Testing Services

Psychological Testing can the employer an idea of what potential an individual might have, and to what extent it would pay off to train or develop that person.   If the company constructs work teams, the assessment can provide a profile of that individual’s team style and skills.  If at some point a difficulty arises with the employee, the data from the assessment can provide a recommendation about how to deal with  the problem.

What can be learned?

A short answer is that almost any question that is legal to pose can be answered by a psychological appraisal. The testing can be compared to x-ray diagnosis in medicine. It allows a look “inside” the candidate.

Because the amount of data one can obtain from a psychological appraisal can be overwhelming, a report on a candidate is usually grouped into sections that most companies find useful. These sections are as follows:

Cognitive and Work Style

Personality Style

Ability to Handle Job Problems

Recommendations and Needs for Development

However, this format can be altered to meet your needs.  The more “user friendly” the report format, the more effective use can be made of the information in the report. One way to customize a report is to pose a series of questions or topics and the report can be organized  around these issues.

Who to test?

Potential employees are not the only ones worth testing.  One reason some companies request a psychological assessment for current employees is to make decisions about which employees to train and develop for promotion. Used in conjunction with performance evaluations, the assessment can be a valuable tool that avoids the “Peter Principle”, promoting an individual one step beyond his or her top level of potential competence. It can be disheartening, as well as expensive, to promote valued employees who are doing a great job only to discover that they don’t really have what it takes for that next level up.  Equally important is the opposite error: overlooking a “diamond in the rough”, a loyal employee who has potential for development. Assessment can be used together with  the performance appraisal to make effective decisions about placing current employees within the organization.

Alternative tests

Two examples are Vocational Interest Appraisals and Screening Testing. Vocational Interest Appraisals focus on what careers and pastimes an individual is likely to find satisfying on a life-long basis. This type of assessment, used most often in career counseling situations, can sometimes be useful in industry. If a key employee is unhappy and dissatisfied with his position in the firm over a period of time, it is sometimes useful to find out if he or she is mismatched with the position. Screening Testing offers the possibility of evaluating a group of employees to determine which of them have certain traits. This type of testing can be used as a part of  career path planning within a company.  Also, testing can be used to select front line workers to reduce turn-over.

Career path planning

A method of defining mutually beneficial goals for an employee and the company. Clarifying the possible options for promotion or non-promotional advancement of some type can lead to increased job satisfaction for employees and reduce unnecessary attrition.