How do you know if a potential employee is the right choice for your company, your team? Which employees have more potential to take on additional responsibilities and leadership? Psychological testing helps you to rely less on gut feeling and to make difficult HR decisions more easily and effectively by knowing the psychological profile of your (prospective) employees.
Psychological testing most often consists of one or more aptitude tests and several personality trait questionnaires. Psychological tests are used when you want to get in-depth information about job candidates or existing employees.
What can psychological testing reveal?
Psychological personality tests help clients answer the following questions:
- To what extent are the candidate’s abilities and qualities in line with the job requirements?
- Which employee is the best candidate for the internally advertised job?
- Which areas should employees focus most of their energy on in development activities?
Psychological testing does not replace other selection methods, but complements them. Often, it is “psychological tests” that provide the missing information about a candidate’s intellectual abilities, creative potential, emotional stability, way of working with others, approach to work tasks.
Why psychological tests?
Psychological tests (also psychometric tests) are nowadays fully standardised and objective tools to assess an individual’s personality. In practice, psychological tests are used to assess the strengths and weaknesses of potential recruits, their compatibility with the requirements of the job and their match with the company climate.
Psychological testing in Examples
At Primera, we use psychological personality tests from verified publishers. Before testing, we first choose the right combination of aptitude tests and personality questionnaires. The choice is influenced by the requirements of the job and the candidate’s level of education. Jobs with more responsibility usually require more competences, so the testing is more extensive.
We then contact the candidate to inform them of the procedure and arrange a test date. Psychological testing can be carried out at our location, at the client’s premises or entirely via remote access. The entire testing process usually takes between 2.5 and 4 hours, depending on the number of tests used.
Psychological testing is a sensitive procedure that requires discretion. When we carry out the testing in our educational premises at Rimska 6 in Ljubljana or Prešernova cesta 5 in Ljubljana, we ensure that the candidates are guaranteed peace and privacy. For internal candidates, knowing each other is not a problem, so we also test in small groups. This is more cost-effective for the client.
Before testing, we inform the candidates about the terms and conditions of cooperation and data protection (GDPR), and then we carry out the testing according to precise instructions. The testing is carried out by qualified psychologists. When we are unable to administer the test in Slovenian, we use Hogan Personality Questionnaires (adapted for more than 40 languages) or questionnaires purchased from foreign publishers.
Information about the results of psychological testing
We have tested more than 10,000 people in different European countries. Experience is particularly important when interpreting the results of psychological tests. A larger number of psychologists also means a quick response to the client’s needs. It often takes only a few days from the need for testing to feedback. Feedback is given to the company verbally or in a concise written report. Of course, we also provide feedback on the results of psychological testing to candidates who have been tested by us.
Online psychological testing
Psychological testing can be carried out entirely via remote access. Research shows that the results of this type of testing are quite comparable to those of face-to-face testing. What’s more, the technology also allows for more customisation and additional information than paper-pencil testing. And we are not just talking about adjustments to the timing of the test. Today, there are also tests available that adapt the difficulty of the tasks to the candidate’s performance.
How do online psychological tests work?
- We look at the requirements of the job.
- We choose the right combination of cognitive tests and personality questionnaires.
- We send the candidate an invitation and a GDPR-compliant notice regarding the collection and protection of personal data.
- Once the candidate has given his/her consent, we arrange a time for a video call.
- Cognitive questionnaires, where the candidate could seek help in solving them, are administered in the presence of the tester via video call.
- The video call is also used to conduct a short interview with the candidate.
- The personality questionnaires are completed by the candidate within an agreed time limit. The tester has an overview of which tests have been completed and can alert the candidate to any missing tests.
- As soon as possible, the tester shall review the results and prepare an assessment of the candidates, which shall be communicated to the client in a secure and agreed manner.
What does online testing look like for candidates?
- Candidates receive an invitation to take the psychological test via email, so they should monitor it regularly.
- They should ensure that they have a quiet place and time to take the tests, when they will not be disturbed.
- Make sure they have a computer (not a phone or small tablet) to take the tests and a stable internet connection.
- They should expect to be able to hear and see the tester via video call.
- Despite the remote testing, they will be given the opportunity to ask anything they are interested in regarding the administration and results of the tests.
- They can get feedback on the testing within seven days at the latest.
What can customers expect from online testing?
- Results are often available sooner than if the testing is carried out ‘in person’.
- Candidates may have a better response time as they can adjust the time they take the tests to their availability.
- The results are of the same quality as those from face-to-face testing.
- Problems with the technology used to administer the tests are quite rare. The tester will provide assistance to the candidates.
- Testing can be done for several candidates at the same time.
- Tests taken by candidates online may be the same (personality questionnaires) or of comparable difficulty (cognitive tests) to paper-and-pencil tests. Cognitive tests are also available which adjust the difficulty of the tasks to the candidate’s performance, thus allowing a more accurate assessment of the candidate’s cognitive abilities.
To book a test: send an enquiry to info@skupinaprimera.si or call +386 40 467 750.
