Late August and early September is usually a time of increased recruitment. It is associated with the completion of the holiday period, the start of new projects and the need to make changes in the previously conducted ones. If you also are looking for and new employees, maybe you should consider the use of psychometric tests during the recruitment process. Why? According to American researchers Frank Schmidt and John Hunter, who summed up the run for over 90 years research on the effectiveness of various methods of recruitment, general mental ability tests, which are one of the types of psychometric tests, are most effective in determining how well the candidates will carry out their tasks among all methods used in recruitment. What are psychometric tests? In short, this are collection of tasks or questions based on the relevant psychological theory that produce certain types of behavior and provide the desired results of psychometric properties, i.e. high reliability and validity. Reliability means that the measurement is precise. Validity of the test makes it possible to predict certain behaviors or trends basing on the results that have been obtained in it. If you decide for the use of psychometric tests in recruitment, you should pay attention to two  important issues: Firstly, not all the tools that are called tests are psychometric tests. These appropriate are based on the proven theory, and the selection of tasks or questions to them is preceded by complex research and statistical analysis. Secondly, you should consider what characteristics or skills are actually needed for the job and only then choose the appropriate measurement tools. The best is to use of psychometric tests investigating the potential – they have the biggest predictive ability. If you want to examine the candidate’s knowledge – use knowledge tests, if experience – an episodic interview. It turns out that more and more popular personality tests are not as accurate as their authors claim. So if you want to explore the personality traits of employees and their fit to the organization, it is best to use the test method together with properly constructed interview. To reduce recruitment costs, it is best to measure the characteristics of personality at the last stage of recruitment process, towards already selected candidates with the greatest potential. What psychometric tests are available on the Polish market and where to find them I will write soon. Photo credit: limbte / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)