Psychometric Testing
Personality Tests - for Recruitment and Selection
A range of personality or psychometric tests are available for recruitment and selection for a wide variety of job roles at different levels in the organisation.
Psychometric Test - for Hiring Great People
Recruitment for all roles can be greaty enhanced using psychometric testing.
Firstly, you 'benchmark' the role - identify the key knowledge, skills, behaviours and attitudes to perform successfully in that role.
Based on this "identikit" - the ideal profile - candidates at the recruitment stage can be assessed using a suitable personality or psychometric test.
The candidates results will be compared to the "identikit" for the role and a "match pattern" or "goodness of fit" will be established.
This means that the personality tests can be applied specifically to your organisation - it's culture and competencies- and specifically to what is required to successfully perform in each role in the organisation.
Personality Tests - Online Personality Assessments & Reporting
All psychometric tests are available online (they can also be taken using paper and pencil).
A wide variety of reports are available such as the Candidate report for the individual candidate if they ask for a report, and the Management report which provides extensive detail on the candidate(s) and illustrates their 'fit' for the role and company.
Pyschometric Test - What's Available?
The psychometric or personality tests which we use are the Personal Profile Analysis (PPA) which is based on the DISC model of personality.
It is great for recruitment as candidates don't mind filling it in online and it only takes c. 10 minutes to complete.
But it is amazingly accurate and insightful.
We will provide you with the report on each candidate and talk you through the meaning of the reports and its implications for hiring.
Origins of The Personal Profile Analysis
The Personal Profile Analysis (PPA) has its origins from the writings of Marston (1928, 1931) who postulated a theory of human behaviour as a function of two bipolar dimensions, one external and the other internal.
These two dimensions provided a matrix from which the individual’s typical pattern of interaction could be described through four characteristics:
- DOMINANCE
- INDUCEMENT
- SUBMISSION
- COMPLIANCE
Most people are capable of showing all four of these patterns at different times. However, an individual develops, through learning and reinforcement, a style of life which places particular emphasis on certain aspects of behaviour and less on others.
Further research by others in the 1950s confirmed this proposal that behaviour can be measured along the two axis/four dimensions as suggested by Marston. These include Gordon (1953), Denton (1954), LaForge (1955), Suczek (1955) and Clarke (1956).
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Thomas Hendrickson of T M Hendrickson and Associates, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA developed Marston’s insights further to produce the Personal Profile Analysis self report system for the work place.
The Personal Profile Analysis system as conceived by Hendrickson is regarded as providing information of importance and value to employers making personnel decisions.
The Personal Profile Analysis system attempts to determine whether individuals see themselves as characteristically seeking out and/or reacting to work place situations that they perceive as friendly or challenging and to reveal if the response pattern is one of activity or passivity.
The PPA questionnaire as derived by Hendrickson, was introduced into the UK in 1981 following adjustments to take into account different perceptions between US and UK uses of the English language.
There are now over 50 language versions of the PPA questionnaire.
Reliability, Validity & Utility
It is generally accepted that efficacy of tests or assessments is best measured by studying three factors, Reliability, Validity and Utility.
Reliability
A test is said to be reliable if it provides the same score for each subject on different occasions.
The minimum satisfying figure for test reliability is 0.7 (Kline). High test/retest reliability has been shown by PPA on retesting and UK data is regularly reviewed.
Predictive Validity
Early data suggested that PPA and its interpretations from the DISC factors achieved a predictive validity of 85+%.
More recent research by Professor Sidney Irvine focussed on particular job roles for specific clients and the results were published in the journal “Current Psychology” (Irvine, Mettam & Syrad, 1994). The research shows that PPA gives good predictive validity when objective and verifiable criteria are used. It shows clearly distinguishable profiles for different job types and also differences within profiles for successes and failures in these jobs.
Concurrent Validity
Any test or assessment is valid if it measures what it claims to measure.
Studies in the UK that compare PPA with 16PF and OPQ factor 3 indicate this is the case. Major trials by suitably qualified practitioners were conducted and these studies clearly show that PPA is saying similar things about the same people as 16PF and OPQ factor 3.
Utility & Acceptability
The final question to be addressed is: “Is the PPA questionnaire really useful in the context of selection and development?”
The PPA system is used daily in 50 countries and the feedback confirms that empirically PPA has a utility value that is extremely high.
The essential purpose of PPA/HJA is to be a structured guide to the interview – and brings to mind relevant and incisive questions that focus
on the demands of the job role.
The reports offer to managers and personnel officers a valid frame of reference for each individual candidate. They control for biases and unwanted side effects of unstructured traditional employment interviews.
British Psychological Society Guidelines
The PPA fully adheres to the guidelines published for non psychologists by the British Psychological Society and the Code of Practice published by the Institute of Personal Development.
The PPA, distributed by Thomas International Management Systems (UK) Ltd, is recommended for use only by trained clients.
Next Steps
Contact us for further information or to arrange a FREE consultation to discuss your company's psychometric testing needs.
