The Importance of Organisational Psychology in the Hiring Process

In its traditional form, the job interview reveals little about a candidate beyond their previous experience, future aspirations, appearance and general demeanour. References and qualifications offer a little more, but nothing to reassure an employer whether a candidate will align with the company culture, function efficiently as part of a team or how they will respond in a crisis. Organisational psychology can provide those missing details and more with the help of psychometric assessments.

Apart from providing insights that even the most experienced interviewer could not hope to match, the test procedure is designed to be entirely objective. Psychometry, therefore, eliminates the natural tendency for humans to make subjective and often biased and inaccurate judgments about other humans.

The Benefits of Applied Organisational Psychology Assessments

A psychological assessment consists of tests and evaluations designed to measure a candidate’s mental abilities, personality traits, behavioural tendencies, emotions and other human characteristics relevant to job and social performance. Psychometric assessments can take several forms. These include intelligence tests, personality tests, aptitude tests, situational judgment tests, and emotional intelligence assessments. Psychometric testing has many applications and is widely used in the hiring process to:

• Predict performance: These tests can provide valuable insights into a candidate’s psychological makeup, thus offering a comprehensive insight into their likely performance in a given role than could be learned from a face-to-face verbal interview.

• Assess cultural fit: Every company has its unique culture, which plays a significant role in employee job satisfaction and success. Applied organisational psychology assessments can help determine how well a candidate’s personality will align with a company’s values and working environment. For example, someone who demonstrates openness and agreeableness is likelier to excel in a collaborative and innovative company culture. By contrast, those with a marked need for structure might perform better in a more hierarchical and process-driven environment.

• Improve employee retention: Appointing someone to a position for which they do not possess the required personality traits, communication skills, or sufficient competency invariably leads to mutual dissatisfaction and resignation or dismissal. High staff turnover rates result in additional recruitment fees and possibly training costs that can repeatedly impact a company’s operating budget.

By using psychometric assessments, HR managers and recruitment agencies can reduce staff turnover rates substantially. The test results provide a proven, reliable means to ensure new personnel possess the necessary skills and display the behavioural tendencies and personality traits that align both with their proposed roles and the company culture.

• Career pathing: The applications for organisational psychology are not limited to hiring. For example, psychometric testing can be used to diagnose mental health issues, plan appropriate treatments and monitor them. In business, staff retention doesn’t cease to be a problem merely because these tests can ensure there will be no “square pegs in round holes”.

Far too often, a valuable staff member will decide to move on because they have no clear career path in their present post. However, although such decisions can be costly for the current employer, they can easily be avoided. Unlike the customary periodic performance appraisals, which merely highlight past performance strengths and weaknesses, psychometric assessments are designed to reveal future potential. Testing will expose areas where management training and appropriate on-the-job experience could enable more employees to advance within their company rather than being forced to seek promotion elsewhere, perhaps with a competitor.

Evidence in Support of Applied Organisational Psychology

For those unfamiliar with psychometry, its potential may seem too good to be true. In practice, studies published by accredited sources of research into organisational psychology confirm that cognitive ability tests have proved to be among the most accurate predictors of job performance within a broad range of occupations. However, they are not infallible.

There are several explanations for this potential downside. For example, there are now many opportunities for candidates to practice these tests online, repeating them to improve their scores. Similarly, employers can download tests and apply them in-house. Unfortunately, this option cannot guarantee the quality of the tests or the examiner.

If they are to provide the reassurance a prospective employer requires, psychometric assessments must be compiled by experienced industrial psychologists and conducted by a qualified psychometrist. These are the very reasons prominent employers like Italtile and Volkswagen Financial Services rely on Orgro for organisational psychology testing. Next time you’re in the market for new staff, why not contact us and let our behavioural experts help you make the best possible choice?