Psychological Evaluation

Psychological evaluations can be used for a number of purposes to assist in appraising employees. Tanner Menzies principally uses psychological evaluation as an additional source of objective information that can assist in the selection of staff.

There are potentially four types of information to consider before hiring; interview impressions, referees comments, work history and psychological data. Balance is the key to good staff selection and psychological data is just one important facet in the selection equation. It can aid in the assessment of an applicant's 'personality fit' to an organisation and allows direct comparison of candidates on specific criteria.

What does Psychological Testing Measure?

Whilst some information can be obtained about an individual's personal attributes by observation and interviewing, the four main aspects of the individual which are most significant in predicting job success are the most difficult to determine by these traditional methods. Consequently, psychological tests are used to accurately assess the person's strengths and weaknesses in the following areas:

Ability - Ability tests measure a person's present skills, such as level of verbal or numerical reasoning competence and their level of potential to learn new skills.
Aptitude - Aptitude tests measure the degree of potential a person has to develop job skills in certain areas of work (sales, accountancy, engineering, design, production etc).
Interests - Interest questionnaires measure a person's preference for certain fields of work, giving a measure of a person's application to work and ability to derive personal satisfaction from it.
Personality - Personality scales are used to determine how a person will behave in certain situations, and how the abilities possessed will be put to use.

What are the advantages of using psychological tests?

The tests, which are interpreted by qualified Organisational Psychologists, have the following advantages:

Objectivity - the results achieved are not distorted by personal opinions or biases
Accuracy - offering a far more effective technique than any other method of assessment, as all tests have been carefully standardised using many thousands of cases.
Prediction - they measure not only what a person can do now, but also what that person will be able to do in the future, i.e. potential for development.
Complete and organised approach - they offer a comprehensive evaluation of people, so that no significant factors in the individual can be overlooked.

We do our own recruitment. How can testing help us?

Psychological testing can add significant value to your own recruitment process in the following areas:

Testing identifies strengths and weaknesses that are often hidden through traditional selection methods (eg. Interviews), improving selection decisions.
When used in the early stages of high volume assignments (sales and customer service staff, graduates, trainees etc) testing significantly reduces the number of candidates required for interview, saving managers and HR time and money.
Test results aid in the management and motivation of new employees, improving productivity and performance.
Testing helps to differentiate between seemingly similar candidates, reducing selection risks.

How can testing help us improve the performance of our existing personnel?

In addition to making hiring decisions, tests can be used to develop people in the following ways:

Development Centres (which include testing) can be used to identify the training and development needs of managers, resulting in more targeted and effective training programs.
Testing can significantly reduce the risks associated with internal promotion decisions.
When assessing team performance, testing can identify dysfunctional teams, and assist in the selection of more synergistic team types that will increase productivity.
Testing can be used to establish benchmarks when creating heterogeneous teams (eg sales teams) to assist in the selection of future team members.

Where does Psychological Assessment fit in the Selection Process?

A multiple assessment approach is the most effective means of assessing a candidate's suitability for a role. There are four potential sources of information about a candidate ie: psychological data, interview impressions, work history, and references. Each of these sources contributes approximately 25% of available information about a candidate. By not utilising psychological assessment, you are making a decision based on only 75% of the available information.

If you would like to know more about Psychological Assessments, please contact your nearest Tanner Menzies office.

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