That
the human resource is the most critical for an organisation’s efficient
functioning, has long been a management truism. That this resource is also an
organisation’s most challenging and difficult to manage, is a more covertly,
yet universally accepted idea as well!
Organisations
have now begun to realise the importance of correct recruitment and deployment
of people.
Various
different measures and tools have been developed by the HR community to make
the selection process as robust as possible. These include:
·
Structured
Interviews
·
Case
Studies
·
Group
Discussions
·
Assessment
Centers
·
Psychometric
Assessments
Each
of these has their own sets of pros and cons and we won’t get into those on
this platform. However, we will try to understand the relevance of psychometricassessments in today’s corporate world.
Everyone
recognises that recruitment is a resource exhausting, expensive, and time
consuming exercise. Yet, one cannot run away from it. While every company has
its own approach toward recruitment, the fact remains that recruitment
decisions often tend to be subjective and arbitrary. Using a valid and reliable
psychometric test that is relevant to the hiring need that you have, can
instantly elevate the soundness of your recruitment decision making. Making theright recruitment decision is cost effective in countless ways: it
significantly reduces attrition, enables you to recruit people with the right
skill sets, thereby also reducing training costs, it cuts down on the time
involved in arriving at a decision, and makes the process objective and
scientific.
Psychometrics
refers to the science of measuring mental capacities and processes. Traditionally
psychometric test is a paper pencil test where you given a set of statement or
questions or situation to which you have to respond. On the basis you get an
output which is usually in the form of a report, which tells you where you
stand across those particular traits, qualities, skills, or attitudes that the
test claims to measure. This is the traditional version. Today more and more
have gone online. So you can simply log on to a certain site, take the test
online, you get your report in your email box usually within a period of 24 to
48 hours.
Some
Typical Psychometric Tests
·
Personality
Assessments / Behavioural Assessments
·
Skills
Assessments
·
Values /
Motivation Assessments
While
the Western corporate world has long been investing heavily in psychometric
assessments as one of the parameters to aid in the right job-person match,
psychometrics have been slow to gather momentum in India’s corporate milieu.
Key reasons for this have been:
· Concern
about whether the international tests are relevant for the Indian organisations
·
High costs
of well-known global psychometric tools, making them unviable to be used on a
large scale in Indian organisations.
Relevance
in Today’s Competitive World
·
Speed and
Efficiency: Psychometric assessments
provide a quick method of getting more information about employees. The tests,
several of which can also be done online, have a time frame ranging from 10 to
45 minutes. Most reports are turned around in 24-48 hours. This appeals greatly
to today’s “quick result” generation of managers and decision makers.
Assessment can also be administered on a larger group of people simultaneously,
thus bringing in more efficiencies.
·
Objective
Assessment: Eliminates subjectivity in
assessment and selection decisions. Tests consistently throw up results based
on the individual’s responses to the test items rather than subjective
impressions or evaluations formed by interviewers.
·
Industry
Benchmarks: Psychometric tests are normed
against a larger population of similar kinds of candidates. Thus, it provides
organisations with an insight into where an individual lies in comparison to
the industry.
·
Developed
by Experts: Psychometric tests are
developed by trained psychometricians after rigorous research, and by using
psychometric and statistical principles of the highest order. Thus, they bring
in a high level of accuracy, precision and depth to the competencies being
assessed.
·
Highly Cost
Effective: For many organisations, the
biggest advantage that psychometrics have to offer is that they are easy on the
budget. Compared to many other third party methods (assessment centers, in
basket exercises, panel interviews), psychometric tools enable huge saves to
the organisation, while at the same time, maintaining consistent and stable
predictive ability.
Ms. Samindara Hardikar – Sawant
Clinical Psychologist
