Psychometric Tests For Occupational Selection And Assessment

A description of the test giving examples and illustrations where appropriate. For instance, it is an IQ, a personality/ability or EQ test?

How was the test developed? Is it commercially produced? Or was it developed in house? You can obtain information for this section from the test manual, or you may need to conduct research within your organization to establish how a test/procedure was developed.

How can the test be obtained? Are there restrictions on its availability? Who can use it? What especial skills and training are required? Does the tester need to be registered/qualified/BPS or CIPD?

For which target group has the procedure been designed? Is it a normative measurement? Is it for group selection?

Discuss how the test can be used for occupational selection or assessment. What are its principle uses? Is it generalizable? It is cost effective?

Test Description

From this very specific module it is learnt on how psychometric tests can give an overall view about the skills and competency level of an individual. The key areas that psychometric test can highlight are as follows:

• The presence of mind of an individual
• Emotional intelligent skill of an individual
• The behavioral aspects and managerial aspect of an individual
• Whether the individual applicant has technological skill and competency or not
• Whether the psychometric test can enhance psychological skill and behavioral aspect of an individual

The study has primarily focused to evaluate emotional intelligence, technological skill, psychological competency and managerial skill. However, in order to become an efficient employee it is needed to focus on my core subject area as well. Emphasis could be given on evaluating my subject area by giving a math and logical reasoning test as well.

2. Description of the recent procedure:

Psychometric measures the personal and behavioral capabilities of an individual (Ashleigh and Mansi 2012). It is a form of measuring the emotional intelligence quality of a person based on which the applicant would be selected as a responsible employee. Organizations like to develop EQ questions in two major ways, one is commercially developed and the other one is personally produced. In order to hire employees for Barclays Bank psychometric tests are conducted by using commercial tools. In order to develop the test procedure human resource managers are involved. They have made several questions on emotional intelligence quality based on which the employees would be selected. The questions are formed for the employees by maintaining reliability and validity of data. The questions that the human resource managers have formed are completed based on their organizational feasibility.  In this very specific study the psychometric tests are developed based on big five, emotional intelligence and team role. These are the three major segments based on which the employees can be interviewed on their competency skill.  

Before obtaining the test the applicant needs to follow some of the major terms and conditions (Fairness 2012). Applicants who have already sat for the examination within six months are not applicable for this test. In order to log in the portal applicants need to create an account by giving appropriate log in id and password. In addition, in order to give the test applicant does not need to be CIPD qualified. The person who has MBA background on finance along with proper technological skill and competency would be applicable for this test. In order to become a part of Barclays Bank the human resource managers would like to emphasize on those employees who have finance background (Kline 2014). However, this particular financial institution is possessed with other designations as well. Therefore, employees having degree in marketing, HR are also allowed in sitting for the interview process.

Test Development

In order to conduct the interview several questions would be formed based on mathematics and logical reasoning (Cromby and Willis 2014). Without having mathematical knowledge the employees would not be able to provide services in a finance institution. In addition, sufficient questions would be there based on emotional intelligence skill such as team development, leadership skills, communication skills, time management skill, decision making skill and so on.  Test questions are prepared in such a way that the human resource manager can gather detailed overview about the competency level of those applicants. At the same time, the applicant would be able to prove on how much competent they are in time management skills. If the employees are not able to choose a psychometric question within stipulated time they would not get the scope in reviewing the question (Lewis and Loewenthal 2015).   

On the other hand, the test would be conducted on three major steps. One is aptitude test, other is group discussion and technical test is the final one. Based on the three primary steps applicant would be selected for this organization. In order to give three steps of psychometric test the applicants would have to be very much competent in technological skill. Otherwise they would not be able to operate the advancement of technology.    

These three kinds of Psychometric tests are helpful in getting an overall knowledge about the personality, intelligence quality, emotional intelligence, team cooperation skill and decision skill of an individual (Flanagan et al. 2012). The primary principle of selected psychometric question is throwing open minded question. With the help of these psychometric questions the HR managers get a proper understanding on how much competent the individual is in maintaining effective team coordination while providing services. In order to become an efficient employee at the workplace the individual needs to have the capability of managing team members and showing them a cooperative outlook while working together. However, this psychometric test helps an individual to disclose the inner competency and ability based on which that individual would like to survive within the organization (Gungor and Beji 2012). Psychometric test is useful to evaluate on how an employee would be able to cooperate among the team members and associate with the team members in maintaining an effective rapport and to provide good services to the organization.

This procedure is being selected for a specific target group. As Barclays Bank is a financial institution the applicants who would be shortlisted would have to be from finance backgrounds. After providing the psychometric tests the candidates would have to go through the phase of core finance where the applicant would have to face questions from the subject area (Schlegel, Grandjean and Scherer 2014). Therefore, without having a background of core finance the applicants would never be able to clear the interview questions. In addition, being a finance institution Barclays Bank needs to focus on hiring those employees who have sufficient knowledge and understating on this very specific area.

