06 Global RACR day 4 - Modern Psychodiagnostic Tools

1. Psychometric Tools How to identify candidates faster, more accurately and objectively - and remotely? Eliška Šonská Steklíková Recruitment Academy Certified Recruiter 6.6.2022

2. What is your experience with psychometrics so far, personal or professional?

3. What are your expectations from this session? What comes to your mind when talking about "psychometrics" or "psychometric testing"? What is your attitude towards them?

4. Candidates' estimates and suitability

5. Candidates' estimates and suitability

6. Candidates' estimates and suitability

7. So what is psychometrics? • Psychometrics is a set of methods and procedures that lead to the determination of mental characteristics and states of an individual, resp. to the possibility of predicting his behaviour • Each of us uses some procedures every day to estimate the mental characteristics and states of other people and predict their behaviour, because we are all a bit of (lay) psychologists with the so-called theory of mind

8. So what is psychometrics? • Psychometrics is a set of methods and procedures that lead to the determination of mental characteristics and states of an individual, resp. to the possibility of predicting his behaviour • Each of us uses some procedures every day to estimate the mental characteristics and states of other people and predict their behaviour, because we are all a bit of (lay) psychologists with the so-called theory of mind • Test methods enable knowledge faster, more accurately and objectively

9. Types of psychometric tools • (originally) clinical methods • observation • interview • anamnesis • analysis of traces and results of activities • test methods

10. Benefits of using test psychometrics • improves subjective estimates of test subjects, prevents subjective bias • speeds up knowledge and assessment • has a controllable process and evaluation • allows comparison of the tested with each other and/or with a specific comparison group • provides consistency of results for a combination of performance and personality tests

11. Prediction in recruitment 1.0 PERFECT PREDICTION 0.54 Ability tests 0.54 „Demo“ work 0.44 Structured interviews 0.41 Integrity tests 0.38 Personality questionnaires 0.33 Unstructured interviews 0.13 References 0.0 RANDOM PREDICTION Anderson, N. & Cunningham-Snell, N. 'Personnel Selection' in Work and Organisational Psychology, Chmiel, N. (Ed), Blackwell Publishers Ltd, 2000.

12. Examples of official test methods

13. Methods of administration of official test methods • “pencil - paper" • online or using a computer • instrument diagnostics

14. Test methods ABILITY PERSONALITY

15. Test methods ABILITY

16. Ability testing What are the methods based on? • measures performance, the level of some mental functions of the respondent (or progress in their development), contain "right" and "wrong" answers • intelligence tests • tests of special abilities and mental functions (memory, creativity, numerical abilities, verbal abilities, abstract thinking, attention, spatial imagination,…) • knowledge tests

17. Ability testing Adaptivity of methods high of the item Difficulty estimated capabilities Test progress low

18. Ability testing Examples of test tasks

19. Ability testing Concrete testing possibilities • General Managerial Abilities • Attention test (d2) • Decision test • Torrance test of creativity (Figural test of creative thinking) • Raven's progressive matrices • Wechsler's intelligence scale for adults • Adaptive test of spatial abilities • …

20. Test methods PERSONALITY

21. Personality testing What are the methods based on? • Each test is based on one of the theoretical constructs or personality models. • Basic theories include: temperament typology, Eysenck's typology, Big Five…

22. Personality testing What types of methods can we use? • objective personality tests • projective methods • questionnaires and inventories

23. Personality testing Objective personality tests • they are well quantifiable, repeatable and the respondent does not have the opportunity to intentionally distort the examination - this concept is close to ability tests, but they are focused on measuring personality traits (this includes measuring physiological indicators of mental state, such as pulse or skin conductivity) • Stroop's Color-Word-Test • Bender test • Porteus' labyrinths • Mirror drawing (adaptability test) • TE-NA-ZO image finding test (cognitive ability test) • EFT Embedded Figures Test • …

24. Personality testing Projective methods • they are based on the external projection of the respondent's intellectual contents, their attribution or sighting in other people, animals or objects; projective tests evoke a certain reaction on the basis of stimuli, which indicates the inner experience of the respondent • Rorschach test • Thematic apperception test • Hand Test • Tree test • Figure Drawing Test • …

25. Personality testing Questionnaires and inventories • contain a certain number of questions or statements to be assessed by the tested individual (think about their own experience and choose the most concise from the presented options) one-dimensional (they detect a single property, eg. aggressiveness) vs. multidimensional (measures several characteristics simultaneously on different scales) questionnaires (questions to which the respondent answers) vs. inventories (notification sentences, where the respondent indicates the degree of consent) • •

26. Personality testing Impression Management • impression management is a process in which a person tries to influence how other people perceive him • an effort to act socially desirably, to overestimate, "impress", to influence the perception of their person in the desired direction • most quality test methods monitor, detect, and evaluate this tendency

