How Much Value Do Psychometrics Have In The Hiring Process?

More than 80% of Fortune 500 companies in the US rely on psychometrics. For some, they’re a crucial part of hiring, yet others don’t see their worth. Of course, as with any form of recruitment testing, there are pros and cons to the process.

The value of psychometrics

Psychometrics can tell you a lot about how a person works and communicates in a job. As well as offering insights into their personality traits and behaviors, such as their strengths, weaknesses, motivation and working styles, you could utilize them to learn how someone will fit with your current team, or how they tackle specific challenges.

From there, this information can help to prompt discussions in interviews about role progression, their career journey, job satisfaction and engagement.

Think about reasoning

To get value out of psychometrics, think about why you’re using them. Ask yourself: what do you want to achieve by implementing them for this role in particular? What information do you want to gain? And what are the benefits for the organization, and for the person? For instance, some utilize them only for senior positions as they’re a good way of discovering management style.

While psychometrics have value for helping you decide if somebody’s the right fit on a personal level, they can only help so much. They can’t tell you how long that person will stay at the company, for example. That’s why these tests shouldn’t be the sole factor in recruiting a candidate. Skills and experience should also play a part.

Consider the drawbacks

Be aware of the disadvantages too. Psychometric tests can be costly, and should be delivered by a person who knows how to interpret the results. Plus, some candidates may be cautious because they’ve never done this type of testing before, and it can lengthen the hiring process. If you’re going to use it, you need to make sure the candidate understands why. Highlight the benefits and how it will help them if they’re successful in the role.

It's also important to acknowledge that even though psychometrics are valuable, they’re not perfect. Psychometric testing should always be part of a bigger picture, so if you have concerns based on a specific trait, like management style, you should also consider other factors such as skills and experience. Testing simply adds to the overall picture and shouldn’t be relied on by itself.

Remember the value of time

Arguably, time has more value than this kind of testing. Time will show whether the results from psychometrics reflect in reality. For instance, they might claim how a candidate behaves under stress and pressure, but it’s the person’s day-to-day work that really shows this.

Of course, you won’t want to wait to find this out – and you don’t have to. You can ask more general questions in the interview, and evaluate from there. This means you could still learn about candidate behaviors without placing all the emphasis on psychometric testing.

Solve your recruitment problems with Cast USA

Here at Cast USA, our Recruitment Solutions have psychometric and personality testing as an added feature at no extra cost. With this, you can assess a candidate’s logical, numerical and verbal ability, plus identify 23 personality traits.

The insights in this blog were gained at a recent webinar, held by our sister brand Cast UK. We’ve also collated what was learned – specifically, the seven ways to win the war for talent – in our Cast USA guide. Download it here