Behavioral assessment is considered to be one of the psychological evaluations that observe, analyze, and predict the behavioral patterns of people. In today’s modern employment recruitment sector, behavioral assessments are known to be an essential part of hiring a candidate. It is posed as an important parameter for the HR department to predict the candidate’s behavior. This cannot be discovered through a resume review or preliminary interview.
Only after placing the applicant in a certain real-world situation and allowing them to execute while displaying their personalities and behaviors can this be determined. This assessment also ensures that the person you are hiring is fit for the desired position. By doing such behavioral evaluations regularly, you can keep employees who are suited to the modern workplace’s culture, skill needs, and the job market.
Behavioral assessment is considered to be a psychological test to observe, understand, and analyze the behavioral patterns of people. This assessment evaluates people’s behaviors and how they react to certain situations. Behavioral tests are outcome-focused and match a person’s behavioral characteristics with employment requirements, resulting in long-lasting relationships and satisfied employees. These assessments can be used to measure the key competencies proposed by your organization, identify skill shortages, and develop training plans, all of which contribute to the objective of workforce optimization for future success.
In this article, we’ll explore what behavioral assessments are, their types, and how to conduct them.
What Is A Behavioral Assessment?
Behavioral assessment is a process of understanding, explaining, and predicting human behavioral activities using modern digital technologies. Organizations use behavioral assessments in employment to obtain insights into candidates’ and employees’ behaviors apart from the clinical setup. These assessments are commonly used in the hiring and employee development process to evaluate the core competencies required for a particular job.
These behavioral evaluations make the candidates exhibit their behavioral competencies by performing more tasks that are related to their job responsibilities. Through this evaluation, employers can assess the candidate’s personality traits, attitudes, adaptability, openness to learning, work ethic, and leadership quality. This assessment is not only used to hire the right candidate but also to retain and promote deserving employees confidently.
The main aspect of the assessment is predicting the behaviors of a candidate in certain workplace situations. It identifies the candidate’s capacities, objectives, anxieties, and professional and personal challenges that help to assess how they fit into the organization. Behavioral assessments are conducted by providing the candidate with several simulated environments with multiple possible solutions or actions that can be undertaken.
Assessment of candidate behavior is based on the choice of solution or the potential action undertaken. Behavioral assessments are used for evaluating candidate’s conflict management capabilities and the training is conducted according to the results of the evaluations to address the gaps in conflict management capabilities.
What Does It Measure In A Candidate?
Behavioral assessment test measures an individual’s behavioral competencies. Behavioral competencies are the culmination of an individual’s abilities, knowledge, and attributes. The elements of a job that can be seen in behavior at work are known as behavioral competencies. These can often vary from job level and job role. Every organization should have an overall list of behavioral competencies to analyze and choose the right type of behavioral assessment tests for their employees.
This behavioral assessment measures how a candidate responds to professional and emotional day-to-day situations. For instance, if your organization is expecting a candidate to have a balanced behavior in a collaborative work environment of behaviors that is opposite to an internal competitive work culture, assessing the candidate’s behavioral nature in these distinct situations is essential. For this, employing a behavioral assessment during an organization’s hiring process is important.
What is the Need for Behavioral Evaluation In Candidate Assessment Tools?
Recruiting a competent candidate for the organization consumes lots of time and effort. A candidate should possess good behavioral skills along with educational and technical skills. The ideal candidate will be someone who can develop a positive working relationship with his coworkers and mold his character in the workplace.
To choose the best talent for the organization, a behavioral assessment test helps to ascertain the personalities of the candidates. Therefore, there are numerous advantages to behavioral assessment examinations. They are an essential component of candidate assessment tools as a result.
Types of Behavioral Assessment Tests
There are various types of behavioral assessment tests available for employment. We have listed the top five tests mostly used in the evaluation of a candidate’s behavior while hiring in an organization.
