Can an Online Personality Test actually help you hire better candidates?

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Hiring the wrong person can be costly and damaging to team morale. Here’s how we use online personality testing to find candidates who are the best fit for roles.

If you’ve recruited a new team member, did you know that they may have over a 50% chance of not working out as planned? This alarming finding comes from a survey of 500 UK HR professionals and managers carried out in spring 2021.

Participants in the research, carried out by the Thomas talent assessment platform, said that 57% of all the candidates they’d recruited in the last year were not settling in as they should. And 25% were not working out at all.

Clearly, hiring the wrong candidate can be a costly mistake in financial terms. Bringing the wrong person on board can reduce team morale, too. This ultimately can lead to lower productivity and engagement on all sides.

Searching for the right fit

According to the survey, there are two big reasons new starters don’t work out. They’re either a poor fit between the candidate and the role, or a poor fit between the candidate and the culture of the employer.

As we know from our work matching clients and candidates through HR GO, company culture is crucial. It’s no surprise that it’s one of the deciding factors in the success or failure of a hire here, too. Company culture boils down to the behaviours, values, visions, habits and ideals that everyone who works for the same company shares. It’s also about whether or not a new starter gets on with the rest of the team.

Tech tools to the rescue: the online personality test

Judging whether someone has really got what it takes for a certain role, or whether they’ll hit it off with future colleagues, is a hard ask from a CV or even a few interviews.

At HR GO, we still value CVs and the interview process. But we’ve found an extra solution to slash the chances of a bad hire. For the last several years we’ve also been using online assessments to help clients find the best candidate for each permanent role.

Using psychological analytics, the Thomas talent assessment platform gives an insight into applicants’ personality, strengths and weaknesses, and the way they behave at work. And as part of the recruitment process, we ask job seekers to complete one of its personal profile analysis (PPA) assessments (which includes an emotional intelligence test called TEIQue).

Predicting workplace behaviour

During the eight-minute online personality test, candidates read short statements then choose which adjectives they feel are ‘most like’ and ‘least like’ them.

Their answers show where they sit in four main profile factors: dominance, influence, steadiness and compliance. And this can help predict how they will perform as an employee rather than waiting to see them in the actual job.

For each candidate, we can find the answers to questions like:

• Would they be a good behavioural fit with the existing team?
• How do they communicate best?
• Are they good at solving problems?
• What are their strengths and limitations?
• What motivates them?
• How do they perform under stress?
• Could they be a high flier?

If a number of candidates who are going for the same role take the test, the insights can be a way of pinpointing those most likely to succeed in the role and an organisation. And for the candidate who goes on to land the role, the fact they’ve already done a PPA assessment will help their manager understand how to get the best out of them when they start work.

Extra recruitment solutions

We know that some online personality tests (also known as psychometric tests) used in the recruitment sector can be ‘gamed’. Candidates who have taken other assessments say it can sometimes seem obvious which answers to give in order to fit the job they’re going for.

But the Thomas tests used by HR GO are more nuanced. And unless candidates know how the scoring system works, it’s not possible to manipulate the answers to suit what an employer is looking for.

The Thomas PPA has been put through rigorous scientific testing to ensure it’s reliable and valid as a psychological assessment. So, we know we can trust the results. Plus, the company is registered with the British Psychological Society and audited against technical criteria established by the European Federation of Psychologists’ Associations.

As we start to see a way through this pandemic, many businesses are looking to increase their head count. So finding team members who thrive in a role and as part of a team has never been so crucial. Embracing technological solutions to help find the best person for each role seems like a no-brainer, doesn’t it?

Read more reasons why online assessment finds good talent faster. And if you're interested in finding candidates through HR GO using online personality tests and our other tech tools, check out our national sales page.