Online Psychometric Testing for Recruitment

Background

Psychometric testing for recruitment is a large and growing industry, and for good reason. Hiring the wrong person can be costly for both sides; the organisation and the individual involved. The organisation has lost thousands of dollars and opportunity costs, as well as having to go through the whole selection process again, and perhaps repeating the same mistake. The individual has most likely been through a difficult time as well and will need to go through the job-hunting process again. Thus, getting recruitment decision correct is important, and psychometric testing done correctly, and with the appropriate tests, can help you achieve that goal.

Qualifications & Training

As a registered psychologist, and a consultant specialising in psychometric testing for recruitment, I have strong views on the proper use of remote online testing. I was trained in the appropriate use of psychometric testing and understand the importance of validity, reliability, normative data, measurement of error and the interpretation of the results. This is part of an undergraduate degree and is an area of specialisation for many psychologists. The topic cannot be covered by a short course, which is what some of the larger testing companies provide before you can use their tests. They charge a substantial fee and then you are “accredited” to use their tests, and only their tests and, in my opinion, this approach provides a very narrow understanding of psychometric testing.

                                                   We talk to the candidates in a structured and purposeful way to

                                                   ensure the process is done fairly, properly and yields reliable data.

Proper Administration is Fundamental

As a psychologist, we are taught that all psychometric tests should be administered in person, face-to-face. This is the gold standard and eliminates some of the problems with remote testing; which is ensuring the candidate understands what is being asked of them and the results are reliable and a fair description of the candidate. This is especially the case for recruitment related testing where the stakes are high. Thus, having a test administration process to address the potential pitfalls is necessary.

Problems with Remote Testing

When I first started Fermion, I only ever did face-to-face testing, however, all major test companies do online remote testing and Covid significantly sped up this process to the point where all testing is done online and remotely. Plus, it is difficult for many candidates to arrange time for face-to-face testing due to work demands and location. Remote testing all candidates also ensures a standardised process, whereby everyone is treated the same.

As an example of problems with remote testing, my daughter recently completed some remote testing for a position with the Federal government, or more precisely, a position in a merit pool. She never spoke to a human being and all the instructions and were sent via email. Giving good written instructions that everyone understands is tricky and the authors think they may have covered all the bases, but invariably they didn’t. My daughter’s experience showed that the instructions were a bit confusing for her and no deadline was given, nor how long the tests will take and there was no provision to speak to a person and ask any questions.

Remote testing, when not done properly, allows for a strong candidate, who perhaps has never been exposed to online testing, to do poorly because they misread something or did not quite understand all the instructions. This could lead to a false negative, i.e. rejecting a good candidate. Or someone could quite easily get another person to do it for them. An anonymous email link sends a message that the candidate is not that important, and they are just one of many and as such, the likelihood of getting complete compliance, and thus reliable results, is questionable.

The Best Approach

I did not accept that sending candidates anonymous emails for testing where there is no human involvement is acceptable, thus, I set about devising a more reliable online test administration process and came up with the following, which is what we do with all our candidates:

1. Text the candidate asking for a time for a quick chat to discuss the testing. By texting the candidate beforehand, they are not ambushed and are aware of the purpose of the call. They then reply with a time that suits them for a chat.

2. Talk to the candidate and explain the process and answer any questions they may have and get them to set their own deadline. During this conversation we tell the candidate that they cannot have anyone helping them. When we do this, we pause and wait for them to answer in the affirmative. This is a small step, but it is crucial as the candidate has now given a commitment that they will do the tests alone and without help. We all like to be consistent with our behaviour, and this applies to commitments that people give to others. This is the social norm that we are using to our advantage and comes from the work of Robert Cialdini’s book, “The Small Big: small changes that spark big influence”.

3. We also send a series of texts to candidates asking them confirm receipt of the test email and a final text asking that if they are going to run late can they please let us know. We cover all the bases, and it works.

4. Candidate completes the tests, and we send the results to them and our client with the feedback.

The above administration process takes 5 minutes, and it engages the candidate in the process and gives us, and our clients, additional incidental data about the candidate. Incidental data is the information we get from the candidate that is outside the more formal selection process and often yields useful information about the candidate. What was their phone manner and conversation like? Were they easy to get in touch with? Did they meet their own deadline? Most of the time the process is straightforward, but occasionally it yields interesting and useful data. For example, some people are real talkers and go into unnecessary detail or on unrelated tangents. Or, as has happened a couple of times, you get someone who refuses to do the tests and speaks of their superiority and “my CV should speak for itself”. That level of arrogance is rare, but it happens and just that one brief conversation potentially saved my client a lot of time and money.

Summary

Psychometric testing for recruitment is very effective when done correctly, and we at Fermion are experts in this area and leaders in conducting online remote testing. We talk to the candidates in a structured and purposeful way to ensure the process is done fairly, properly and yields reliable data.

About the Author:

Christopher Apps is an Organisational Psychologist and the owner of Fermion. He stays updated on the latest psychology research and shares evidence-based insights. The focus of Fermion is "Psychometric Testing for Recruitment" and “Recruitment to Retention: How to Select Good Staff & Keep Them”. If you would like to learn how to select good staff and keep them, please feel free to contact us at Fermion.

“Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.”

Eleanor Roosevelt.