The Goal
This national firm wanted to introduce psychometric assessment to help select managers in a cost-effective and user-friendly way.
Cost-Effective
Our client wanted to find a reputable solution for giving short-listed candidates ability tests and a personality questionnaire. Introducing psychometric assessment to the firm, the HR manager needed the solution fly under the radar from a cost perspective to overcome scepticism from some quarters about the value of assessment.
Aligned with Competency Framework
With hiring managers unfamiliar with assessment tools and reports, it was vital to the ongoing success of using assessment that the results were user-friendly. Also, this firm was strongly values-driven and used its leadership competency framework consistently during each stage of the recruitment and selection process. So, the ideal solution would align with their competencies and values.
Key Objectives
- more informed selection decisions using psychometric assessment
- keep costs down to manage scepticism about novel assessments
- assessment reports familiar and easy to read for hiring managers
The Solution
Choosing the Psychometric Assessment Tools
The big test publishers all have acceptable quality online psychometric tests and questionnaires. The online administration and reporting make these platforms cost-effective and easy to use. We are accredited on most major platforms, so the client avoided the need to spend thousands of dollars sending their Talent people to be accredited. We showed the client several sample reports and did comparative costings based on their budget and likely volume. We helped the client choose the best tools for them.
Map Competency Framework to Assessment Output
One of our Psychologists mapped the output from the computerised assessment reports to our client’s leadership competency framework. We consulted with HR and some hiring managers to understand the language they used to find the best 'translation'. We made a template using the client’s branding and framework descriptions.
Extract and Transform Data from Assessment Reports
Then our Data Science team went to work to extract the data from the online testing service and port it into the branded template. This meant that the generic, computerised reports provided by the assessment publisher were transformed into more focused competency descriptions that HR and the hiring managers immediately recognised and understood.
The Result
We successfully piloted the process with a batch of managers being recruited and made some minor changes to the algorithm and the report formatting based on feedback from the hiring managers.
Psychometric Assessment Welcomed
The hiring managers welcomed the customised reports as being a useful part of the recruitment and selection process – not an additional administrative burden.
Integration into Onboarding and Development Planning
Having the psychometric assessment reports aligned with the competency framework meant it was much easier for leaders and HR to apply the results to onboarding new recruits and planning their development. This extracted even more value from an already cost-effective process.