27. Personality testing Questionnaires and inventories • Hogan Assessment Systems (HPI - Hogan's personality inventory, HDS - Hogan's development test, MVPI -Motives, values and preferences inventory) • Occupational Personality Questionnaire (OPQ) • 4 Elements • Clifton Strenghts, Gallup Strenght Finder • Golden Personality Profiler (GPOP) • Bochum Questionnaire (BIP) • Leadership Judgment Indicator (LJI) • Performance Motivation Questionnaire (LMI) • Career anchors (Schein) • …

28. Personality testing Controversial methods • tests available for free • MBTI absence standards for the Czech population • Colours of life (BSA, CA), although it has been used extensively, the Union of Psychological Associations of the Czech Republic warns against it, it is an unproven method, its use can lead to harm to clients

29. Psychometry - quality criteria of methods

30. Methods properties • objectivity Results are independent of the person who enters or evaluates the test. • standardisation Administration takes place under the same conditions (experiment). Local standardisation: standards. • reliability Minimisation of external random influences. Stability of results over time. • validity Validity of results. Ability to predict.

31. Methods properties Reliability • Accuracy / reliability / consistency of the measurement, ie. the ability to achieve the same measurement result if the condition of the observed object has not changed. • ↑ reliability = low variability of results in different situations and insignificant influence of random factors • numerical range of reliability 0 - 1 the higher the value, the higher the reliability • threshold value of sufficiently high reliability: 0.6 (for personality questionnaires), resp. 0.8 (for ability tests)

32. Methods properties Validity • Validity of results - whether the test really measures what it is supposed to measure. • The validity of the test does not lie in whether the tested person recognises himself in it and whether the tested person agrees with his / her results. • numerical range of validity 0 - 1 the higher the value, the higher the validity • pay attention to the Forer (Barnum) effect or optimistic (egocentric) distortion

33. Normal distribution • the so-called Gaussian curve • scores • percentiles (Relative placement compared to the norm on a scale, calculated up to 100. A value of 100 is the highest placement. This expresses what percentage of the population had a worse - or comparable - result than the person tested.)

34. Combination of methods • can increase the validity of the selection process (development program), with appropriate assortment Verbální Numerické uvažování Počítání Numerické Induktivní

35. Use of psychometrics in the HR cycle • recruitment, selection • adaptation • education, development • evaluation, compensation • succession planning, talent management • outplacement

36. Where can I get selected tests • psychologist who has the method available • publishers of test methods - eg Hogrefe - Testcentrum, Psychodiagnostika Brno, etc. • author companies (eg. QED, SHL, TCC, etc.) • distributors (eg. Assessment Systems, QED, TCC, etc.)

37. …and what about ethics? • work with test methods can be divided into 3 phases: administration vs. evaluation vs. interpretation • work with test methods can: laic vs. HR vs. psychologist is always crucial that the person handling the tests is trained, certified in the method, resp. ideally has the possibility of further supervision • only a graduate of a single-subject university study of psychology can work with some methods

38. …and what about ethics? • unfortunately, there is still no uniform code for psychologists of work and organisation in the Czech Republic, it is governed by the general code of the psychological profession from 2017 • in any case, it is necessary to observe the principles of personal data protection, GDPR, when working with psychometrics • condition of informed consent to testing • work ethic towards the tested (standardisation, selection of quality and relevant methods, non-overloading of the person tested, etc.) • ethics of work with outputs (their use only for the announced purpose, sharing with a predetermined and agreed circle of people, quality interpretation, etc.) • condition of offering feedback

39. Case study: Evaluation if the use of psychometrics • You work for a corporate company (one of the Big Four companies), you open an international talent program for recent graduates. You are expecting a large number of applicants, you would like to choose. • Would you reach for psychometrics in this situation? • What specifically? • At what stage of the recruitment process would you include it and why? • You work in a medium-sized manufacturing company. Given the current development of the competition for the position of CEO, you estimate that 2 candidates with comparable experience will enter the final round of the competition. • Would you reach for psychometrics in this situation? • What specifically? • At what stage of the recruitment process would you include it and why?

40. Psychometric test in HR Why (when) yes? • accuracy: improve subjective estimates of test subjects, prevent subjective bias • speed: speed up knowledge and judgment • transparency: they have a controllable course and evaluation • comparison: allow comparisons of those tested with each other or with a specific reference group • addition: integrity of results in a combination of ability and personality tests • profit: saves costs - ROI

41. Psychometric test in HR Why (when) no? • cost • lack of trained professionals, unavailability of a psychologist • low face-validity for some instruments • distrust in psychometrics, psychologists, psychology in general

42. Best practices • quality preparation phase (eg. already when competency modeling) • selection of a quality tool • combination of methods • use of psychometrics across the entire employee cycle (not only for selection, for example) • calculated ROI (testing costs vs. costs of finding a new employee in case of inappropriate selection)

43. Extensions and deepening literature

44. Thank you for your feedback. Let’s stay in touch on LinkedIn! Eliška Šonská Steklíková, Chief People Care Officer at GoodCall eliska.steklikova@goodcall.eu www.linkedin.com/in/eliskasteklikova