1. Big 5 Test
The Big 5 Test is also known as the “Five Factor Test” or OCEAN Test. This is also a personality test used for evaluating a candidate that is based on self-evaluation. This test assesses the five personality traits of an individual in five different areas.
Openness: This trait evaluates how an individual is open to new ideas and explores creativity.
Conscientiousness: The conscientiousness trait assesses how much a person is aware of their actions and words and the consequences that happen based on these. Their self-responsibilities towards things.
Extraversion: This trait evaluates how a person is outgoing and sociable with others.
Agreeableness: Agreeable traits determine how an individual is friendly, likable, and cooperative with others.
Neuroticism: This trait assesses how an individual is emotionally stable how they react in stressful situations and the level of frustration and irritability.
How Does It Operate?
Candidates are assessed by rating on a scale of 1(very accurate) to 5(very inaccurate) on a sequence of statements about their behavioral personality. This test provides a better understanding of types of personalities and how a candidate fits into a particular role.
Sample Questions:
- I feel comfortable around people
- I often feel blue
- I have control over my emotions
- I accept the way they are
- I am extremely empathetic
2. DISC Test
The abbreviation of DISC is Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Compliance. This test digs into an individual’s personality and categorizes it into four main areas and accesses them.
Dominance: This evaluates an individual’s ability of confidence in their work
Influence: This evaluates how the person is inspiring or influencing others in a good way and can establish lasting professional partnerships.
Steadiness: This assesses how an individual is stable, dependable, and consistent in what they do.
Compliance: This assesses how well a person can be cautious, task-oriented, and accurate in their expertise.
How does it operate?
The DISC test evaluates the main personality traits in a candidate and how they’re most likely to act at work. It helps employers better understand who they are and how they relate to those around them.
Sample Questions:
- I exert pressure on others.
- I adopt a relaxed demeanor in both the office and recreation.
- I often find myself introducing people to each other.
- I’m hesitant to critique the opinions of others.
- I value executing a task well over merely completing it.
3. 16 Types of Test
The 16-type test is a test to assess a candidate’s opinion in real-life situations based on an introspective and self-evaluation questionnaire. They can base their decisions on the following four criteria:
- Introversion vs Extraversion.
- Intuition vs. Sensing.
- Feeling vs Thinking.
- Judging vs Perceiving.
How Does It Operate?
The test takers must select one statement between two statements that reflects their personality. This test provides ideas of their strengths, flaws, likes, and dislikes, and motivational drivers. This also helps to see how that person is suitable for the organization.
Sample Questions:
- What do you like best about other people?
Strength and intelligence, OR charisma and morality
- What do you value the most?
Spontaneous, OR Timeliness
- What positive impact do you have on others?
4. Culture Add Test
This culture adds a test that evaluates how closely a person’s values match those of the employer. This test will assist you in identifying candidates who will positively influence your organization’s culture.
How Does It Operate?
Employers can share the listings which include all attitudes, behaviors, and values that reverberate with the organization. The test takers will take that survey and choose all the values they consider a matter to them and uphold.
They can also elaborate on why they are considerable for them. Using this test, the employer may determine whether a potential employee corresponds with your organizational values and whether they will fit your company’s culture or not.
Sample Questions:
- Why do you think career growth is important?
- What values do you typically uphold?
- Have you ever experienced an obstacle in your career?
- How would your team characterize your values and style of leadership?
- How do you push yourself as a leader to learn new skills?
5. Enneagram Test
The enneagram test is also a kind of personality test. It analyzes nine different personality types. This test is created to assist you in understanding the core motives and beliefs in people and how they exhibit in different areas of life, including leadership, resolving conflicts, team dynamics, and emotional intelligence.
How Does It Operate?
This type of personality test finds trends in how people process their emotions and interpret the outside world. It demonstrates the interactions between the nine personality types. Individuals may identify with more than one personality type, which is done using a numerical system to identify each personality type. Every kind has its incentives and fears, which influence how people act and make decisions.
