Corporations, large companies, family businesses – they all face similar problems: Finding the right apprentices among a large number of applicants is complex and time consuming. If you use psychological tests, you will save time and money, discover hidden talents and know exactly who you are taking on.
Selecting the right candidates to fill vacancies in the best possible way as quickly and efficiently as possible is what every HR department strives for. But in the search for apprentices there is in many companies an unequal relationship between the vacant positions and the number of applicants – some companies are faced with hundreds or even thousands of applications annually. What kind of system should be used to select the personnel?
Many people believe that traditional application documents are a meaningful source to find the right candidate for an apprenticeship – “at the end of the day, school grades show how well or badly someone has performed in the important subjects!” But does a certificate really show how useful a person can be as an employee? Does it show how well they solve work-related problems can and how they will behave in stressful situations? Does an application state anything about how interested or motivated a candidate is or how socially competent?
No, because certificates are just a cursory glance at the past. They are neither objective nor fair. Curricula, school types and educational concepts differ from state to state and even from school to school – so how can you compare two candidates who had to meet different expectations in class? Add to that the subjective assessment of teachers; studies show that boys tend to be given lower grades than girls, even when they have performed identically well.
The same is true for children and young people from socially disadvantaged backgrounds; they are often given lower grades than other pupils.
Certificates provide no information about future performance in an apprenticeship or about the individual talent of the applicant. They cannot determine whether a candidate will fulfil the professional requirements placed on them in an apprenticeship or later as an employee. From a statistical point of view, it is only possible to predict the differences between the applicants in their future professional achievements using traditional application documents (see Schuler, H., Psychologische Personalauswahl, 2014). There is no guarantee that you, as an HR decision-maker, will be able to choose the right candidates for your company from hundreds of traditional applications – and you will certainly not be home on time.
PSYCHOLOGICAL TEST PROCEDURES REVEAL THE TRUE POTENTIAL OF CANDIDATES – IN A FAST AND SIMPLE WAY
Standardised psychological test methods solve several problems in comparison with the selection method using traditional application documents. They provide a fair and objective basis for comparison, because all candidates take the same test online from home. For the selection of the personnel, you will then receive the detailed results for each applicant as well as an overall result, which shows all the participants as a comparison. The results directly show you the current skills, talents, and potentials of the individual candidate – whether they are suited to the requested training place or whether there may even be a different position in the company that they can fill. Because the results are all based on one test method they are comparable with each other – without being influenced by your personal impression. Each candidate thus has the same opportunity to demonstrate their individual abilities and talents.
STANDARDISED IN THEORY, CUSTOMISABLE IN PRACTICE – AND NOT ELITIST
Our standardised tests record the specific requirements that an applicant must meet for an apprenticeship (or another position) – and these requirements vary from company to company. It is therefore important to precisely define via a requirement analysis what skills and talents are relevant on the part of the applicants for you as a company before using a psychological test procedure. For the requirement analysis, we provide our customers with a web-based questionnaire or organise a workshop in which the apprenticeship occupations are evaluated by the employees.
Based on the professional requirements you have defined, we provide the elements of the psychological test procedure individually for you.
The test examines the performance-related and personal characteristics of the candidates. One feature is a clearly defined and demarcated psychological construct; this relates to, among other things, personality traits such as motivation, conscientiousness and social competence, cognitive abilities such as understanding numbers and texts, quick detection and resolution of problems, and concentration. As a company, you can individually weight every characteristic you examine in accordance with how relevant it is to the profession to be filled compared to all the other characteristics.
VALID TEST RESULTS LEAD TO FAST AND CORRECT DECISIONS
For the interpretation of the test results, a single glance is usually sufficient: a results overview with a traffic light system makes it clear to you as a personnel decision-maker which applicants qualify for the next step in the recruiting process. Depending on the configuration you are using, you can automatically invite the selected candidates to an assessment centre or invite them to a personal meeting – and notify the candidates who do not meet the predefined requirements based on their test results with a single click. The invitation and cancellation management is thus a function that can significantly increase the efficiency of your selection process.
But be careful! The “best selection” is not always the best procedure – the best person in the test will not necessarily be the best apprentice who contributes to the long-term success of the company. It is therefore in many cases advisable to also look at the detailed results at an individual applicant level.
To avoid talents remaining undiscovered, we will train you in the use and interpretation of the test results.
With psychological test procedures, companies are able to make their selection of candidates on an objective, fair and efficient basis: the screening of 500 potential apprentices in a single day does not mean ploughing through 500 applications and comparing them with one another only to ultimately unconsciously make your decision on a subjective basis. With scientifically founded psychological tests you place your applicants' management on a reliable basis and can make the right decisions objectively and efficiently – and be home on time.