Test Obtaining Process

 Otherwise, fulfilling the needs and demands of the customers, sharing necessary information to the customers, resolving the concerned queries of the customers would not be possible for the employees (Moore et al. 2015). Therefore, the primary target group for Barclays Bank is applicants who have finance backgrounds. In addition, it has also been observed that some of the most significant designations are there within the organization that needs an efficient employee from management background who would be able to control the entire process of business by convincing the clients. For an example, the post of human resource managers, marketing managers, public relation managers leave a major significance for the organization. Therefore, in order to hire those persons the HR manager of Barclays Bank should focus on the previous work experience of the person rather than focusing on qualification and educational backgrounds (Morrow 2012).

The strengths of these three specific psychometric tests are as follows:

• Big five psychometric test enable to know whether an employee is energetic and expressive within organization or not
• Big five psychometric test enables to know whether the employee is emotionally stable or very much impatient
• Big five psychometric test enables to know whether the concerned employee is open to accept workplace burden or not
• Big five psychometric test enable to know whether the employee is able to adjust with changing environment or not
• Psychometric test on team role enables to know how much competent an individual employee is in maintaining effective team rapport at the workplace
• Psychometric test on team role enables to know on how much competent an individual employee is in maintaining proper communication with the team members
• Emotional intelligence test enables to know on how much competent an individual employee is in self managing the team
• Emotional intelligence test enables to know on how much competent an individual employee is in adopting the work environment

The necessary weaknesses of the these three psychometric tests are as follows

• These three types of psychometric tests are entirely dependent on multiple choice questions. As a result, the human resource managers do not get in-depth overview about the communication skill of that individual. The human resource managers do not get detailed overview about the interaction capacity of that individual.
• While conducting these three psychometric tests the applicants would have to be provided flexible technological devices. As a result, the organization would have to invest large amount of money for affording those technological devices.
• Moreover, the human resource managers would have to face immense challenges in continuing the interview process if any kind of sudden technological barrier takes place while conducting the interview session. As a result, human resource managers have to re-arrange the interview method from the beginning by setting questions manually.

The result of psychometric tests that shows at the end of examination is completely reliable and valid. The technical data that this assessment gives to the candidate is reliable. If the entire process of this examination is highly based on the advancement of technology, the data is maintained by the source of internet along with software (Wocial and Weaver 2013). As a result, human mind is not involved over here. Therefore, the data that can be gathered from psychometric test is genuine and authentic.   

In this very specific article “The Psychology of People in Organizations” published by Ashleigh and Mansi (2012), the author has given an in-depth overview on how psychology of an individual leaves a major impact on the overall performance of an organization. The author in this specific article has pointed out that employees are from various geographical backgrounds and attitudes. The role of a specific HR manager is to evaluate the competency and skill of an individual through various psychometric tests so that they can gain a proper knowledge and understanding about the efficiency level of the candidate. However, it is observed that the author has given emphasis on the psychology and behavioral approach of an individual rather than focusing on the competency and skill (Gungor and Beji 2012). The article has evaluated that an individual should have proper emotional intelligence skill, team management skill and time management competency in order to survive within the business industry. Therefore, while maintaining the recruitment and selection procedure the author has focused to take an effective psychometric test based on the intelligence quality and behavioral as well as psychological approaches. At the time of developing and designing the question the HR managers of this organization has focused on some of the major factors (Lakanmaa et al. 2014). The team management capability of the individual was one of the biggest priorities. In order to maintain the level of performance within an organization the employee needs to know on how to manage a team and how to keep up a good rapport with the team members.   

Target Group

Numerous eminent scholars have stated that employees are from different psychological backgrounds and cultural attitudes. Therefore, after being involved within a specific team the employees would have to face immense challenges in communicating with the team members if the person has behavioral issue (Kaufman et al. 2015). Therefore, while maintaining the selection and recruitment process, the human resource managers should make the set of questionnaires in such a way that the persons’ behavioral, emotional, psychological attributes can be judged. Therefore, the primary target group should be the applicants who have good qualification and backgrounds (Mislevy et al. 2012). It is however analyzed that an individual should have proper emotional intelligence skill, team management skill and time management competency in order to survive within the business industry (Panayides and Walker 2012). Therefore, while maintaining the recruitment and selection procedure the author has focused to take an effective psychometric test based on the intelligence quality and behavioral as well as psychological approaches. In addition, it has also been observed that some of the most significant designations are there within the organization that needs an efficient employee from management background who would be able to control the entire process of business by convincing the clients (Panayides and Walker 2012). Therefore, the person needs to have appropriate communication skill as well based on which the person can deal with the clients effectively.

It has also been observed that good psychological background is effective enough in dealing with the persons properly at workplace. The emotional intelligence skills of that individual are very high (Rust and Golombok 2014).  An effective emotional intelligence skill allows an individual to spread hands at the time of any kind of team cooperation. It is observed that people within a specific team have communication barrier. In this situation, an individual having good psychological backgrounds is effective enough in dealing with the person with good gesture so that the person does not get de-motivated in performing well towards the services (Mennenga 2012). The author, in this very specific article has clearly mentioned that psychometric test should be taken based on the behavioral and psychological skill of an individual rather than focusing on communication and technological competency.   

