The field of psychometric assessment has grown significantly in the last few years.
According to a 2014 CEB report, the frequency of psychometric testing as part of the interview process grew to 62% in 2014, and the trend makes sense for employers.
There are significant benefits to personality screening in the interview process, because it can help find the right person for the job and prevent expensive and frustratingly preventable staff turnover.
These benefits are primarily for the employer, but there are also benefits for the employee.
Psychometric assessments can help mitigate the biases that every interviewer brings to the table, and can give employees who may not interview well a better chance of being seen for the other skills they may have to offer.
For other employees, such as individuals with dyslexia, psychometric tests can be a significant barrier and workplace accommodations are necessary to prevent discrimination.
A quick google search turns up page upon page of advice to prospective employees about how to “pass” psychometric assessments.
Employee fears of being deemed a “bad fit” or having the “wrong” personality are overwhelming, and it is true that many tests fail to get at the fundamental personality of the applicant and instead test knowledge – which can be acquired and doesn’t indicate a person’s fit within an organization.
Emergenetics is a “people solutions company” that offers a more holistic profile, encompassing not only thinking attributes such as a candidate’s tendency towards analytical, structural, conceptual or social thought, but also behavioural attributes such as flexibility, assertiveness, and expressiveness.
By bringing a multifaceted focus to the assessment, Emergenetics hopes to avoid the pitfalls of other tests and offer something that is less “pass/fail” and more informative.
They want to provide a way to help teams work together more effectively, and provide individuals with insight into how they can adapt to new situations and engage with coworkers and customers in ways that are productive and take advantage of each other’s strengths, rather than stumbling over points of friction or differences in thinking style or temperament.
A significant benefit of the Emergenetics assessment over other available assessments is that the “norm” against which test takers are measured is updated every two years. This is in keeping with Emergenetics International’s commitment to brain research.
In a social climate that is undergoing significant and rapid change, knowing that your assessment will account for changing gender norms and preferences is critical. Every test includes bias, and updating the norms every two years helps mitigate these biases.
Psychometric assessments work best as a process, rather than a one-time event.
This is another area where Emergenetics excels, through their app and their Meeting of the Minds workshops. However, it is up to the organization and the individual to access these resources.
Similar resources exist for other personality assessments, such as the well-known Myers-Briggs or the Hogan Assessment, but these resources are only as good as the people who access them.
What Emergenetics offers is a step forward for assessment science, and a more holistic view of individual employees and team dynamics.
Emergenetics Canada has offices in Toronto (905-636-0797), Vancouver (604-992-0261), and Calgary (403-226-0878), and associates across the country. You can also reach them by emailing connect@emergeneticscanada.com.
By Tiffany Sostar
Tiffany is a writer, editor, academic, and animal lover who came late to her appreciation of pets. At 18, a rescue pup named Tasha saved her from a depression and she hasn't looked back. She has worked as the canine behaviour program coordinator for the Calgary Humane Society, and was a dog trainer specializing in working with fearful and reactive dogs for many years. She doesn't have any pets right now, but makes up for it by giving her petsitting clients (and any dogs she comes across on her frequent coffee shop adventures) extra snuggles.
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