Recruiting – to test or not to test?

With so many tests available for recruiting, are they worth it?
Well, when you consider that to put a new person on the payroll is such an important decision, why wouldn’t you use all the tools at your disposal.
The cost of getting it wrong is very significant. Firstly there is the direct cost of the recruiting activity, frequently stated as around $4000 to $18000 dependent upon seniority, and whether external recruiters are used. Let’s say typically $8000
The second point to consider is that a new appointment is a big decision – let’s say a middle-manager level job paying $50,000 p.a. – over 5 years that is a $250,000 dollar decision. How about making sure that your quarter of a million dollar decision is a good one!
So how can tests help ensure you are getting a person suited to your job? They do so by validating that an applicant is likely to have qualities that meet your selection criteria. So firstly it is ideal to have thought out the personal qualities sought as well as descriptions of the duties and tasks to be performed. Which brings us to using Personality Tests.
Fortunately if you have not thought out your personality selection criteria, all good personality tests have conducted studies of thousands of people and already determined a great number of the qualities needed for successful performance of generic roles such as sales, customer service, management, and call centers.
But of course some personality tests are better than others for use in recruiting. In the USA there exists legislation that requires tests to meet certain standards before they can be used for recruitment and selection. The tests that meet US legislation usually have around 30 “factors” that have been statistically analysed to have a validity, reliability and correlation with specific workplace performance. These factorial tests for example such as NEO, OPQ, 16PF, Apollo Profile tend to be more expensive that simpler typology tests, for example Myer Briggs, DiSC, TMI and numerous other personality tests which are none-the-less great for understanding personality and for self-development.
Most good personality tests cost somewhere between $100 and $500, dependent upon whether you have to purchase the interpretation. Many big organizations subscribe to testing suppliers, and some test providers now have special services for small and medium businesses to access tests on a more casual and low cost basis.
In my opinion that cost is very small compared to the cost of making a mistake. A good test is a professionally constructed tool that will also confirm that you are making a wise choice, and be likely to reveal any development needs in the applicant before you appoint them.
By the way, good personality tests have a greater predictive capability than interviewing – but why not do both, especially as a god test is objective and likely to pick up characteristics that even trained interviewers can miss.