Recruiting new employees is an essential component of any business. It has to be done right to save the company from different kinds of losses a bad hire might cause.
The Undercover Recruiter reports that bad hires can cost $240,000 in expenses. These losses include recruitment costs, retention costs and payment of the employee.
There are ways only to hire an employee who is fit for your company. One of the best ways to do that is to use psychological testing in your recruitment process.
Many companies are already using psychological assessments and testing in their recruitment process to make better decisions when hiring key positions. Proctor & Gamble, JPMorgan, Microsoft and Ford Motor and many other top companies around the world are using psychological assessments for recruitment.
When recruiting for an executive or a mid-senior level person, it is very critical that they not only have the aptitude and skills to perform the job but also align with your company’s culture and values.
Several characteristics contribute to a key executive’s success. Certainly, the executive must have the background and aptitude to perform the job. But fitting in with the company culture can be just as crucial to their success, especially within a smaller organization.
How do psychological tests help in the recruitment process?
Psychological tests, which can be objective or subjective, are used to determine or assess the values, interests, personality and skills of a person. These attributes of a person can be very crucial when determining whether they would be a good and long-term fit for your company or not. Now let’s see what information and data you can get from applying psychological tests in the recruitment process.
Kind of questions you can answer with psychological tests
Which personality type best fits the job and the company?
You can assess the personality type of the person applying for the job and see if it fits your company or not. Like if you are hiring a creative designer, it might help if they have an open personality type. Or if you are hiring a community manager, it would help if they were not an introvert.
Does the candidate have enough “emotional intelligence” to work effectively in our company?
Emotional intelligence helps a lot when hiring a manager or a leader in your company. Team leads collaborate and work better with their teammates if they are emotionally intelligent and can cooperate and understand the needs and temperaments of their team members.
What is the General intellectual of the employee?
You can assess the person’s intelligence and see if they have general intellectual competence to handle the job responsibilities. The intelligence test will tell you if a person can assess the situation clearly and act accordingly and how well he can adapt to new scenarios. For example, Thomas’ GIA (General Intelligence Assessment) consists of five online tests, and they measure the following cognitive functions:
- Perceptual Speed
- Reasoning
- Speed & Accuracy
- Spatial Visualisation
- Word Meaning
Apart from the questions mentioned above, you can also assess a person’s Interpersonal style, management style or selling ability, leadership skills and aspirations or ambitions.
Things psychologists should know before assessment.
Psychological tests can offer a lot of insight into the potential candidate. Still, there are a few things that the person doing the assessment should be aware of to make a better assessment of the candidate. Some of the questions that the psychologist should know the answer to before testing are given below
- What are the characteristics of the position?
- What are the main areas of competencies needed for the role?
- What kind of personality type would fit this role?
- What are the barriers confronting the candidate?
- What is the culture of the company?
- What are the expectations from the position? (both short and long-term)
Psychological tests that are being used in recruitment
Now, in the end, I would like to mention some of the best psychological assessments that you can use for your recruitment process:
- Diagnostic Achievement Test
- Myers-Briggs Personality Indicator
- The Caliper Profile
- Employee Personality Profile
- DISC
- Criteria Cognitive Aptitude Test (CCAT)
- Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire
Employees are the most critical asset a company has, and you need to hire the right people to avoid hurting the company or prolonging essential goals. If you are not doing it already, start thinking about adding psychological testing to your recruitment process so you can feel confident when recruiting people for your company.