The Ultimate Guide to Using Behavioural Testing in the Recruitment Process
Hiring and training new employees is a critical process when it comes to scaling an organisation by recruiting the right people.
One method which has prevailed with continuing success is behavioural testing.
There are a variety of different tests available to employers and recruiters to ensure that the candidates which are selected are not just suitable, but proficient in their skills and exhibit the capability to perform well in the role.
In addition, and increasingly so, a candidate’s culture fit is tested and is regarded to be just as important as their skills and qualifications.
In this report, I will be discussing not only the various types of personality testing but how they can benefit your organisation by adding long-term value.
What is Behavioural Testing?
Behavioural testing is the umbrella term given to the types of tests that determine personal proficiencies in an individual. They can be generic tests which determine the personality style the candidate has, and much more in-depth tests which can ascertain if the candidate will fit into a particular team, and what type of working environment they will thrive within.
The modern form of behavioural and personality tests as we know them today stem from the armed forces in the 1920s where applicants were psychologically tested to ensure they were fit for the demanding nature of the roles. The 16PF questionnaire, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) are modern examples which have evolved from the principles born in the early days of personality testing.
These tests give the participant a score or a ‘type’ which employers can use to determine if the individual has what they are looking for.
There are more in-depth behavioural tests used by recruiters which are used to give a more comprehensive critique of an individual, which we will go through in the next section.
Types of Behavioural Testing
First, let’s take a look at the three main types of behavioural testing that are used in recruitment across the public sector.
As personality testing has increased in popularity in the recruitment and staffing sector, there are now an estimated 5000 versions of these tests employers can use to compare candidates.
The three main distinctions of personality testing are - behavioural tests, capability tests and psychometric tests. Let’s explore these areas in more detail next.
Behavioural Testing
The most commonly used models are referred to as ‘behavioural testing’, or ‘personality testing’.
Behavioural testing aims to find out what working style a person is, and can reveal things such as a candidate’s patterns of thinking, the way they interact with others, and their general behaviour.
Insights Discovery is a behavioural profiling tool and is one example of this. Based on the findings of Carl Jung, the results provide the employer with insights about the candidate including strengths, development areas and potential value to their team, management style, communication style and their ideal working environment.
American analytics company Gallup also has its own behavioural test, CliftonStrengths Finder. In this test, candidates are given 177 statements and are asked to choose the ones which describe them best. Candidates are given a profile from one of 34 different themes, describing their personality type and how they appear in their everyday life.
These tests are useful for employers and their recruiting partners in determining more about a candidate than what their CV can provide.
Capability Testing
Capability testing (sometimes referred to as ‘aptitude’ tests) is when an employer seeks to discover if a candidate has all of the capabilities needed to carry out the role in question.
The individual may be able to talk at length in an interview situation about their skills and knowledge relevant to the position, but how reliably does this translate into their actual working day?
Capability tests can prove (or disprove) at some level that the candidate is who their CV says they are.
These tests will typically include verbal and numeric reasoning, and sometimes a spatial awareness assessment (depending on the role – more on this later).
Psychometric Testing
The most in-depth form of behavioural testing is psychometric testing. These are similar to behavioural tests, except they are more in-depth.
From psychometric tests, employers can gain a more detailed and analytical profile of the candidate, where they can learn about the candidate's core values and beliefs, their identity - what makes them ‘tick’.
The Myers-Briggs personality test is favoured by many employers (and recruitment companies) as it is a well-recognised index. This test determines which combination of the eight different personalities ‘types’ you fit into, with 16 possible outcomes.
For example, an ESTP type has the dominant qualities of Extroversion, Sensing, Thinking and Perceiving, while an INFJ type exhibits Introversion, Intuition, Feeling and Judging.
Often, applicants who have undergone an MBPI test with a recruiter will include their type abbreviation on their CV for potential employers. Employers sometimes know which types would be ideal in a particular role or department in their organisation, and knowing the candidate's styles can help them in the selection process.
The DiSC profiling tool not only determines your personality type (based on four areas – dominance, influence, compliance and steadiness) but provides you with information on how best to work alongside personalities with different styles who might be in their team.
An employer who has several employees with one DiSC type such as dominance will know that in their next hire, they need someone who falls within the steadiness or compliance category, to balance the team out.
Similarly, the McQuaig psychometric test not only provides employers with an in-depth profile of their candidates, but they also provide the employer with the right questions to ask the candidate to find out more about any areas for concern that their profile might have highlighted.
Because of the variety of tests out there, it is essential to use the right test for the right roles. Some tests will be invaluable to some roles, but ineffective for others.
Let me explain in more detail the different scenarios in which the different types of behavioural tests that I have outlined should be used, and their benefits and drawbacks.
The Benefits of Behavioural Testing
In our experience, using behavioural and personality testing can be incredibly useful for public sector organisations and ultimately, provides your work environment with a calibre of candidate that less scrutinous methods cannot.
General Skills
In general terms, entry-level personality and behaviour testing can determine whether the candidate possesses the level of verbal and numeric reasoning that they need to work well within your organisation. You might be shocked at the difference we as recruiters sometimes see in the candidate as they are presented on their CV and the candidate that we meet when they arrive for their first interview!
Many people receive help when putting together their CV, but it is essential to be sure that the candidate has a good grasp of social and analytical skills like reasoning, conscientiousness, time awareness – these can be determined with behavioural testing in a way that a CV or a first interview cannot.
Removing Unconscious Bias
Behavioural and personality testing can be used to eliminate the margin of error that is always present in a human decision based upon judgement and often, ‘feelings’.
