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Press Cuttings
THE SUNDAY TIMES
Learning to go psychometric
Tests can do more than help choose recruits.
Report by FREYA WILLIAMS
PSYCHOMETRIC testing is enjoying a revival in popularity, partly because there is more money in training and recruitment budgets, but also because, more than ever before, personnel are seen to be, after property, a company's most expensive asset. - Recognition of psychometric testing rose when Sir Michael Edwardes used it to assess the potential of the management team at Dunlop after he took command there. But there was much negative reaction. Senior managers in particular became defensive. They felt they were being assessed by questionnaires of the 11-plus type in which they saw no relevance: worse, their jobs mighi be dependent on the outcome.
Now some managers feel they have not "arrived" unless they are psychometrically assessed: it has kudos, like being headhunted.
The commonest use of testing is in screening candidates from outside. Interviews are well known to be very subjective: impressions, good or bad, can be instantaneous. The results of a personality questionnaire and a motivational/interests questionnaire will provide an objective counterbalance. Comparing candidates' own perception of their strengths and weaknesses against the results of the tests adds another dimension to the selection process. The depth of information made available by skilled interpretation of the results invariably impresses candidates.
If the test informs candidates that they have "plateaued", the response, interestingly, is usually positive: relief that somebody has articulated that fact, thus avoiding the Peter Principle. Occasionally the tests may be used deliberately to eliminate a candidate, but this is not recommended (it suggests serious weaknesses in the employer). Nor should the tests be used without other selection processes.
Testing can be extremely useful when looking for other skills in a technically able person: for example, for promotion to sales or management. When making a new board appointment, the existing board members can be assessed to give guidance on the new personality needed to liven up a team or to keep it on existing lines.
When Freeman Group had the problem of an over-promoted managing director of one of its operating companies, everyone on the company's board was assessed before a profile of the ideal replacement was compiled. Jim Potter, group chief executive, says: "You will never find the perfect candidate. Testing highlighted the potential problem areas, on which an eye could then be kept. We needed technical skills but also, because of the circumstances, personality to team-build and still utilise the skills of the over-promoted director, who had returned to his previous position. Testing was the most use in helping our consultant advise us on the relative menu of alternative candidates."
This use of testing in a management consultancy role is also found among venture capitalists including 3i, not only to assess the product and the technical knowledge of future companies, but also the personalities involved — to find out if they can work energetically together rather than in conflict. Tests can predict whether the person with the new concept today can in fact be tomorrow's managing director, or whether he should remain the "ideas" man.
A high-tech company in St Albans, was one where the founding managing director was initially unsuitable to run a company with an enlarged capital base, despite being the inspiration behind its products. Tests instigated by its venture capitalists helped him to address his own limitations and modify his responsibilities to include a chairman with complementary skills.
There are few well-known and respected assessment centres and many suspect operators. Those of repute can be found by recommendation and by contacting the publishers of tests, who each have registered consultants. Fee structures will be varied. Costs for such an exercise may vary from £300 a head to more than £1,000.
A good consultant will spend some time finding out the criteria to be used for assessing a company's personnel. There are many hundreds of tests and questionnaires; the consultant should be able to match needs exactly. The tests should be ones whose worth has been statistically proven.
Test operators are not necessarily psychologists. Indeed; psychologists have to be trained to handle the tests. This is a sensitive area. The British Psychological Society believes no psychologist should contact personnel unless he or she has had the necessary training, in particular concerning personality measures.
Professional recruitment consultants advising corporate clients may use the tests either in conjunction with, or parallel to, the company. Some are qualified to administer and interpret the tests. But experienced recruitment consultants with little training in handling tests have blighted many candidates' chances through misinterpretation and have put candidates into positions with which they cannot cope.
Despite the costs involved, it is not just large organisations who use psychometric tests, but also small family companies, because they cannot afford to make expensive recruitment mistakes.
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