When a candidate completes a standard battery of psychometric tests at Fermion, they typically answer around 200 questions covering cognitive ability (IQ), emotional intelligence (EQ) and personality. That's considerably more questions than any employer could reasonably ask during a recruitment interview.
However, the real value isn't the number of questions, but what we can learn from the answers and, more importantly, how we use that information to make better recruitment decisions.
Psychometric testing can sometimes appear mysterious, particularly to employers who haven't used it before. There are scores, percentiles, graphs and reports, along with psychological terminology that may be unfamiliar. Yet the purpose is relatively straightforward: to provide additional information about a candidate that might otherwise be difficult to obtain through an interview alone.
What Do Psychometric Tests Actually Tell Us?
Different
tests measure different constructs and understanding those differences is important.
Cognitive ability assessments provide information about a person's reasoning and problem-solving abilities, including their capacity to understand and work with unfamiliar information. These abilities are relevant to many jobs, particularly those requiring complex decisions, learning and analytical thinking.
Emotional intelligence tests explore aspects of how people perceive, understand and manage emotions.
Personality profiles examine relatively enduring patterns in how people typically think, feel and behave. They can provide insights into characteristics such as conscientiousness, emotional stability, openness to new experiences and interpersonal style. None of these characteristics is inherently good or bad, although some may be more relevant than others depending on the requirements of the position.
When appropriately selected and interpreted, these assessments provide a more comprehensive picture of a candidate than we might obtain from their CV and interview responses alone.
Turning Test Results into Better Interview Questions
Consider an employer recruiting a manager who will be responsible for supervising staff, managing competing priorities and making decisions under pressure. One candidate presents particularly well. They are articulate, confident and personable, and their previous experience looks impressive. Based on their interview performance, the employer is understandably enthusiastic.
However, imagine their personality assessment indicates relatively low conscientiousness, which may suggest a preference for flexibility over structure and a potential difficulty with
organisation or
attention to detail.
This doesn't mean the candidate is unsuitable. It means the employer now has something specific and relevant to explore. Rather than simply asking whether the candidate is organised, the interviewer might ask them to describe a situation where they were managing several competing deadlines, how they prioritised their work, what systems they used and what the outcome was. The interviewer can then explore whether the candidate's examples provide evidence of the organisational skills required for the role.
Similarly, if an assessment raises questions about aspects of emotional functioning, the interviewer might explore how the candidate has handled conflict, difficult feedback or emotionally demanding workplace situations.
This is where psychometric testing becomes particularly useful. Instead of relying exclusively on how a candidate presents during an interview, we have additional information that helps us investigate their suitability in greater depth.
Better Recruitment Decisions Require More Than One Source of Evidence
At Fermion, we recommend conducting psychometric testing before the final face to face interview whenever it is appropriate to do so.
This allows the employer to consider the results alongside the candidate's experience, qualifications and other available information before conducting the interview. It also provides an opportunity to investigate any areas of uncertainty.
The objective is to look for convergence across different sources of information, while considering any inconsistencies. When
several independent sources of evidence point towards the same conclusion, we generally have a stronger foundation for a recruitment decision than when we rely on one source alone.
Ultimately, psychometric testing isn't about replacing human judgement, instead it’s about improving the information available to the people making that decision.
Those 200 questions are only the starting point. The real value comes from understanding the results, asking better questions and making a more informed decision about who is most likely to succeed in the role.
If you'd like to understand how psychometric testing could strengthen your recruitment interviews and help you make better hiring decisions,
contact Fermion.
“Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.”
Eleanor Roosevelt.
