The aim of the Global Assessment Barometer was to monitor worldwide trends in assessment. The survey drew together responses from 2,776 participants from 14 different countries and showed interesting findings in the use of psychometrics worldwide.
Some of the key trends that this study found was:
- Online assessment is growing. It has grown 18 per cent over the last two years. 52% of participants are using online assessment, predominantly in the hiring process but also for development purposes. Developing and intermediate markets are growing to close the gap on mature markets.
- But the nature of assessment is changing worldwide. Employers are still looking to make better, less risky selection decisions. But increasingly they want to predict which candidates will be strong performers.
- The use of psychometric assessment is increasing across the entire employee lifecycle, particularly for the recruitment of managers, white-collar workers, graduates and apprentices.
- Development centres, assessment centres, integrity and value questionnaires and Situational Judgement Questionnaires (SJQs) are the fastest growing tools; competency-based interviews are in decline.
- Pre-application testing is also a growing trend, as more employers use Realistic Job Previews (RJPs) and Situational Judgement Questionnaires (SJQs) to attract applicants.
- Employers are keen to assess for ethical working (loyalty, honesty, integrity, and commitment), leadership, creativity, cultural fit, emotional health/ability to cope with stress and long-term potential.
- Mobile assessment has become part of the talent agenda. One in five respondents highlighted the importance of mobile capability in assessment. With the growth of mobile assessment, employers are now adopting a ‘packaged approach’, where they’ll use several diagnostic instruments instead of a single tool.
- Creating a diverse workforce has become an important issue in mature markets (UK/US/Germany/Sweden). Employers want to show they are making objective, unbiased selection decisions.
- Talent analytics are being used in nearly half of organisations. Employers want to ask more sophisticated questions and get real-time answers from their pre-hire data and their employee performance data. But what role does HR really play at the moment? Half the respondents who use talent analytics do not know their budget.
- Cost is an obstacle to the increased use of assessment, so are a lack of management support and a perception that interviews meet client needs. Those who don’t use assessment find it difficult to understand the value it adds to the business.
- Validity and reliability evidence are the most important factors when choosing a supplier. A stable and state-of-the-art IT system is also important as big data analysis requires more, faster and secure data, integrated into existing information systems to be analysed in different ways.
A full report can be requested from info@tts-talent.com