The real cost of employee turnover varies widely by job and by industry. There are many online calculators out there to help you gage the dollar cost of turnover, and research undertaken by the Australian governments Council for Equal Opportunity in Employment (CEOE) advises that labour turnover costs range from between 50 and 130 percent of an incumbent's salary. But when you consider both the direct and indirect costs associated with staff turnover, this figure could be a lot higher.

So it makes sense to invest a little more into hiring and retaining the right people at the outset, not only to keep costs down, but to set the foundations for future success and growth.

Psychometric testing is often just one aspect of a multi-stage recruitment process, but research shows that when used appropriately, a robust and well researched assessment is the single most effective predictor of job performance (e.g. McDaniel, et al., 1994; Ones et al., 1994).

So with the litany of assessments out there to choose from, how do you know which one is right for you?

When considering the use of a standardised assessment, whether for selection or development purposes, here are five things to keep in mind to help you make the right choice.

1. Understand your requirements
There are many areas that psychometric assessments look at. Are you assessing for job skills or general intelligence? What about personality or emotional intelligence? Do you want to screen out applicants or develop internal staff? Before selecting an assessment you need to be clear about what you wish to measure.  Understanding the job, what it involves, the personal characteristics to do the job, and the performance criteria essential for success.    

2. Validity and Reliability of the test
An assessment should always come with a technical manual containing statistical evidence that the tool is both reliable and valid for its intended purpose.  Reliability is a measure of a tests consistency and stability. Validity ensures that the test measures what it purports to measure.  It is a major red flag if the assessment cannot show you its basic psychometric properties.

3. Norm Groups
The norm group for a test allows you to understand a candidates result in relation to others who have previously taken the test. This allows for the interpretation of the result to be meaningful. You should ensure that the test has a relevant and up-to-date norm group for your purposes.

4. Practicability and Utility
Is the test cost-effective? What are the benefits, risks and alternatives of using the test? Is training required to use the test?  What is the time required to administer, score and interpret the test? Is the test online or offline?  Does the administration need to be supervised?
It is good practice to develop a template that outlines all the questions you need answers to prior to choosing and purchasing an assessment. This will also allow you to compare assessments across publishers.

5. Understand Your Responsibilities
Scientifically developed psychometric tests are robust and powerful tools.  This is what differentiates them from a free quiz you can find easily on the internet. When using valid and reliable assessments for selection and development purposes, it is the test user’s responsibility to:

• Choose the test
• Administer the test appropriately
• Score and interpret the results
• Communicate these results clearly with others
• Review the appropriateness of the test and its use

Need advice on assessment for selection or development?  Contact a Pearson Talent Assessment consultant today.

With the sheer volume, and increasingly complex nature of information presented to employees on a daily basis, a key element of success for the modern day employee is the ability to consistently make good decisions.

Especially in the new world of social media, where a company's reputation can be significantly damaged at the stroke of a key (just ask Airbnb).

So if good decision making skills are more important than ever before, how does a company know whether their employee’s (or potential employees) have this valuable attribute? Surely it is not something that can be measured or developed, right? Wrong.

In the US, the Department of Labor identified critical thinking as the raw material that underlies fundamental workplace competencies, such as problem solving, decision making, planning and risk management. It was also rated as the No. 1 skill of increasing importance over the next five years.

So what is Critical Thinking?

In short critical thinking is about better decision making. It is required when presented with complex information, and can be defined as the ability to:

• Think logically, with clarity and precision so you can recognise the difference between a fact and an assumption.
• Use an approach that is objective and accurate when weighing up different sides to an argument or different solutions to a problem.
• When inundated with data and details, the ability to focus only on the relevant information presented and draw conclusions from this.

The Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal is an assessment tool that can help a business determine critical thinking skills in employees and candidates. It has a distinguished history, dating back to its initial development in 1925 by Goodwin Watson and E. M. Glaser, a professor and student at Columbia Teachers College.

Find out more about the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal.

The Australian Association for Psychological Type is turning 20 this year and is celebrating with a one-day mini-conference in Sydney on 12th October 2011: Psychological Type: Then, Now and Into the Future (at work & in life).

This event focuses on the ever changing and evolving world of Type. Quite ‘apt’ for the Golden Personality Type Profiler, an innovative approach to the assessment of personality type.  The Golden uses Jung's Type Theory as a foundation, and unites Psychological Type, Temperament, Trait, and the five-factor model of personality and generates one comprehensive survey and feedback report.

AusAPT’s mini-conference will cover a range of topics including Type’s Jungian roots, current applications of Type in both the professional and personal fields, how type has evolved, innovations and implications for the future.  The line-up includes national and international speakers: Damian Killen (managing director and founder of international resources consultancy Thrive) and Mary McGuiness (founder of the Institute for Type Development), as well as a Jungian expert Terence McBride and organisational change expert Ivana Crestani.

More information can be found at the AusAPT website: www.ausapt.org.au

HR Monthly June 2011

Testing times
How can psychometric testing be more effective?
By Carolyn Boyd

Extract:

“In recruitment what tests do is allow you to assess your unconscious prejudices, challenge them with objective evidence and structure an interview using questions generated from the assessment. Structured interviews that you spend some time preparing and use tests with, are extremely predictive of work success.”
Jevtic says testing cuts through the spin that candidates use when seeking a job. “We all choose referees who are going to say positive things about us,” she says. “Assessments provide an objective measure.”

To read the whole article, click here.

Congratulations Draga for providing valuable insight for the AHRI publication HR Monthly.

With a wealth of knowledge about valid and reliable psychometric assessment for selection and development, speak to a Pearson Consultant today to find out how your organisation can benefit.

Some interesting figures*:

• Baby Boomers are retiring at the rate of one every eight seconds
• The vast majority of organisational leaders are Baby Boomers with the most typical age being 58 years old.
• There are 11% fewer Gen Xers than Baby Boomers
• Generation Y will not be management/leadership material for years to come

Where does this leave us? With an impending and rather large leadership skills gap, the likes of which we have not experienced before. Baby Boomers have a depth of knowledge and skills that only comes with experience and is something that can’t be taught in a classroom.

Will the next generation of CEOs and high level executives be ready to fill these seats that will be opening up over the next decade? Only time will tell, but business needs to prepare by ensuring future leaders are identified, and developed to ensure the best possible chance of success.

So how do we identify and then develop these future leaders? There is no clear cut answer, and in all likelihood it will be a multi-pronged approach that is different for each organisation. Perhaps the old adage ‘it takes one to know one’ rings true, meaning today’s senior executives should be more involved in identifying these talented individuals who will eventually lead the way. But in all likelihood, they will have neither the time, nor the inclination. I mean, who wants to spend time looking for and developing someone who will eventually replace you?

So it seems to me, this rather weighty responsibility is left firmly on the shoulders of HR Managers and practitioners. Are you up to the challenge?

For an in-depth analysis on Next-Gen Leaders, and how to bridge the leadership skills gap, please read a report compiled by a senior researcher with Pearson, who investigated this dilemma more fully and offers some sound advice.

* http://leadershipdevelopmenttrends.com/next-gen-leaders/

Interested in Assessments for Leadership?

Pearson Talent Assessment publishes a range of assessments that are useful in identifying and developing future leaders, such as the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal, The Golden Personality Type Profiler and the Raven's Progressive Matrices.

Find out more.