Our experts provide customized, science-based assessments for hiring so you can predict performance better, fill roles faster, and stay within budget.
Psychometric Assessments for Hiring
Our hiring assessments include psychometric tests that measure personality traits and cognitive ability because they out-predict experience and education. This chart summarizes findings from a meta-analysis.
Effect sizes: VL=Very Large; L=Large, M=Moderate, S=Small, VS=Very Small.
The Science is Clear
- Pre-hire experience and education have very small to small correlations with Overall Performance, Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (OCBs), and Counterproductive Work Behaviors (CWBs).
- In contrast, psychometrically sound cognitive ability and personality surveys have moderate to very large correlations with these important outcomes. When these psychometric tools are combined with an interview with a psychologist, the assessment approach is called Individual Assessment. Read more about it on the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology’s (SIOP) website SIOP – individual assessment.
Yet, historically, most organizations have relied heavily on education and experience to screen out applicants at early stages in their hiring process. Fortunately, word is getting out that this approach doesn’t work. And, using these criteria as gates can perpetuate systemic biases that exclude people unfairly who may be able to do the job well and support your culture.
Selection Assessments that Predict
Believe it or not, there are many pre-hire assessments on the market that don’t have validation research to back up their use in selecting talent. When choosing a partner for new hire assessments, be sure to ask what research they can share related to the validity of the process. Click here to see some of Our Validation Results. In addition to helping you make good hiring decisions, our validation research bolsters the legal defensibility of our assessments. Since our beginnings in 1957, we’ve had zero legal challenges.
Assessments for Hiring: Process Steps
Candidates complete online psychometric tools that measure cognitive abilities relevant to the role, and the Five Factor Model (FFM) of personality. Additional tools are added based on the role requirements and assessment level. Read about FFM
Telephone interviews eliminate the potential for visual biases to impact outcomes. We also give candidates feedback on the online assessment results. which leaves them with a favorable impression of your hiring process. Because one size doesn’t fit all, we offer options with no interview.
A PCI psychologist writes a fully custom-written report. They use a structured process to assign ratings that are peer-reviewed and based on proprietary norms. They also include interview probes that you can use to dig deeper into gaps and risks.
The Utility of PCI’s Assessments Goes Beyond the Hiring Decision
A key differentiator of our hiring assessments is the utility at several stages of the employee lifecycle. While it is obviously used in recruiting, the value of the process doesn’t stop once the hiring decision has been made.
Recruiting Top Talent
- Reports provide an objective, whole-person assessment that allows you to compare candidates to the job description, your competencies and core values, and one another.
- Interview probes are provided by the psychologist so you can dig deeper into potential gaps and risks and make a well-informed decision about fit for the role and organizational culture.
- Debrief with the psychologist for additional insights at no extra charge.
Onboarding New Hires
Reports include a customized written assessment of:
- Strengths to leverage to give the person quick successes
- Motivators and preferences that help to tailor the experience and engage the new hire
- How to address developmental areas, mitigate risks, and compensate for limitations.
Talent Development
- Tell us who you hired and we will create a Developmental Report for the individual describing the assessment results and providing suggestions for how to address their opportunities.
- Our survey research shows that 80% of people who received a PCI Developmental Report found it to be accurate, insightful, and useful in creating and implementing a developmental action plan.
Start hiring with the confidence and peace of mind that you get when you use PCI’s assessments for selection.
Improve HR Efficiency Metrics
When selecting a hiring assessment partner, Quality of Hire is just one decision criterion – albeit a very important one. We understand that other metrics play into your decision. So, we track some of those for you. Click on the tabs to learn how our hiring assessments can help you improve some key HR Efficiency Metrics.
We help you hire faster by:
- Contacting candidates within 1 hour of receiving the request, often quicker
- Online testing options ranging from 60-mintues to 2.5 hours max.
- Offering evening and weekend interviews for busy candidates
- Industry-leading report turnaround – same day, 1-day, and 2 days max
We help you save money by:
- Creating a customized menu of pre-hire assessment options at different price-points
- Conducting all assessments remotely, so no travel costs (this also helps with time to fill!)
- Providing services at no extra charge. These include intake calls pre-assessment, debrief calls post-assessment, training end users, tracking metrics, and conducting group-level analyses
On average, 1 out of every 2 candidates we assess are hired because:
- We conduct the assessment after the person has engaged in structured interviews with the hiring team. Because many people have already been screen-out based on job-related criteria, you have fewer people to assess. This also saves you money!
- The richness of the selection assessment report, quantitative ratings, and debriefs with the psychologist provide hiring managers with predictive data. It gives them the information they need to make a sound decision and support the new hire’s success.