Preston Russell Law - Legal Services for Southern People

Psychometric Testing

Friday, August 21, 2009 by Brian Richardson, HR Adviser category Work to Rule

Mary-Jane and I have different opinions on the value of what’s known as psychometric testing. She thinks it’s a load of mumbo jumbo designed to justify the existence of Human Resources professionals. 

I, on the other hand, believe it to be a tool that is very suited to distinguishing one candidate for a job from another and to help in the development of staff.
 
The most basic and widely known type of psychometric test is probably a basic IQ (intelligence quotient) test. This test evaluates a person’s intelligence level. On its own it doesn’t tell the tester much in terms of detail but it can be used to assess a person’s basic capability for further learning. In most comprehensive psychometric tests there is an element of intelligence assessment, with most tests focusing on the ability to match patterns and identify sequences of patterns. This helps them avoid ethnicity, gender, age and factual knowledge bias.

In a comprehensive psychometric test there is usually a couple of other components relating to intelligence, in a more specific way. There are components that test someone’s arithmetic ability and ones understanding of the English language through comprehension or language skills. These will normally be assessed against a particular level of attainment such as a trade qualification or a university degree.

This information is useful when assessing someone for higher education or for filling a position where the person may not have a formal qualification but where a certain level of intelligence is required ie a graduate level job where an applicant has experience but no qualification.
 
The most common view of what psychometric testing is all about is personality testing. Here there is a misunderstanding that if someone is being tested for their personality there must be right and a wrong answer for each question. This could not be further from the truth. This type of testing is trying to assess what personality traits a person has – there is no right and no wrong answers.
 
The assessor will be trying to match different traits for different roles. What makes someone a good candidate for one role may make them unsuitable for another. We recently had a client who was looking for someone to fill a sole charge position where there was very little interaction with supervisors and fellow workmates. In this role we assessed the situation as one where someone who was more suited to working alone and who was more decisive in their decision making would make a better candidate than the other person who liked working in a team and who was very inclusive in their decision making process.
 
We have used the tool for making appointments at Preston Russell, so we know how to use it.
 
It is important to realise that psychometric testing does not provide the whole answer to the appointment or further education decision, but rather it is one tool that can be used in conjunction with good workplace assessment (on-job testing) and good structured interviewing skills.
 
If you are interested in using this tool then your Human Resources professional can provide you with the tests themselves or point you in the right direction of reputable providers. 
 
Brian Richardson is an employment and  Human ResourcesAdviser at Preston Russell Law – to find out more, email Brian.