How Effective is Psychometric Testing?

Psychometric testing can improve your recruitment selection by approximately 24%. A lot of the recruitment process is guesswork and this can lead to poor retention figures. However, by introducing psychometric testing into your recruitment process, a lot of the guesswork is removed, therefore enabling you to make more informed decisions regarding new hires.

Why Should I Introduce Psychometric Testing?

The answer here is simple. Did you know that in a study by Leadership IQ it was found that 46% of new hires failed within the first 18 months? The reason for this; they did not have the right personality to thrive within the company. Psychometric testing, introduced at the recruitment stage, enables you to look beyond a CV. CVs are notoriously unreliable and the way to overcome this is by introducing a new recruitment tool into the mix. Psychometric testing gives you valuable information into the personality and attributes of candidates, allowing you to make more informed choices at the recruitment stage.

The Statistics – What You Need to Know

Psychometric testing is the focus of many recruitment based studies and therefore the benefits are widely acknowledged. Psychometric testing, used during recruitment, reduces staff turnover, on average, by 20%, therefore saving companies both valuable time and money^[1].

Over 80% of Fortune 500 companies now use psychometric testing as part of their recruitment process, in order to inject some much needed objectivity into the process.^[2] Of those companies that are already using psychometric testing, 81% believed it helps them to make better choices during recruitment and 57% believed that psychometric testing could accurately predict candidates’ potential future performance.

One of the key benefits of psychometric testing is that it counterbalances our own biases. Often biases are introduced completely accidentally, but they can lead to poor recruitment decisions. Psychometric testing has been found to reduce the number of ‘poor’ hiring decisions by 50%. Not only that, but it can reduce the time taken to recruit new hires by up to 30%.^[3]

Summary

Statistics and data are consistently supporting the use of psychometric testing within recruitment and, as more companies are adopting the approach, many are singing its praises. With so much subjectivity in recruitment, adopting psychometric testing is a simple, yet effective, way to ensure you hire candidates who will support and benefit your company, therefore reducing staff turnover; saving both time and money.

^[1] https://www.bespokehr.com/should-you-use-psychometric-testing-when-recruiting-new-employees/

^[2] https://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/long-reads/articles/psychometric-testing-fit-purpose

^[3] https://www.cut-e.com/advisory/psychometrics-10-truths/

About the Author: nikkyvb

Nikky van Bommel is the Marketing Director for Big 5 Assessments and has worked in the Psychometric Testing industry for over 10 years. Nikky is responsible for all marketing and social media for the organisation.