A Question of Integrity

The Sydney office of organisational psychology consultants SHL says it has clients who request that their entire board of directors be assessed to demonstrate to shareholders that they have character and integrity. Executive search firm Alt-U uses behavioural interviews to unearth hidden talent. IT recruitment company Diversiti says more of its clients are requesting psychometric tests for senior appointments. And human resources consultancy Livingtones Australia claims up to 25 per cent of medium to large Australian organisations regularly use psychometrics.

Much of the testing is for emotional intelligence (EI), allegedly found in large doses among today's best business leaders. EI is also acknowledged by recruiters as a sound way to identify leadership potential because it represents our ability to understand and manage our emotions and those of others. It reflects how we behave in the workplace.

Psychometric assessments measure many skills and traits: maths, word power, reasoning, motivation, work ethic, reliability and tolerance, to name a few. Some take a full day to complete. They are used not only to predict job performance, but also to resolve conflict, improve communication, make career decisions and identify training needs. They cost between $250 and $5000, depending on the type and level of assessment. Even at the top price, say those who pay it, assessment at least provides some insurance in their search for that special someone to manage a multimillion dollar enterprise. This, combined with pressure to reduce staff turnover costs, has led to more companies using psychometric assessment.

Lisa Winter, an organisational psychologist with Brisbane-based Livingtones Australia, says psychometric testing helps employers make better long-term decisions based on a candidate's cognitive ability, work preference and previous behaviour. "Behavioural profiles assist in retaining good staff by enabling employers to understand a potential employee's work style, culture and leadership style," Winter says. "If an alignment exists between the organisation's culture, the requirements of the job and the individual's needs, then there is a greater chance of work satisfaction and retention."

Deborah Harding, managing director of IT recruitment specialist Diversiti, says psychometric assessments reveal abilities and motivations and provide managers with more detail on a candidate's cultural flexibility. "Initially, we were approaching clients with the idea of getting a rounder view of the candidate, but now, clients are asking us if we do psychometric testing," Harding says.

Diversiti uses a psychometric assessment developed by SHL called Decision Maker, which takes about three hours to complete. SHL says Decision Maker is one of the few computer-based psychometric assessment tools developed in Australia with local validity and norms. It comprises two parts: an ability assessment and a personality assessment. The ability test comes first because people get more stressed with the personality questions.

Kirk Pittman is one of the recruiters at Diversiti who uses psychometric tests to decrease his reliance on subjective sources of information such as CVs, references and the candidates themselves. "Psychometric tests give you balance and objectivity," he says. "It's also very difficult in an interview to investigate someone's raw potential. This is one thing the tests do well. When you're recruiting graduates, for example, and the client wants to get three to five years out of them, it doesn't really matter what they've done prior. We want to know what they are likely to do next.

For a psychometric assessment to be effective, an employer must choose the specific competencies for a particular role so the test can be framed to match the requirements of the job. The best tests are also relevant to the markets in which they are used since there are behavioural variances between people of different backgrounds. For example, it is not regarded as best practice to use an American test with American norms to test Australians for an Australian position. And although many of the well-known and widely used tests were born in the US - such as the Myers Briggs Type Indicator or the California Psychological Inventory - they are modified for local application. This often means no more than changing some language and colloquialisms.