Testing Services
Psychological Testing
can
the employer an
idea of what potential an individual might have, and to
what extent it would pay off to train or develop that
person. If the company constructs work teams, the
assessment can provide a profile of that individual’s team
style and skills. If at some point a difficulty arises
with the employee, the data from the assessment can provide
a recommendation about how to deal with the problem.
What can be learned?
A short answer is that almost any
question that is legal to pose can be answered by a
psychological appraisal. The testing can be compared to
x-ray diagnosis in medicine. It allows a look “inside” the
candidate.
Because the amount of data one can
obtain from a psychological appraisal can be overwhelming, a
report on a candidate is usually grouped into sections that
most companies find useful. These sections are as follows:
Cognitive and Work Style
Personality Style
Ability to Handle Job Problems
Recommendations and Needs for
Development
However, this format can be altered to
meet your needs. The more “user friendly” the
report format, the more effective use can be made of the
information in the report. One way to customize a report is
to pose a series of questions or topics and the report can
be organized around these issues.
Who to test?
Potential employees are not the only
ones worth testing. One reason some companies
request a psychological assessment for current employees is
to make decisions about which employees to train and develop
for promotion. Used in conjunction with performance
evaluations, the assessment can be a valuable tool that
avoids the “Peter Principle”, promoting an individual one
step beyond his or her top level of potential competence. It
can be disheartening, as well as expensive, to promote
valued employees who are doing a great job only to discover
that they don’t really have what it takes for that next
level up. Equally important is the opposite error:
overlooking a “diamond in the rough”, a loyal employee who
has potential for development. Assessment can be used
together with the performance appraisal to make effective
decisions about placing current employees within the
organization.
Alternative tests
Two examples are Vocational
Interest Appraisals and Screening Testing. Vocational
Interest Appraisals focus on what careers and pastimes an
individual is likely to find satisfying on a life-long
basis. This type of assessment, used most often in career
counseling situations, can sometimes be useful in industry.
If a key employee is unhappy and dissatisfied with his
position in the firm over a period of time, it is sometimes
useful to find out if he or she is mismatched with the
position. Screening Testing offers the possibility of
evaluating a group of employees to determine which of them
have certain traits. This type of testing can be used as a
part of career path planning within a company. Also,
testing can be used to select front line workers to reduce
turn-over.
Career path planning
A method of defining mutually
beneficial goals for an employee and the company. Clarifying
the possible options for promotion or non-promotional
advancement of some type can lead to increased job
satisfaction for employees and reduce unnecessary attrition. |