Why Do Organizations Use Psychometric Assessments?
Have you ever had to do an online assessment as part of your job application? Have you ever wondered why?
Do you enjoy doing questionnaires like the 16 Personality Test or the Values in Action survey in your free time? These questionnaires are also referred to as psychometric assessments. They are often used to measure psychological constructs such as intelligence and personality, by observing tangible facets such as behaviours and temperaments. However, these assessments are more than just a leisure activity. They are used in many different scenarios ranging from the obvious (i.e., in psychological research) to the less obvious (i.e., in organizations).
In today’s day and age, many organizations make use of such assessments for learning and development with their predominant use in recruitment. Have you applied for jobs and received a link to complete a set of online assessments shortly after? In fact, it’s not just you, It has been reported that 76% of organizations that have more than 100 employees use some form of psychometric assessment for external hiring. Psychometrics plays a huge role in determining whether you land your dream job or not, but before we understand why it is used by organisations, let us have a look at a brief history of psychometric assessments.
The History of Psychometric Assessments
The roots of psychometric testing can be traced back to ancient China, where candidates were required to complete certain tests to be able to work in certain roles. Unlike the tests we have today, early psychometric tests not only measured the skills and intelligence of individuals but also their levels of endurance and up to 24 hours to complete!
The origins of the modern-day psychometric assessment can be traced back to the 19th century. Francis Galton, an accomplished scholar during the Victorian era, is considered to be one of the very first to develop psychometric assessments to measure the intelligence of individuals.
While Galton may have set the foundations for psychometric testing, James Cattel, a psychologist and the first professor of psychology in the United States, developed a set of tests that he believed measured basic mental processes. Later, Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon developed an intelligence test to identify children who are likely to have difficulties in learning.
Psychometric tests were also used to study personality as interest in the field grew exponentially. This was particularly witnessed during the First World War when psychometric assessments were used to the soldiers being enlisted were at risk of emotional disorders.
Now psychometrics are quite common among organizations. About 75% of the Times 100 companies in the UK make use of psychometric assessments while approximately 80% of the Fortune 500 make use of them in the US for recruiting new employees.
With many organizations turning to psychometric assessments, it is important to understand the contexts in which these tests are used.
Psychometric Assessments in the Organization
Organizations make use of psychometric assessments for various processes such as recruitment, career and talent development. These assessments are a key facet of human resource management as they aid in many if not all employee-related decision-making processes within the organization. Moreover, research has shown that making use of psychometric testing is one of the most effective and efficient ways of predicting how an individual will perform in their job.
There is often a high volume of candidates applying for various job vacancies. Thus, it is important for organizations to ensure that the candidate they select is well-suited to the job description and the business values. This is where psychometric assessments come in. They help predict the future behaviour of candidates by measuring factors such as their innate qualities and their ethical values. This approach helps benchmark all the applicants and identify the creme de la creme of the applicants in order to shortlist them.
They also help understand at a high level, how well a potential employee can assimilate to a given role and shows the potential to grow in said roles. Research findings have also shown that psychometric assessments can be used to predict the job performance of surgeons and that any ‘problems’ can be addressed in advance whether it is through training, mentoring or coaching them. This is one of the reasons why human resources management chooses to make use of psychometric tests as part of any employee-related decision-making process.
Ultimately, psychometric assessments are a key tool in people management in many organizations. They can be made use of throughout the employee life-cycle from recruitment to nurturing leadership skills. This helps ensure that human resource management is beneficial for their employees subsequently reducing employee turnover in the long run.
References Fernandés, O. (2014). Psychometric Assessment and Its Impact on Human Resource Practices. Retrieved from http://www.cutn.sk/Library/proceedings/mch_2015/editovane_prispevky/7Fernandes_Psychometric.pdf Gilligan, J. H., Welsh, F. K., Watts, c, & Treasure, T. (1999). Square pegs in round holes: has psychometric testing a place in choosing a surgical career? A preliminary report of work in progress. Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, 81(2), 73–79. Sartori, R., Costantini, A., & Ceschi, A. (2020). Psychological assessment in human resource management: Discrepancies between theory and practice and two examples of integration. Personnel Review, 51(1), 284–298. https://doi.org/10.1108/pr-05-2019-0281 |