How many times have you heard the phrase ‘I had a bad feeling about him/her’ used concerning a person – countless, undoubtedly? We are all guilty of applying our prejudice and biases towards others; most of the time we don’t even realise we are doing it.
Unconscious bias could be at play in your hiring process, at the detriment of your organisation. Hiring managers are often guilty of hiring candidates with similar attributes to themselves, through no fault of their own – it is a deep, ingrained snap decision which is almost impossible to spot and even harder to overcome.
While you might be thinking that a workspace where all the employees share the same values and interests would be a productive one – the opposite is true.
Not only is it better for business to have a culturally diverse workplace, unconscious bias, if not checked, could mean your hiring manager is rejecting candidates who would excel and add value to your organisation – behavioural and personality testing eliminates this problem.
Bespoke Testing
As mentioned previously, there are times when a hiring manager, CFO or CEO either cannot decide on a new hire or have different, opposing opinions.
In this instance, a recruiter working alongside a behaviour testing specialist can utilise a personality test to either confirm or deny the potential employers’ suspicions about the candidate possessing or lacking a specific quality.
Benefits for the Candidate
Behavioural testing is an addition to the recruiting process which benefits the candidate, as well as their potential employer.
A wrong hire can be just as frustrating for the new employee as it is for the organisation. A recruiter acquaintance recently told me about a young candidate they placed in a start-up. When the employee handed their notice in after just three months, everyone was shocked.
It turns out that the employee had expected that the working style would be more ‘exciting’ with music and plenty of chatting but was disappointed to find that despite having a contemporary image, the office environment was far more conservative.
They left for somewhere where tales of their previous nights' exploits were welcomed over morning coffee!
Testing to check that your candidate has the right culture fit within your organisation is one aspect of personality testing that benefits everyone.
Now we’ve covered the benefits, let’s look at the limitations of behavioural tests and how to overcome them.
Limits of Behavioural Testing
As with any school of psychology, it can be argued that behavioural and personality testing cannot be relied on 100%, as no psychological test is irrevocably accurate. Owing to this, behavioural and personality testing have their drawbacks, namely-
Some people are opposed to the nature of the testing, believing that computer programmes and behavioural ‘guidelines’ are not reliable methods to ascertain the essence of an individual.
The candidate might have given inaccurate answers in error because they were nervous, or due to a fault with the system.
Some candidates deliberately try to pre-empt what the employer is looking for and give false answers, which skew the result so that it is at best, unreliable, and at worst – unusable.
Despite these limitations, including behavioural and personality testing in your recruiting process is hugely beneficial and, in our experience, delivers the exact kind of candidate that the employer has in mind.
Behavioural testing is not limited to one type or size of organisation – all work environments can benefit from using these tools whether you have five or 500 employees. Let’s take a closer look at how your organisation can benefit and debunk some of the myths surrounding these tools.
How Can Behavioural Testing Benefit My Public Sector organisation?
In our experience, behavioural and personality testing is a must in any recruitment process, no matter the size or type of the organisation.
Specific Roles
Behavioural and personality testing can be used to significant effect when you are recruiting for a particular role. The personality tests that your recruiter will use when hiring for a finance position will be different from the tests used on a potential HR role, and again for managerial roles.
There are numerous profiling tools out there, and your recruiter will be able to tell which ones will be best for the role/s you are recruiting for.
Investment
Many organisations think – “these tests are expensive – why would we use them?” without realising that behavioural testing is, in fact, more cost-effective in the long run than eschewing them.
The price of a wrong hire is thought to be into thousands of pounds. No employer wants to hire for the same role time and again – it is expensive, time-consuming and has negative impacts on staff morale, and so this is why it is vital to do everything you can to make the right hire the first time around.
Strengthening Your Culture
When used to their full effect, profiling tools can influence and inform the language of your organisation. If you take on several tools and use them, you can cultivate a shared language to be used within your work environment - this can be an incredibly powerful thing.
Different Tools for Different Roles
Each job role in your organisation will have unique behaviour traits. Some employers fall into the trap of hiring people with the same behaviours and characteristics for a variety of different roles, but this is not beneficial.
Even in a small organisation, the Finance Business Partner will need different traits to the Director of Finance, and to the HR Director. One size does not fit all when using behavioural testing to hire for a specific position -there should be no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ traits to have – only characteristics that match a certain role.
Data
When you use a profiling tool, it generates data. Data is invaluable to every sector and allows you to take stock of where you are and where you want to be. Data about your candidates is objective and overrides any subjective thoughts your hiring manager might have had.
Data from previous candidates can be looked over to see how well an individual with certain qualities fits into your established team; you can use this data to decide what kind of candidate you are looking for.
Building a Team
As personality and communication differences are one of the biggest sources of conflict in the workplace, it is crucial that you build a team who not only has the right skills but who can work together harmoniously. This does not mean employing a team of clones – a diverse workplace is a productive workplace and diversity encourages mutual respect and will statistically perform better.
In Summary
Profiling tools allow you to expose the subconscious and hidden qualities a candidate has – for better or worse – which cannot be observed through interviews only.
We understand that it is often the last stages of the recruitment process that are the most tricky – you have two great candidates, and are unsure which one will be the best hire. By working with a specialist recruiter, you can take advantage of our bespoke service and advanced profiling tools to get that all important appointment right first time.
Westwood Harris Burns are specialists in Executive Search and Senior Finance appointments within the Public Sector; with particular expertise in NHS, Housing and Charity Sectors. With over 60 years combined experience, we have extensive knowledge of the market, proven track records and established networks, allowing us to provide a wide range of services to both clients and candidates alike.
To learn more about how we can support you to either build your team or career, visit our Get In Touch page.