The Role of Behavioral Tests in Personality Assessment of People

The world is becoming competitive in every field and mere reflections are happening in the job market also. Pre-employment tests are very popular among companies while hiring their employees with the required talent. As per the requirement, the employer may conduct different forms of pre-employment tests in the fields of Job knowledge, integrity, cognitive ability, personality, skill assessment, emotional intelligence, physical fitness.

If you are interested to be a part of a company by contributing your immense skills and analyzing the developments in the industry, the best-suited job for you is the research analyst post. Usually, the research analysts gather data and help that company to market the services and products. They must be able to interpret their client’s interests and may predict future trends in that field. Qualitative as well as quantitative assessments, which include the behavioral test should be carried out by an efficient analyst.

Importance of Behavioral Test

Many times these behavioral tests are categorized as domain-specific but are multidimensional and broad. At the basic level, the cognitive assessment will test the following things: the verbal, spatial, psychomotor, and processing speed. Cognition mainly refers to memory, understanding of written material, the ability to learn new things and speech, etc. For the above reasons, cognition is considered to be the key skill required for a research analyst. With some diseases or old age, one may have a memory problem affecting their cognition. The average score for IQ is between 90 and 109. Fewer scorers are considered to be having lesser cognitive functioning. The importance of these tests are as follows,

• To get the correct picture of an individual’s IQ level.
• Cognitive strengths and weaknesses can be  identified
• Aids in evaluating the learning difficulties of an individual.
• To guide in  developing learning strategies and recommendations

Role of the behavioural test in choosing the best skills for the organization

To examine the personalities of different employees in an organization, many are using the assessment centers. Starting from the recruitment process, through training, the assessment centers can play a crucial role according to the organizational challenges. These assessment centers carry out different tests, to bring out the best talents for their organization. The different tests that are carried out for expert behavioral evaluation are as follows,

Psychometric Tests

These tests are basic and vital as they analyze the abilities and skills of the candidate that equate the job role. Identifying the appropriate candidate for the job role is finally made. The test is either online or writing format. 

Aptitude and Ability Tests

This test is mandatory to measure the thinking performance logical reasoning of the candidate. These quality tests are of multiple-choice questions and assessing is under strict conditions. Few aptitude tests are numerical ability, mechanical reasoning, verbal ability, spatial reasoning, abstract reasoning, etc. 

Personality Tests

This is a crucial test that tests the candidate’s character. According to different conditions, the reaction of the candidate is made a note. At the time of the recruitment process, many aspects kept an eye on. The way the candidate gets with other candidates, handling stressful conditions and various other forms of work and non-work related scenarios are made a note.  

Group Exercises

This test is usually group tests that include a small group of candidates. The recruiter or assessor provides the statement or question. The allocation of group exercises depends on the job role. The assessor assesses every candidate’s performance such as persuasiveness and leadership capabilities. 

Role-Play Exercises

These exercises allow candidates to act in any scenario with their group or peers. These situations are similar to the ones they may face during their job role. Few situations are marketing a new product, handling customer complaints etc. 

Aspects of the Behavioral Tests

Accuracy: with an assessment center the key benefit is reaping accuracy when made a comparison with the usual recruitment process. In a standard recruitment process the different measures like the ‘halo effect’, the interviewer bias, and the clone effect are found in candidate assessment. Also, the subjective opinions for the interviewers vary each day. In an assessment center, a higher degree of objectivity is in the process. They follow a rigorous and broad array of assessment exercises. 

Performance in action: At an assessment center the recruiter can watch the candidate’s performance in reality instead of depending on self-assessment facets in the interview. It is easier for assessors to compare and assess the applicants good at the paper but different in the real world situation. The centers are good for permitting employers to simulate different scenarios as per the role and assess the applicants. 

Fair: An assessment center is vital as it is fair. It complements the diversity and equality agenda. The appropriate candidate recruiting on merits is complete. By holding hands with an assessment center, measurement evaluation and evidence include detailing, recording, and normalizing. When made a comparison with a single interview, this is robust. 

Employer branding: promotion of employer brand is possible with assessment centers. Candidates approaching the assessment centers identify that it reflects the organization and the role. Hence candidates find it inspiring by the hiring organization. They also maintain a positive impression though they aren’t successful in the job role. In this way, high-quality candidates gain a positive image. 

Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS) is a comparatively novel method which is a combination of the graphic rating scale and critical incidents method. It includes prearranged significant areas of job routine or sets of behavioral statements unfolding important job routine characteristics as superior or awful. These statements are evolved from serious incidents.

In this method, an employee’s genuine job performance is judged alongside the preferred behavior by marking and estimating the behavior with BARS. 

Final words:

In performance appraisal and layoff periods, the behavioral assessment centers will allow the employees to showcase their qualifications for other positions within the company. The assessment centers are trending in the recruitment field and can be considered as the powerhouses of recruiting agencies.