Assessments in the Workplace, Essay Example

Introduction

Companies are becoming increasingly concerned about attracting the right graduates. An integral part of this is personality testing and ensuring the new recruit has a personality that matches the goals and aspirations of the firm and the manner in which it conducts business. Psychometric testing has become a valuable means in terms of a toolset that is utilised by HR departments for this purpose. (Jenkins, A. 2001).

Psychometric Testing

The use of psychometric testing normally falls into three broad areas:

1. The measure of an individual’s potential in order to learn new skills;
2. Aptitude testing, looking at how a candidate may perform in a specific role;
3. Personality testing, determining how an individual may react to certain circumstances in the workplace.

Such tests normally last around 15 minutes and there is no prescribed Pass or Fail set. It is really a question of assessment in terms of how well the candidate will fit into the organizational culture and determination of potential contribution. The weakness of the test is that it demands open honest answers from the candidates and is open to abuse i.e. the candidate merely puts down what he thinks the employer would like to hear. In this sense the timing of the test should consider little time for thinking but merely the candidates immediate response to the question. An additional strength is the psychological structuring of the questions and the way in which the answers are measured. There are cross-relations in the questions to avoid ambiguity and potential skews in the answering. Some graduates are nervous about this entry procedure considering it a form of interrogation and lack of potential trust by the hiring company. (Cohen, Swerdlik, & Phillips, 1996).

References

Cohen, R. J., Swerdlik, M. E., & Phillips, S. M. (1996). Psychological testing and assessment: An introduction to tests and measurement . Mountain View CA: Mayfield Publishing.

Jenkins, A. (2001). Companies’ Use of Psychometric Testing and the Changing Demand for Skills:. London: Centre for the Economics of Education.