Test takers must pick between two propositions that are in opposition, which helps the evaluator better grasp their personality.
Sample Questions:
- I tend to_ Take on confrontations OR Avoid confrontations.
- I tend to focus too much on__ Myself OR Others
- I have been more__ Relationship-oriented than goal-oriented OR goal-oriented than relationship-oriented.
Benefits Of Behavioral Assessments
- Behavioral assessment tests assisted in predicting the employee’s job performance.
- The test content is based on a genuine work setting, it has high face validity and offers useful information about the candidates’ suitability.
- Behavioral assessment elicits a positive response from the test takers as a result of using realistic content. The negative impact in terms of age, ethnicity, and gender is comparatively less due to the use of relevant content.
- This assessment provides a holistic insight as a report into the candidates for the organization.
- The candidates will get a realistic preview of the organization that can be useful for them to get a better understanding of the organization’s attractiveness.
- These behavioral assessment tests are based on fictional yet real-time events that pertain to the position and organization. As a result, they can be modified to meet specific needs.
- Long-term turnover may also be lowered as a result of the candidates’ more specific and realistic expectations for their positions.
- The feedback given after such behavioral evaluations is more likely to be accepted by participants, contributing to candidate perceptions of behavioral assessments as fair and job-relevant.
- Any assessment’s return on investment is determined by weighing the costs and advantages of performing it. This behavioral assessment will give you long-term savings that can be significant if you hire the applicant who will do the job best.
Online Behavioral vs. Offline Behavioral Assessments
To evaluate role fit, behavioral evaluation tests are frequently administered in tandem. These tools are an entertaining way to select the best candidates for open positions. They are frequently modified to replicate organizational settings and role challenges. There are two main categories for assessing candidates’ behaviors. They are online and offline behavioral assessments.
1. Online Behavioral Assessment
Case study simulators: This helps to identify common workspace problems, diagnose issues, and provide solutions.
Caselets: Caselets are tiny versions of a case study, which assist you in observing how applicants resolve issues and problems in a business scenario.
Situational Judgment Tests: These SJTs enable you to analyze and assess a candidate’s analytical abilities and decision-making skills in multiple simulated scenarios. This helps you to select the most appropriate candidate for the role-specific positions.
Inbox Exercises: The Inbox exercise evaluates the candidate’s ability to prioritize tasks and tackles issues like handling the accumulation of inbox emails.
2. Offline Behavioral Assessment
Competency-based interviews: With the help of these interviews, you can prepare overall insights into a candidate’s understanding of business situations.
Case Presentations: Case presentations enable you to assess a candidate’s understanding, decision-making, problem-solving skills, and confidence in conveying information.
Group Activities: These activities help evaluate the candidate’s ability to communicate effectively and collaboratively with teammates.
Role Plays: Role plays put candidates in different situations within a business restraint and assess how they handle and play specific roles in a specific situation.
Why Behavioral Assessment is Important in Hiring?
Behavioral assessment is the most effective way to match the candidates to a suitable job role. Compared to behavioral assessments, traditional hiring practices make it difficult to assess a candidate’s ability to fit into a company’s culture to fulfill the requirements.
Employees are the most important assets of an organization, so a single bad hire will lead to challenging circumstances in the organization, culturally and economically. Behavioral evaluation makes the hiring process more effective by reducing the hiring time while ensuring that choices are based on information and are not irrational.
Traditional hiring practices also provide some type of behavioral interviews, but these interviews incorporate only resume-based questions that don’t give essential information about the candidate to make intent hiring decisions. The candidates who are applying for jobs will be different from one another. Each person will communicate, and respond differently. They react differently to various incentives and excel in different environments.
An applicant who is a good fit for the position and the company will thrive and grow, whereas an unfit applicant may experience disengagement and frustration. These things are challenging to quantify with a straightforward interview. This is the area where behavioral assessments emerge.
