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Assessment and Psychometrics - Psychometric testing essential to staff recruitment

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Organisations that do not embrace psychometric testing to recruit staff risk losing a competitive edge, a leading psychology professor has warned.

John Rust, the UK's only Professor of Psychometrics and founder of a new Psychometrics Centre at City University has addressed the controversies surrounding psychometrics, the science of psychological assessment, and explore reasons for its rise in popularity especially for recruitment.

On the value of psychometrics, Professor Rust said: “The area of psychometrics is so fast moving, it offers those organisations a competitive advantage over their less reactive counterparts."

Professor Rust claims: "The possession of psychometric expertise provides an opportunity for human resources to influence management decisions and demonstrate links between recruitment policy and company success.”

Professor Rust acknowledged there were a number of questions surrounding the role of psychometrics, including whether it worked and if it was ethical. Much of this debate arose from the validity and reliability of results.

“Anyone involved in staff selection … should be able to satisfy themselves that their assessment procedures have complied with the four principles of reliability, validity, bias and standardisation. Also, they should be in a position to provide a justification of their choice of assessment procedures to others if called upon to do so,” Professor Rust said. “They need to know that their assessment system is reliable in that it can be depended upon to produce a consistent result. They also need to know that it is valid in that the person selected is likely to be the best person for the job in comparison to all the other candidates. Applied psychometrics is, in essence, a predictive technology, an actuarial science. We use selection tests to predict how candidates would perform if given the job, and we select those who best fit this prediction. Most personnel directors can think of occasions where a failure to predict the outcome of a particular appointment has proved disastrous and anything we can do to improve our predictions must be a major priority".

He denounces misconceptions about psychometric testing, including the widespread belief it is easy to cheat on personality tests and that psychometric testing fails to understand the human side of assessment: “There can be no doubt that it is possible to lie when answering a questionnaire. But is also true when answering a question in an application form, or in an interview. Hence, when a test is constructed, precautions will normally be taken and safeguards built into the test itself. Many questionnaires contain a lie detector. But does psychometrics have to be about simply totalling up scores? Not any more. In the past, tests and questionnaires were limited to paper and pencil, but today questions can be presented on computer screen, and the session can be interactive, just as in an interview.”

Professor Rust gives ten reasons why psychometrics is invaluable to organisations:

1. Psychometric testing is an efficient and standardised assessment of an individuals strengths and capabilities.
2. Psychometrics provides a justification for recruitment decisions.
3. Psychometrics can be applied to recruitment activity of any scale, ranging from a single post to a multi-centre, multi-national recruitment campaign.
4. Numbers are no object in psychometric testing – it can be used to test a single individual or millions of people.
5. Psychometrics provides a set of principles that can be applied to the objective examination of CVs, work-sample tests and qualitative reports.
6. Psychometric testing provides a framework to test the effectiveness of policies, such as equal opportunities.
7. Psychometrics offers an exciting and rewarding specialist career path within human resources.
8. Knowledge of psychometrics enables human resource executives to increase their influence in their boardroom by being at the forefront of developments in IT and the use of the web.
9. Psychometrics offers organisations a competitive advantage.
10.Psychometrics offers scientific evidence of links between recruitment policy and company success.

Notes
1. John Rust joined City University in May 2003 as the UK's only Professor of Psychometrics. As part of the move he established City University's Psychometric Centre. The Centre aims to be a power-house in the growing - and sometimes controversial - area of testing and its applications in business, educational and clinical settings. John is the author of a number of widely used assessments, and his book 'Modern Psychometrics' is now in its 2nd edition and has established itself among practitioners and students in organisational psychology as a basic text.

John has been actively involved in professional and ethical aspects of testing and applied psychology through his work in the British Psychological Society, and has delivered assessment consultancy to a number of organisations including Natwest, the Cabinet office and the DES, as well as major city institutions and pharmaceutical companies. He was the chosen developer for the UK adaptation of the Wechsler scales, the world's most widely used scales of ability and attainment.

City University's Psychometrics Centre have entered into a unique partnership with the US company pan to bring cutting-edge assessment to UK clients. The centre becomes the first European member of the pan Testing Centre network.

2. The City Insights Lecture Series presents to a wide audience the strengths and achievements of the University. Each year it features six top University academics, with subjects ranging from health and happiness to design and disability. This high profile series gives members of the public, professions, media and other academics access to ‘master classes’ on a range of issues, as well as the opportunity to challenge, debate and enjoy. For further information on forthcoming lectures, please visit http://www.city.ac.uk/whatson/lectures.htm

3. City University, London, plays a distinctive role at the heart of business and the professions and in our relationships with employers and government. Our courses for both undergraduates and postgraduates are designed to help students succeed in the workplace. Over the past one hundred years we have gained a worldwide reputation for teaching and research – and we are committed to continuous innovation and improvement of our activities.