This very specific study has provided some of the major recommendations based on which organization can develop their psychometric test procedure for recruiting new applicants. Recommendations are as follows:

• While recruiting the employees Barclays Bank intends to apply psychometric test on the employees for evaluating their intelligence quality, personality and behavioral approach. In this very specific study three major psychometric tests are conducted based on the time management quality, emotional intelligence and big five personality(Lewis and Loewenthal 2015). Before involving the applicants directly within psychometric test the human resource managers should gather detailed knowledge about technological competency and capability of those applicants in order to know whether they are accustomed with advanced technology or not.  
• However, in order to become an efficient employee an individual needs to focus on core subject area as well. One has to focus on evaluating my subject area by giving a math and logical reasoning test as well. It has been observed that the questions that are set for the psychometric test is not very specific. In addition, HR managers could have given one test on communication skill as well for analyzing the communication competency of applicants. In order to survive within a business organization communication skill plays one of the most significant roles for maintaining effective work environment.
• Apart from taking these psychometric tests the human resource managers could have made some descriptive questions as well for varying the interaction capability of an individual. Effective communication skill would be very much helpful in getting associated with any prestigious business organization. If an individual performer is not able to express point of view in front of seniors that person would never be able to perform well towards the services. Therefore, communication skill would play major role in the enhancement of my business performances. Some of the relevant descriptive questions would be helpful in analyzing the communication skill and competency level of an individual applicant.

Reference List:

Ashleigh, M.J. and Mansi, A. 2012. The Psychology of People in Organizations. Pearson, UK.

Cromby, J. and Willis, M.E., 2014. Nudging into subjectification: Governmentality and psychometrics. Critical Social Policy, 34(2), pp.241-259.

Fairness, T.S., 2012. Fundamental psychometric considerations in assessment. Handbook of Psychology, Assessment Psychology, 10, p.50.

Flanagan, D.P., Alfonso, V.C. and Ortiz, S.O., 2012. The cross-battery assessment approach: An overview, historical perspective, and current directions.

Gungor, I. and Beji, N.K., 2012. Development and psychometric testing of the scales for measuring maternal satisfaction in normal and caesarean birth. Midwifery, 28(3), pp.348-357.

Harlow, L.L., Mulaik, S.A. and Steiger, J.H., 2013. What if there were no significance tests?. Psychology Press.

Kaplan, R.M. and Saccuzzo, D.P., 2017. Psychological testing: Principles, applications, and issues. Nelson Education.

Kaufman, A.S., Raiford, S.E. and Coalson, D.L., 2015. Intelligent testing with the WISC-V. John Wiley & Sons.

Kline, P., 2014. The new psychometrics: science, psychology and measurement. Routledge.

Lakanmaa, R.L., Suominen, T., Perttilä, J., Ritmala?Castrén, M., Vahlberg, T. and Leino?Kilpi, H., 2014. Basic competence in intensive and critical care nursing: development and psychometric testing of a competence scale. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 23(5-6), pp.799-810.

Lewis, C.A. and Loewenthal, K., 2015. An introduction to psychological tests and scales. Psychology Press.

Mennenga, H.A., 2012. Development and psychometric testing of the team-based learning student assessment instrument. Nurse educator, 37(4), pp.168-172.

Mislevy, R.J., Behrens, J.T., Dicerbo, K.E. and Levy, R., 2012. Design and discovery in educational assessment: Evidence-centered design, psychometrics, and educational data mining. JEDM| Journal of Educational Data Mining, 4(1), pp.11-48.

Moore, T.M., Reise, S.P., Gur, R.E., Hakonarson, H. and Gur, R.C., 2015. Psychometric properties of the Penn Computerized Neurocognitive Battery. Neuropsychology, 29(2), p.235.

Morrow, C.K., 2012. Communicative language testing. The TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching.

Panayides, P. and Walker, M.J., 2012. Evaluation of the psychometric properties of the Internet Addiction Test (IAT) in a sample of Cypriot high school students: The Rasch measurement perspective. Europe's Journal of Psychology, 8(3), p.327.

Rust, J. and Golombok, S., 2014. Modern psychometrics: The science of psychological assessment. Routledge.

Schlegel, K., Grandjean, D. and Scherer, K.R., 2014. Introducing the Geneva emotion recognition test: an example of Rasch-based test development. Psychological Assessment, 26(2), p.666.

Viswesvaran, C., Ones, D.S., Schmidt, F.L., Le, H. and Oh, I.S., 2014. Measurement error obfuscates scientific knowledge: Path to cumulative knowledge requires corrections for unreliability and psychometric meta-analyses. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 7(4), pp.507-518.

Wocial, L.D. and Weaver, M.T., 2013. Development and psychometric testing of a new tool for detecting moral distress: the Moral Distress Thermometer. Journal of advanced nursing, 69(1), pp.167-174.