The advantages and disadvantages of psychometric tests

When psychometric assessments were developed in the early 20th century, they were used in educational psychology. However, with time, the utility of these assessments expanded beyond academia and found its place in the workplace as well. The tests now form a critical part of the initial assessment of potential candidates. They are easy to implement and help filter candidates from a large pool for a given position, making it significantly easier to get the right talent for the next round.     

One of the most critical challenges recruiters come across is accurately gauging an applicant's domain-specific skills, as well as their underlying personality traits and tendencies. Traditional interview processes often fall short of revealing a candidate’s inherent traits. Employers, therefore, use psychometric tests to evaluate the cultural and personality fitment of potential employees. The tests act as enablers for employers to select candidates who fit a particular job. It is the primary reason psychometric tests have gradually gained greater importance in recruitment. Psychometric testing is used not just for hiring but also in a wide range of learning and development practices, including training and development, high-potential identification, leadership development, succession planning and other dimensions of workforce management.  

Companies use psychometric tests in the initial stages of the selection process to gain a holistic view of the candidate's likelihood of success at the job. Psychometric tests are designed to measure various personality and cognition-based metrics. They focus on two aspects of the human persona - cognitive skills and behavioral traits.

• Cognitive skills: They evaluate how an individual handles and processes the data to extract useful information.
• Personality and behavioral traits: They talk about the inclination and interests of the candidate, also suggesting how an individual would react to a particular situation.

Recruiters can predict the right talent fit and hire better by evaluating these two fundamental aspects of candidates. Psychometric tests are valuable tools at every level of candidate assessment and for judging their growth and development once they are part of an organization.

Organizations must select a suitable psychometric assessment provider, or it can lead to many drawbacks. Some disadvantages of psychometric assessments include the following:

Mercer | Mettl's suite of psychometric tests is designed to evaluate behavioral and cognitive skills accurately and in a result-oriented manner. Mercer | Mettl offers psychometric tests under two broad categories - personality assessments and aptitude tests.  

Personality assessments

Hiring managers use personality profiler tests to match the potential candidates against given job specifications and competencies to ascertain their job suitability. An individual's responses can imply whether their personality attributes align with the organizational requirements. Most companies initiate the recruitment process with personality profiling, which may also be implemented after assessing job-specific skills. Some popular personality assessments offered by Mercer | Mettl are:

• Mercer | Mettl Personality Profiler Test: Assesses the personality traits and behavioral competencies of employees within an organization.
• Mercer | Mettl Personality Mapping Tool: The tool provides an overview of different personality facets critical for work-related outcomes.
• Mercer | Mettl Dark Personality Traits Test: The tool considers six dark personality traits - opportunism, self-obsession, insensitivity, temperamental, impulsiveness and thrill-seeking in potential hires and existing employees.

Aptitude Tests

  Aptitude or cognitive tests are psychometric tests that measure a candidate's cognitive abilities or intelligence. These tests assess candidates' skills and competencies crucial to performing well across different areas. A standard aptitude test includes questions that help predict the likelihood of an applicant's success in a particular job while leaving no room for biases to creep in through its standardized administration.

• Mercer | Mettl Test For Numerical Reasoning: The Mercer | Mettl Numerical Reasoning Test evaluates test-takers general aptitude with numbers and numerical skills. It helps employers identify the right person to solve critical business challenges.
• Mercer | Mettl Test For Verbal Reasoning: This test evaluates the candidate's ability to understand and reason through word problems and concepts.
• Mercer | Mettl Test For Abstract Reasoning: Assess the candidate's ability to apply learnings to solve novel problems by connecting information points to grasp the bigger picture, detect patterns and relationships, and solve complex problems with innovative solutions.

Considering the pros and cons of psychometric testing and its varied applications, the best way to implement it is to combine it with other recruitment assessments and processes for a holistic picture. Once other methods, such as skill tests, interviews, or group discussions, are combined with the results of a psychometric assessment, the recruiter can get a fair idea of a candidate's role and organizational fitment. Purposefully engaging with the candidates gives companies a solid foundation to know them better.