Rebecca’s profile of choice (co-author) is called ‘Insights Discovery’. A standard Discovery report comprises 18 pages describing a person’s preferred behaviours; how they most frequently operate, their strengths, limiting behaviours, value to the team, communication preferences and a whole lot more. But that said, should we love them or fear them?
In truth, it’s rare for a person to hate the entire concept of psychometric profiling. However, it is understandable that some people can feel a little guarded about them, especially if they’ve not been able to find out enough information and they are being used in conjunction with something serious like a job application. Having worked with profiles for 25 years we are familiar with these common concerns, most notably:
Are they 100% accurate?
Should we treat them as gospel?
Am I being tested?
Is someone judging me?
The common answer to the common concerns is NO
Accurate? A psychometric profile’s accuracy range is between 85% and 100%. There is a validation process people can use to calculate this figure and when they do, most will report 95% accuracy
Gospel? Candidates should be encouraged to self-edit their reports striking out the few statements that do not describe them. Psychometrics are not about proving a system is capable of being perfect but rather ending up with something that we can
agree, truly reflects how we are
Tested? Whilst some tools in recruitment are indeed tests (numeracy, literacy et al) psychometrics are absolutely not tests. There is no pass or fail when creating an inventory of how a person prefers to act and use their behaviours
Judged? Despite the numerous pages in a report describing how we are likely to behave, a psychometric will not make a judgement e.g., by following a statement with ‘this is good’ or ‘this is bad’. That doesn’t mean things get sugar coated, so you can expect to find statements like ‘as a perfectionist, Rebecca likes to hold on to reports until every detail is in place which may frustrate some of her faster paced colleagues’
The greatest opportunity profiles afford any recruiting company is not to have a divine digital decision maker that will choose who’s in and who’s out but the opportunity to know that when you find an applicant you want to keep, how you can use behavioural insight to successfully manage them into the business, retain them and crucially, build effective relationships with their colleagues. Relationships must be the vehicles not the barriers to your success. So, for the same price as a tank of petrol we say (in answer to the help or hindrance question); ‘you gotta love ‘em!’
Rebecca Thurlow, Owner of Compass Point Recruitment
My business, is not different to any of the clients we work alongside, it is about getting the “right” person, “right” skills and “right” team fit. As we all know Recruitment isn’t that simple! I heard about the benefits of psychometric testing candidates at a networking event and after trialling many different types, I settled with Insights some 10 years ago. I have found the simplicity of the test a great tool when I’m recruiting for trainees (or in our speak Rookie) consultants.
Where I have personally benefited by adding an Insights profile to my internal recruitment procedure is that it gives me additional information to drill down at 2nd interview, coupled with my own competency-based questions, I have found my success rate has increased significantly.
The dilemma now is, how strictly do you use the information, working alongside Adrian, he “moderates” me, however, history has again repeated itself, when I go “off piste” the 3 “rights” above weren’t in alignment, resulting in stuff churn.
Insights & Training
I am a strong believer, we all have a “learning style” some consultants prefer to be given a procedure manual, they can use to remind themselves of certain processes, others have to create their own training material while others completely go cold if I was to issue them with a 99-page detailed handbook.
In conclusion, I am a 100% fan of using psychometric testing as part of my on boarding process. I have found it extremely beneficial when compiling new starts training programme, it enables me to allocate resources and schedule in the “right” training for them.
If you are interested in finding out more about how Psychometric Profiling could help your business and recruitment, contact Adrian Nash – Managing Director of Radius 360 on 01376 337063 or visit their websitewww.radius360.co.uk