Psychological assessment and the recruitment process

We have been involved in conversations many times with candidates about their results for Psychological assessments, and why they will not be progressing further in the recruitment process.

Not all organisations use this type of assessment when screening candidates, but it is becoming more and more favoured by large employers, and if you want to make sure it doesn’t disadvantage your chances of securing a role, we would suggest becoming familiar with the types of assessments and getting your head in the right space.

There are a lot of different types of assessments that organisations choose to use for their recruitment process, with Leadership, Cognitive, Safety, Change and Emotional Intelligence being a few of them. These are all fairly popular assessments and give a good insight into how candidates will perform in certain areas.

Assessments were typically performed towards the end of the recruitment process, with the candidate already having made an impression during the phone screening and at the interview. When things happen in this order, the results of the assessments tend to play more of a ‘things we need to keep in mind’ role and would rarely be the deal breaker for hiring someone (unless there was something significant that was identified).

However, a new approach is becoming more popular, and it’s not good news for candidates. A lot of organisations are now spending more money on assessments up front, having the identified candidates complete the assessments before even speaking to them on the phone.

The top candidates are only then moved through to the next step in the recruitment process, eliminating a lot of people at the start of the recruitment process, and not allowing for any consideration on the candidate’s suitability for the role if they have not scored well, or if they have scored lower than others.

In our opinion, this approach does not take a holistic approach to recruitment, something that we have found to be extremely important.

However, with the rise of artificial intelligence in our lives, it will become even more popular over the next 10-20 years, particularly for large organisations who are trying to lower their risk and have the money to
pay for such services.

So how does this affect you?

If you are looking for work, you will most likely be asked to complete some assessments at some point. Getting in some practice and getting used to completing things like this will increase your chances of success. Use the internet to your advantage and try out some free assessments in your spare time, this will give you an idea of where you currently stand, and if you need to practice more before completing one for a job application.

If you would like some more advice regarding assessments, please call us on 1300 36 00 79.