Psychometric assessments to rejuvenate job market

Psychometric assessments to rejuvenate job market

Article Type: Metrics From: Strategic HR Review, Volume 12, Issue 2

The latest ideas on how to approach measurement and evaluation of HR activities

Sally WellsThomas Education, part of the Thomas International group

The landscape of psychometrics has changed rapidly over the past few years with psychometric assessment evolving into areas more diverse than its original remit as a recruitment tool. From its reputation in the 1980s as a useful way to make the recruitment process more efficient, psychometric assessment has developed in line with market requirements to offer a multi-purpose, streamlined and cost effective way to recruit and reduce attrition, increase satisfaction, improve team efficiency and help employees develop.

Once the preserve of large corporations, psychometric assessment is being recognized as a valuable tool for smaller companies too, widening both its usefulness and its appeal. The range of assessments now available can be used to carry out job profiling, assess emotional expression and control, build self-knowledge, measure aptitude and ability, assess skills and knowledge, identify team strengths and gaps, build effective relationships and boost leadership ability.

In an economy where fewer businesses are hiring, pay rises are limited and staff satisfaction is low, psychometric tools that reduce staff attrition and increase staff satisfaction, motivation and efficiency have become even more relevant.

Targeting school leavers

In 2012, Thomas International set up Thomas Education to help fulfill one of the current job market’s most pressing requirements – the need to find school leavers with not only the requisite skills, but also an understanding of the business world, awareness of their strengths and limitations, and an understanding of the jobs to which they would be most suited.

A pilot study Thomas Education carried out with a school in Suffolk, UK using psychometric assessments demonstrated how negative student behavior was reduced by 90 percent through giving students greater self-knowledge. This study showed how powerful psychometric assessments could be when used with students and, to expand on that idea, we decided to develop them as a career guidance tool.

The benefits of increased self-awareness

Even with the right academic qualifications for a role, employers can find themselves faced with poor communication skills, poor self-knowledge and, often, poor attitude from young candidates. Any tool that can give students greater, and more accurate, self-awareness and a realistic knowledge of their strengths and limitations is valuable.

In its first six months, Thomas Education worked with over 30 organizations to offer students “real-life,” practical and realistic careers advice. When psychometric assessments were used at Woodhouse Grove School in West Yorkshire, 87 percent of students said they would recommend the experience. The majority of them stated that completing a personal profile analysis (PPA) behavioral assessment and the subsequent feedback made them feel more confident, more sure of their career choice and gave them more ideas about possible career options. A total of 76 percent felt the assessment results reflected them strongly or very strongly.

Sharon Kerry, assistant head of Loreto College, which also implemented the psychometric assessments, explains:

The biggest impact the assessments have had on our students is to give them an idea of themselves as individuals and an idea of how to go forward. As a result, the Year 10 students really saw their GCSEs and A-levels as a way forward rather than an end in themselves.

A new approach to careers advice

Students need careers advice that they can actually use in practical terms, to help them understand where their futures lie. Likewise, employers are desperate for school-leaving applicants who have identified their true skills, have realistic expectations of the working environment and who have the self-awareness to deal with the demands of a professional role.

Traditional career guidance given in schools fails to make the final link between education and work or help young people identify a career for which they are suited. This deficit is frustrating for both HR professionals and school leavers as both camps waste valuable time and resources narrowing the field. With psychometric assessment’s evolution into this arena, a mutually beneficial solution can be reached.

About the author

Sally Wells’ mission, as Managing Director of Thomas Education, is to help education centers use psychometric assessments to transform the performance of their teaching staff and their students. She is passionate about helping young people establish successful careers. With over 15 years’ experience in the recruitment industry, she has previously worked at Randstad as managing director of a number of companies, including Teleresources Consultancy, Origin HR and Randstad Managed Services operating in 12 countries with a turnover of £30 million and 80 staff. She has also been director of web-based recruitment business Tempz.com and director of Operations at Adecco. Sally Wells can be contacted at: sallyw@thomas.co.uk