Companies no longer look for employees who are good only at technical skills. They are also concerned with the bigger package, namely the individual and how personality makes people react to the working environment around them, especially when it comes to career advancement and assigning current employees to new tasks within the organisation.
One of the most effective ways of getting to know a current or future employee better is through the application of psychometric assessments.
These assessments attempt to objectively measure not only the employee’s skills and aptitude, but also their personality traits.
This is essentially the reason for which these tests are becoming increasingly sought after for personnel engagement and assessment. Recently published data shows how psychometric testing is now used by over 80 per cent of Fortune 500 companies in the US and by over 75 per cent of The Sunday Times Top 100 companies in the UK.
Tests are used by numerous employers across a vast array of sectors, including IT, engineering, energy, banking, consultancy, accountancy, the civil and public sectors, fast-moving consumer goods and retail.
Misco Consulting, through its professional association with Profile:Match, a UK-based company providing online assessment tools, has been offering psychometric assessments for the past seven years.
“Although we have been offering these tools to help clients, we have recently experienced a surprisingly interesting surge in the demand for psychometric testing,” says Joanne Bondin, head of the Selection and Recruitment Unit.
“There are a number of reasons for this surge in interest. Employers nowadays seem to be more keen to know their employees better not only in terms of qualifications and work aptitude, but also in terms of personality and social interaction patterns.
“Another reason is an acknowledgement of the importance of more scientific evalutations. HR functions have also assumed a more strategic role within organisations and this has also helped in the increased demand of scientific-based methods of people assessment,” added Ms Bondin.
A number of advantages have marked the successful take-up of Profile:Match’s people-assessment tools. Profile:Match is a competency-based tool designed to be able to assess people on day-to-day roles and duties and test results are scientifically based and accurate.
If one happens to be an employer looking for someone with great decision-making skills, how does he go about assessing this quality in people? “The best way is through a scientific process that a tool like Profile:Match can offer. Assessments conducted through Profile:Match can also be tailored and customised, depending on the role being sought and what’s interesting is that Profile:Match tools do not require users to be qualified assessors, since the process taps into the full power and capability of the internet to generate tailor-made, highly statistically based reports,” explained Ms Bondin.
Profile:Match will conduct an online session about its suite of psychometric assessments on November 1 from 10.30am to noon. It will be addressed by Grace Walsh, who will give a presentation on Profile:Match, followed by useful tips for more effective use to facilitate HR processes, including team analysis, recruitment, succession and planning. The webinar will be followed by a question-and-answer session.
For the access link and for more information about online psychometric assessments, e-mail Ms Bondin at jbondin@miscomalta.com or call 2205 4503.