Psychometrics, The Need Of The Hour?

The popularity of psychometrics is slowly growing and a large number of companies have already embraced the method in their selection process.

In order to ensure that the recruitment process brings into picture the very best, HR managers are looking beyond objective ways of selection alone. This is where psychometric profiling steps in and provides a scientific method of screening candidates and producing a wholesome list of prospective employees. Yateesh Srivastava, CMO & head, talent, AEGON Religare Life Insurance, tells us what psychometric profiling is, "Psychometric tests are standard and scientific methods used to measure individuals' knowledge, abilities, attitude, personality traits, and behavioural styles. They provide probable areas of strength and limitations of the candidate with varying degrees of accuracy (depending on the tool being used). These tests are objective and unbiased to human error and judgement."

How can psychometrics help organisations in recruitment and selection? Amer Haleem, country manager – productised services, Hay Group India, answers, "Making the wrong hiring decision is expensive and difficult to resolve. Furthermore, putting all candidates through a rigorous interview process is neither practical nor cost-effective. In such a scenario, work-focused psychometric assessments are increasingly being used today

for screening and assessing large talent pools. Not only are the best psychometric tests compact and easy to-use, but they are also meant to be multi-purpose, that is, the data can be used at different points throughout the talent's lifecycle. Further, it is a robust and fair process, since it adapts to the ability of the candidate, which allows individuals of every level to demonstrate their full ability and potential."

Are organisations using psychometric testing for recruitment today? Udit Mittal, MD, Unison International, replies, "Some organisations prefer using psychometric tests for recruitments and some do not. Many organisations are not aware of psychometric tests and even if they are, they doubt the accuracy of the reports. A good psychometric test accounts for a heavy amount for administering and interpreting the analysis apart from spending on instruments and software. Undoubtedly, these tests help lighten the burden of HRD or hiring managers as they not only help in making the selection procedure easy, but also help the companies defend against legal challenges to HR decisions. However, a question on their monetary worth still puts a limit to their use."

Ashish Arora, founder & MD of HR Anexi, tells us whether psychometric profiling gives more or less an accurate idea of the behaviour of employees, "Psychological research has consistently shown that psychometric tests of cognitive ability are the best predictors of performance across roles and industries. For example, ability tests on problem-solving and communication can predict a candidate's performance by almost 50 per cent accuracy. The combined predictive accuracy of multiple ability tests is even higher. These tests may be more critical for certain types of roles (e.g., managerial) and competencies (e.g., conscientiousness) than others."

It is never a good idea to fake your answers in psychometric tests as it gets highlighted at the end of the test. Ketan Kapoor, CEO, Mettl, explains, "Reliability and validity of a psychometric test is the consistency and accuracy of the test that allows repetitive measures and in different settings. The test pronounces itself valid and reliable only when a person responds to a given set of questions in an honest manner. To control the impact of faking on it, social desirability checks are made, where all dimensions of the test are normally distributed. It helps indicate if a person's responses appear high, relative to the norm."

Thus, psychometrics can prove highly useful if more and more companies are to adopt it.