Recruitment today has become a bit more complex, because it goes beyond experience and qualification in itself. What HRs of today are on lookout for, has got lot to do with the personality, aptitude, honesty, anger management and many more such characteristic traits of an individual. This is where psychometric testing has a pivotal role to play.
Psychometric testing helps to distinguish a team player from those who can pose challenges to cooperative working. This process of analysing candidates’ capabilities beyond experience, and qualifications is much popular in the western world. This testing mechanism is now coming to India, though quite nascent and being increasingly adopted by majors in the country.
In a quick chat with Jerome Van Severen, Commercial Director, Central Test, we get some real insights about the psychometric testing process in India, if it’s customised to understand the Indian market and if such tests are taken in the right spirit by the recruiters, candidates and talent management professionals in the country.
Jerome Van Severen Commercial Director Central Test
Severen began by affirming the fact that, “It quite depends on the way Indian companies are hiring people. The psychometric test is very much penetrated into the recruiting process in the Indian market.”
But the only difference you experience between the French market and the Indian market, when it comes to psychometric tests is, “In France, people accept tests the way they are, but in India they accept only from the few clients that I have met so far. They accept the test but they would like to have more customisation of the tests to meet the exact purpose. ”
When big companies hire people, they need to find good work ratings, so Central Test psychometric testing service, provides an effective way to make distinctions and find the perfect hire for the job.
See: How to conduct globally consistent assessment across different markets?
Central Test is a French company established in 2002 in France, it offers online psychometric testing services and provides scientifically validated assessment for recruitment, employees’ evaluation and talent management processes.
The company helps manage strategic risks in the area of human resources by increasing efficiency and relevance of decisions regards human capital assessment. The company provides reliable assessment solutions in more than 12 languages to more than 80 countries worldwide, which follow their processes set for psychometric testing.
The tests conducted by Central Test meet the criteria for psychometric validation as established by the International Test Commission and by the American Psychological Association.
In 2006-2007, the Central Test team decided to expand and hence they opened an office in Madagascar and then in India at Hyderabad, further moved to Bengaluru for a short time. The company has once again reopened an office in Hyderabad. “In India, we are finding a good market and the increase of turnover is quite high considering the Indian market demands for our testing services.”
Severen added: “We are not just in the Indian market, but are also expanding reach across to all English speaking countries such as New Zealand, Australia, USA, and UK. But mainly the business for the team in Bengaluru is still from India, but we are planning to expand into other countries as well soon.”
The predictive validity of psychometric questionnaires helps anticipate how well an individual will perform in the workplace. The use of questionnaires in recruitment and in the context of internal mobility makes it possible to identify those people who are most suitable for particular roles. For instance, people who obtain good results in reasoning tests are more likely to use analysis to resolve complex situations.
Central Test uses a combined, comprehensive approach in order to better identify potential in terms not only of expertise but also of suitability for vacant positions or for a specific workplace culture. Central test conducts psychometric tests online and provides reports with a graph that indicates the subject’s interest and aptitude for the job, along with customised feedback to avoid misinterpretation of result.
Whether they are used for candidate recruitment, strengthening employee commitment, retaining the most efficient staff or increasing company productivity, psychometric tools play an essential role in establishing an efficient talent-management policy. Central Test has clients in “North America, South America, Central America, South Asia Pacific, China, India, Europe and Africa.”
Talking about expansion plans, Severen said, “When it comes to reach in Asia Pacific markets, it is apparently a new market to us in comparison to India, especially as we now have started to develop good contacts with few Chinese companies. We have very few clients in China and are not really experienced when it comes to Asia, apart from India.”
After having managed without such psychometric tests in the past, why do HR professionals today face increasing pressure from the higher-ups to include psychometric tests during hiring? How does this help in evaluating the right candidate for the role? Do these tools deliver real value and can they help the company calculate returns on investments? Well, these are some common questions that occur to an experienced HR professional.
To be specific, investment costs related to psychometric tests include the costs of acquiring the solution, training and consultancy as well as internal employee costs linked to ongoing evaluation management.
Calculating the benefits achieved is a more subtle process because information related to the human factor is not always measured by the financial ratios. The benefits of psychometric evaluation mainly result from reducing the risks of selection error, reducing recruitment costs and reducing staff turnover.
Also read: Gamification in HR: The Next Trendsetter
Image credit: centraltest.com
