If you’re considering joining the over 80% of Fortune 500 companies in the U.S. currently using psychometric testing, you probably have a few questions like, “What the heck is psychometric testing?” Even if you understand the basics, not all employee assessment tools are the same. Curious about how employee assessment tools will fit into your organization? Here are some frequently asked questions.

What is Psychometric Testing?

Derived from the Greek words for “mental” and measurement”, psychometric testing objectively measures the aspects of a person’s mental ability and personality. These tests uncover personality profiles, motivators, reasoning patterns, interests, and assess overall ability. They are aimed at providing objective data for otherwise subjective matters. So, contrary to popular belief, psychometric testing does far more than measure IQ.

“What are often known as ‘softer’ factors are increasingly seen as important in success, for instance: how well you understand and get on with people; your ability to lead; how far you follow rules or come up with your own unique solutions; your ability to cope with stress. Testing is as much about these as about being a ‘know-it-all’.” – University of Cambridge,Psychometrics Center

Why do Employers Use Psychometric Testing?

Traditionally used in schools and universities, psychometric testing has become increasingly popular in the recruiting and hiring, often in the form of team building software. Again, these tests take the subjective matters in hiring, and make them as objective as possible, so that employers can assess a proper fit for hiring.

The reason behind the recent popularity of psychometric testing in hiring is in part due to the increasing cost of frequent bad hires. 41% of companies surveyed say that a bad hire in the last year has cost them at least $25,000. So, finding the right fit is essential not only culturally, but also for the monetary success of the organization.

When Should I Use Psychometric Testing?

Employee assessment tools can be utilized at any point in the employee lifecycle, not just in recruiting. These tests and assessments are ideal for constructing better teams, engaging your contingent workforce and even remote workers.

Is Psychometric Testing Compliant?

An effective employee assessment tool will actually result in greater objectivity in the hiring process. When using an employee assessment tool like psychometric testing, the fairness and objectivity of your selection process is improved. Employees can be selected on merit with these fair and standardized tests, rather than unreliable and often subjective traditional hiring practices.

Instead of screening out potentially high performing candidates unnecessarily in a biased and unstructured interview process, employee assessment tools introduce a fair and standardized selection process. It never hurts that these tools also help organizations avoid legal disputes over unfair selection practices.

What Kind of Return Will I See with Psychometric Testing?

Besides the aforementioned mitigation of employment practice litigation, employee assessment tools commonly show returns in several other areas of business including:

• Identifying high performing and good fit candidates for recruiting as well as employee internal movement
• Improving morale and motivation
• Increasing employee retention as employers use data collected to identify needs and allocate resources
• Identifying good and poor performers
• Reducing the costs associated with bad hires or mismatches in the recruitment and selection process
• Constructing effective teams
• Reporting on the effect of major changes in the workplace

Why Types of Companies Use Psychometric Testing?

Another common misconception is that psychometric testing, or other employee assessment tools, are only for use in large companies. Every UK school, most UK hospitals and around 70% of UK companies with over 50 employees use psychometric tests, according to the Cambridge Psychometric Center.

Organizations of all sizes, and in all industries can benefit from the use of employee assessment tools like psychometric testing. Until recently, the cost of training and buying the testing material made it very difficult for even larger companies to use such employee assessment tools. Now, centralized, online, affordable testing is available to the masses.

Bio: Ryan Mead, CEO/Partner

Vitru is an online application that provides tools to evaluate and build better teams. Powered by science yet practical and easy to use for a variety of teams. From students and nonprofits to Fortune 500 companies Vitru works!

Great organizations, regardless of size or mission, understand that powerful team chemistry is impossible to force; but when it happens, it’s magic.

Vitru allows team leaders to create and assess teams virtually and in doing so helps quantify what makes an outstanding team outstanding.

Want more? Visit our blog and sign up to automatically receive our fresh-weekly articles.

Tweet me at @GoVitru