Move beyond opinion – using psychometrics to assess your candidates and team dynamics.

The use of profiling and psychometrics to assess candidates for roles has been used by larger employers for many years, but can now be provided to all clients via Paul Harper Search.  Using the internationally recognised Thomas International tests, candidates can now be profiled as individuals and as part of an overall team, assessing their personality and skills set.

“For clients without the infrastructure or budget to run such schemes, we can now offer either a ‘full service, or parts and labour review’ of candidates to support our existing assessment procedures and the client’s interview process,” commented Paul Harper.

Team Dynamics:  One of the most exciting opportunities using the Thomas International tests is the ability to assess existing teams.  “With the current focus on restructuring and teams’ strengths, the assessment allows a real understanding of how existing teams are working together, and how a new team will work,” continued Paul.

A recent assessment for a client looked at a Sales Director and a National Accounts Director, at how they worked together and their respective strengths and weaknesses.  The assessment confirmed their directors’ views or Sales Director’s view that the team was unlikely to work effectively and that the National Accounts Director, an existing employee, would have serious difficulties meeting the requirements of the changing role and would clash with his successful new boss.

Scoring Job Description: An ideal starting point for the process is scoring a job description. PHSS can look at the job description, key skills and personality requirements and then score the job.  The assessment is then used to cross-reference the people being assessed for the role. “We obviously carry out part of this process within our shortlisting process, but can use this system to provide more evidence and support of who should be selected.”

In the current climate, managers faced with the difficulties of potentially unsuitable internal and external candidates, can use this system to objectively assess these individuals and remove potential bias from the process.

The ability to assess both personality and skill set is also crucial in a relatively small and specialised sector such as Financial Services. “For larger industries, the personality requirement may be the main criteria and, in this instance, fairly unsophisticated assessment methods can be utilised. However, for our industry the assessment of the skill set is also crucial, and with our assessments we can provide this information as well.”

The range of assessment techniques is available for new candidate requirements or to help assess existing individuals and teams.  Contact Paul Harper Search now for more information on the options available.

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