best Talent?
Finding the best talent for an organisation is imperative for hiring managers and HR professionals alike, and while the usual interview questions and tasks tend to provide a good insight into how the candidate will approach their work, we could be ignoring a vital component of the recruitment and interview process that could enhance the way we analyse the candidates' suitability for a role. Even though organised interviews can provide a wealth of information about candidates, they might not be sufficient on their own to make an accurate assessment of a candidate. Individual psychological tests are an additional instrument that is incredibly useful for assessing applicants. Psychological tests consist of professionally designed and validated measures that evaluate applicants' leadership styles and personalities, far from being subjective instruments. In this week's edition of Beyond The Screen, I will discuss two psychological tests that have been used to measure applicants and will provide opposing arguments to psychometric testing.
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
In a nutshell, using this assessment can highlight how an individual makes decisions regarding their pattern of perception and judgment. This is how we use our minds - perception is how we see a certain situation, and judgment is how we react to the situation.
Although most people favour one side over the other, we refer to these opposites as preferences since we may access and use both sides of a preference pair when necessary. The preference pairs are as follows:
Do you prefer to focus on the outer world or your own inner world?
Do you prefer to focus on the facts or the big picture?
Do you prefer to take an objective or an empathetic approach for deciding?
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Do you prefer to seek closure or stay open to new information?
Once answering the above questions, you can draw your conclusion from the "Type Table", which then gives a result that derives from the answers you provide. This can give hiring managers a clear insight into how the candidate will react to certain situations that may arise in the role, but also what they can bring to the culture of the organisation. If you are interested in taking the test yourself, visit https://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/myers-briggs-overview/
SHL Occupational Personality Questionnaire
This questionnaire gives organisations insight and understanding of how a candidate's behavioural style will fare in their performance at work. This test is very popular in the selection for a variety of positions from graduate to senior management. Self-reported personality tests known as SHL OPQ evaluations ask candidates to choose the best option depending on how they would like to act in a certain scenario or how they see a work environment. Numerous personality qualities are covered by the questions, and the answers are compiled into a report that follows a format. The questionnaire is a forced choice format, mapping competencies from "Relationships with People", "Thinking Style" and "Feelings and Emotions".
The Negative Impact of Psychometric Testing
Discussing psychometric testing within my team brought up some interesting counter-arguments. Stuart Milliner, my manager and Head of Merrifield Consultants and Merrifield Executive Search, stated that when he has submitted fantastic candidates to roles in the past, they have fallen short on the psychometric tests given by the clients he has worked with. Jaini, my colleague and recruitment consultant specialising in Trusts and Major Donors Fundraisers stated that when she started applying for graduate jobs she always struggled with psychometric testing and she believes that it does not give a true evaluation of the candidate. Therefore, this put her off from applying for a role when a psychometric test was mandatory.
To sum up, psychological theory and testing can be quite helpful in providing the hiring manager or recruiter with an understanding of the candidate's potential fit inside the company culture and approach to work. But, it must be taken "with a pinch of salt" because people are always evolving and changing. They can adjust to their surroundings and even their mood, which can affect how well they do on a test. Additionally, these tests can be easy to manipulate, if a candidate really wants the job they are applying for, especially if they have some understanding about the company’s culture. Another major red flag for psychometric testing is that it can exacerbate culture bias. Socially acceptable behaviour varies by culture. Cultural prejudice arises, for instance, when someone from Asia views desirable behaviour differently than someone from Europe. This is something else to take into account if you are considering testing your candidates before offering an interview/role.
In my opinion as a recruiter, it is best to have a casual discussion and/or provide an informal test. Especially if the test is administered during the onboarding process after the candidate is employed. As a result, you will have the luxury of knowing how your new co-worker will approach assignments and fit in, free from preconceived notions about how the candidate ought to behave. It is important to keep in mind that the traits provided on psychometric tests should never be viewed as negative and that the diversity and inclusion of candidates should be paramount.