The behavioral assessment gives you an overall understanding of the applicant’s choices to identify if they are suitable for the job role. These assessments assist in shortlisting and selecting the right candidates by providing a splendid user experience.
The fact that behavioral assessment tests closely mirror the job role and organizational context gives candidates the power to make the best decision while also promoting the organization’s culture and acting as a fantastic branding tool.
The candidate is significantly more accurately portrayed when behavioral assessments are used in conjunction with behavioral event interviews or competency-based interviews. Any organization’s ability to succeed is mainly reliant on its workforce. The appropriate people in the proper jobs are more likely to perform well and lead the company to success if you place them there.
How to Conduct a Behavioral Assessment Test for Employment?
Behavioral assessment has different types and each one represents various frameworks to evaluate behavioral competencies. These behavioral competencies will guide the hiring manager to assess the behavioral strengths and weaknesses of the prospective candidate.
A behavioral test looks into particular behavioral tendencies with the knowledge that behaviors can change quickly. Behavior is flexible and observable, which means it reacts to and alters in response to a surrounding environment.
Here are five simple steps to demonstrate how to perform a behavioral evaluation using tests and a tool like this:
1. Creating Competency Framework:
Before implementing a behavioral assessment test, every organization must create a competency framework to identify the relevant competencies of behavior. You can also create this framework with the help of tools. This framework will be the compatibility of the job with the work behaviors necessary for success in the organization and at work taken into account.
2. Selecting The Best Tool:
Selecting the most suitable behavioral assessment tool for the test is more important. An ideal software tool should contain the following characteristics:
- The tool should be user-friendly.
- Should be customizable.
- It should be reliable and easy to create assessments from scratch.
- It should contain test libraries and standard questions to assess candidates.
- It should be able to produce comprehensive report analytics.
- The tool should be bias-free.
Skillrobo is a tool that provides the above-mentioned features. It includes information about test takers, including their details, score, duration, and outcome. It provides a customizable test library and 100+ skill sets.
3. Validating Questionnaires:
Validating questions is essential to getting the best results. The best method for reflecting on the true nature of the organizational environment is to ask the same questions again while consulting subject matter experts and the organization.
4. Conduct Assessments To The Candidates:
Using the assessment tool, employers should be able to share the test link with candidates seamlessly. You can share the assessment link through emails, and you can also post it on your company website and social media pages. The application you selected should fulfill these requirements.
You should ensure that the tool supports assessments on different devices and platforms so that the test takers can attend the assessment at any time, from anywhere.
5. Report And Data Analysis:
The tool you selected for assessment should generate a holistic report on the candidate’s test performance. A comprehensive behavioral profile of the test-taker should be included in the reports, in addition to information that can be used to inform hiring decisions.
Organizations can better recognize their critical skill gaps and training requirements by using data analysis. Each test-taker receives a unique development plan to help them understand and focus on their areas of need.
Conclusion
The priority of the HR team is always to recruit the most qualified and competent candidates into their organization. The foundation is laid for future success since the ideal personnel will support your organization’s goals and advance together with you. Additionally, it eliminates the need for rehiring and retraining, which saves money and time. You can succeed in this endeavor by using scientifically validated employment behavioral assessments.
They employ leading and probing inquiries and are based on various human types. You can assess your workplace skills, emotional intelligence, problem-solving abilities, and other competencies, as well as the personality traits you anticipate for your positions. As you have already realized by this point, the best assessment or quiz software can assist you in conducting these exams swiftly and easily.
Skillrobo is one such tool, which has a wide range of pre-assessment tests including behavioral tests. Powerful insights on hiring and development can be obtained by combining Skillrobo’s behavioral assessments with a wide range of personality, aptitude, and domain tests. This tool enables you to create customized assessments with the help of their pre-built skills and tests library. You can share the created test links in your public sights which makes the candidates take the tests effortlessly.
Are you planning to include behavioral tests in your employment process?
