Staff Psychological Assessment Profiling

What is it?
Psychological assessment profiling is the skilful use of well constructed, objective measures to determine whether an individual has the skill set required to do his or her job .

Why is it popular for recruitment and talent spotting?
It is a method that employers are using increasingly as a method for staff recruitment and talent identification. It is recognised that this type of assessment adds a quantitive and more objective element to the qualitative elements involved when assessing people.

What areas are assessed to develop a psychological profile?

People are typically evaluated in four areas:

1. Ability:
   This area is probably the most important. What is being tested is a person’s potential to learn, that is, their general ability. People who have more ability typically are able to learn more quickly and are more likely to be better problem solvers, show more initiative and be more productive. It is important, though, to match the measured ability to the role. This means ensuring that the person has sufficient ability to understand all the concepts associated with the role but not so clever as to become bored with the role very quickly.
   
   
2. Aptitude:
   There is no widely accepted definition of the difference between ability and aptitude. Most people would agree that, to some extent, aptitude tends to refer to a specific ability such as manual dexterity or spatial visualisation. Thus aptitude tests tend to be job related and often have names that include role titles.
   
   
3. Personality:
   The primary goal of personality assessment is for an individual to provide the most accurate self report of their behavioural characteristics or attributes. We know that there are certain personality types who perform better in certain jobs than others. For example, a quiet, retiring person who is not sociable is not likely to make a good salesperson and a person without attention to detail will not make a good accountant.
   
   
4. Motivation:
   This differs from personality in that it is identifying behaviours that are more goal directed toward needs, interests and aspirations. Highly motivated people have a strong desire to achieve, are optimistic and demonstrate organisational commitment. Motivation is related to personality in that, while personality reflects the way we behave, motivation represents the why.

In view of the cost of recruiting and training employees, an organisation must attempt to hire the best individual available if it expects to realise a good return on its investment. The information on abilities, aptitudes, motivation and personality provided through an assessment process can typically take two to three months to acquire in a close working relationship. In addition, the information obtained through this process can be used to develop questions that can identify how the individual will behave in work relevant situations.

Psychological assessment and profiling can be effectively used in the following areas:

1. Recruitment
2. Selecting leaders
3. Employee selection during Mergers and Acquisitions
4. Selecting teams
5. Career development
6. Selecting employees for overseas assignments

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