A large number of companies administer assessment tests during the recruitment process. Recruiters systematically use these tools, called psychometric tests, to objectively measure a person’s skills and competencies.
Why are we doing so many tests?
Recruiting a candidate is not limited to determining their technical ability to carry out certain tasks. If the CV allows you to identify your career path and theoretical professional skills, the interview remains an essential step. It allows us to better understand the personality of the applicant as well as their real motivation to join the position. Once the hiring criteria have been validated, the exchange makes it possible to assess the overall ability of the candidate, but also and above all their ability to integrate harmoniously within the team.
CVs are becoming more standardized. They are no longer enough to decide calmly. Direct exchange with each selected candidate remains essential. A conclusive test does not replace dialogue: ask additional questions to probe motivations and validate your requirements.
Which tests to choose?
While it is essential to administer a skills test to measure an applicant’s know-how, the personality test should not be taken lightly either. The choice of tools must be tailor-made, depending on the level of responsibility of the position.
For a classic employee or salaried position:
It is advisable to carry out a reasoning test, such as R-Reasoning, in order to assess the candidate’s logic. Then, couple this exam with a personality inventory like the Pro-R Profile. This way, you will easily estimate his behavioral traits at work.
For an executive or manager position:
Indeed, a simple cognitive skills test is not enough. As a manager, the main role of a manager is to supervise and guide teams. Therefore, he must be able to effectively manage his emotions and those of others. The ideal is therefore to integrate an Emotional Intelligence (EI) test in order to measure your Emotional Quotient (EQ). Finally, to complete this assessment, you can use a personality test specific to management functions, such as the CTPI Pro.
How to interpret them?
Before administering psychometric tests, it is essential to have previously defined extremely precise evaluation criteria for the desired profile. These are the benchmarks that will guide you in choosing the right candidate.
The tests serve as a compass to guide your decision:
- Understanding personality: For personality tests, it is not a question of judging the moral value of an individual, but of evaluating their ability to integrate into a collective, their communication style and their professionalism.
- Analyze beyond the raw score: If one candidate obtains a better score than another, the results should be analyzed with nuance. The overall score is not the only factor to take into account: you must also observe your way of responding, your consistency and favor the strong points which directly correspond to the priority requirements of the position.
- Weight the results: A psychometric test remains a decision-making tool. Although a candidate should not be selected solely on the basis of their numerical results, a particularly glaring difference in score between two applicants constitutes an objective indicator to be taken very seriously.
In summary, rely on psychometric tests to highlight the major characteristics and key skills of candidates, in order to precisely identify the person who will perfectly match your job profile.
