What to look for in talent assessment tools?

One of my connections on LinkedIn recommended that I read a blog post about how to evaluate personality assessments. This particular post did a great job of describing succintly and accurately what a business should consider when selecting personality tests. I've summarized and added comments to the post below. To read it in its entirety, you can click on the link below.

Personality assessments on their own can help you hire effectively, manage employees better and implement better organizational development strategies.

The following steps need to be taken care of when selecting a pre-employment assessment test company:

1. Rating scales:

The assessment company providing the tests needs to address the number and type of ratings scales they are using. The more rating scales, the clearer the picture. 

That last statement is particularly important. Our pre-employment (and pre-promotion) tests (Clues, Prevue, and ASSESS) assess candidates on 6 to 20+ scales.  While each of these assessments are accurate in their own right, the more scales the "clearer the picture."  That's why I consider Clues as a screening test – excellent at weeding out the highest-risk candidates – and Prevue and ASSESS as selection tests – highly accurate at evaluating candidates against a very precise benchmark or set of competencies. 

2. Time

Amount of time it takes to take the test. How long?

It all depends on the what is (are) being assessed –

• Team assessments: 30-60 questions. 10-15 minutes (up to 5 scales)

• Pre-screening assessments: 60-120 questions. 20-35 minutes (up to eight scales)

• In-depth pre-employment/screening assessments: Above at least 164 questions. 35 to 90 minutes (up to 12-16 scales)

3. Qualified Test Interpreter

Human behavior – it’s complex.  Many times a business decides to save a few dollars and construct a test on their own. Without validity and reliability research on the predicatability and relevance of the scales, home-grown pre-employment tests may be innaccurate and do more harm than good by screening out qualified candidates or demonstrating bias against minorities.

4, Job Survey

Link everything: from profile data to resume and job description.

Personality alone is not enough to predict future performance.  It is important to analyze a candidate’s past performance and his/her potential to meet future performance expectations. To do this, a manager must understand the current and future job and then match the abilities and competencies of the individual to the criteria.

5. Distortion

An in-depth assessment allows you to understand if someone is trying to “beat the system”. The assessment will have enough variations to sort between “smart impressions” and honest replies. 

In our systems, these scales are called Social Desirability, Good Impression, and Positive Factor.

6. Career Development

Personality tests also help gain important information on a candidate’s inclination toward a particular field.

A personality test can give you an indication of which jobs match the candidate’s personality type and which careers they may have an aptitude for. You do need to remember that the test results are only an indicator and should not be relied on as an absolute assessment of which career is best for the person.

8. Strengths and weaknesses summary. Personality testing is a proven and effective way to create highly functional teams. This starts with a summary of each person’s strengths and weaknesses. Once you know which personality types work best together, you can mix and match your people so that you get the most out of each of them. For every strength a person possesses there is a corresponding weakness. Being assertive is a strength. However, a person can be too assertive and off putting for some people or in some situations.

9. Detailed interview questions. The assessment company you choose should help you create tailored interview questions based on the candidate’s specific personality. The purpose is to probe facets of the personality you need more details on. Many employers are now doing “behavioral interviews”. Rather than focusing on resume and accomplishments alone, use the personality test as a jumping off point to ask open-ended questions that will cause the job candidate to describe real circumstances and their responses to them.

Ask them to describe in detail a particular event, project, or experience and how they dealt with the situation, and what the outcome was. This type of interviewing is the most accurate predictor of future performance.

Read the original post:

What to look for in talent assessment tools and companies?.

 


Share:

Ira S Wolfe

Comment

  1. Resume Writing Service September 4, 2010 at 6:03 am -

    I certainly agree with the official jobs description effectively work because entitled the role of the employer discuss briefly about the key responsibilities.Any employer talent assessments method to judge the last month performance .particular event, project how they manage and describe?Its very important.