A wrong hire is costly, time consuming and often damages trust. Psychometric testing offers a means to better achieve the right hire when used as part of the selection process. Delivered by Ruth Williams, Business Psychologist at Criterion Partnership.

1. Hiring the right person demystified:
psychometrics in the digital age
Ruth Williams,
Criterion Partnership
Delivered at the seminar
“How to Attract and Keep the Best Talent…For Less”
on 19 March 2014
Organised by LoveWorkLife in partnership with Mercury xRM

2. Hiring the right person
demystified:
Psychometrics in the digital age
19th March 2014

3. What is Business Psychology?
• The application of scientific study to business
• Applies to multiple areas of business – today:
– Making the ‘art’ of selection the science of results
– Understanding predictive validity
– The numbers everyone should know
– Integrating psychometrics into selection

4. The science of selection
Robust criteria are crucial
Predictive validity is a measurement of the
power of any assessment method to predict
future performance and trainability
The correlation coefficient describes the
strength of the relationship between the
method and performance/trainability

5. The science of selection
Predictive validity (performance & trainability):
• Work sample tests (0.54)
• Psychometric ability tests (0.53)
• Employment interviews – structured (0.43)
• Personality questionnaires (0.4)
• Employment interviews – unstructured (0.36)
• Graphology (0.2)
Schmidt, F. L., Hunter, J. E., The Validity and Utility of Selection Methods in
Personnel Psychology, Practical and Theoretical Implications of 85 Years of
Research Findings, Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 124, 1998

6. The science of selection
Predictive validity – the best combination
Psychometric ability test plus:
• Work sample tests (0.63)
• Personality questionnaires (0.66)
• Employment interviews – structured (0.61)
• Employment interviews – unstructured (0.57)

7. What about CVs?

8. The science of selection
What about CVs?:
• Job experience (years) (0.1)
• Education (years) (0.15)
• Reference checks (0.25)
Psychometric ability test plus CV:
• Job experience (years) (0.55)
• Education (years)(0.56)
• Reference checks (0.59)

9. Other reasons to use psychometrics?
Online sifting combined with more effective selection methods saved ASDA
£2.64 million (averaged over 5 years)
An 88% reduction in the cost-per-hire

10. What are psychometrics?
• Skilled question design by experts
• Question analysis - often over years!
• Reliability & validity testing
• British Psychological Society (BPS) vetting
You have a selection method that works, is fair and
is legally defensible

11. Integrating psychometrics
• Build structure into your selection process
• Create robust criteria for assessment
• Draw up a selection matrix:
– Use a variety of selection tools
– Assess each criteria at least twice
– Use numbers to score performance
• Run a structured wash-up discussion
Hire the best candidate!

12. Further information
Ruth Williams
Ruth@criterionpartnership.co.uk
07872987978
01273 734 000
www.criterionpartnership.co.uk

13. This slideshow contains one of six presentations delivered at
the seminar “How to Attract and Keep the Best Talent…For
Less” on 19 March 2014.
To access all six slideshows and to find out more about this
and our other events, please contact LoveWorkLife:
Click icons!
020 3145 0600
Organised by LoveWorkLife in partnership with Mercury xRM.
Visit www.loveworklife.com and www.mercuryxRM.com