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Aptitude Testing

Assessing the Potential for Success

We all know how important it is to hire the right person for a job. Someone who doesn't have the right skills for a position, or who isn't a good fit with the corporate culture, often ends up being replaced. Then you need to fill the position again, and turnover costs and lost opportunities can be significant.

To make better hiring decisions and avoid high job turnover rates, organizations often use ability testing. Companies also use these tests for promoting and training. The goal is to get the right people, with the right skills, in the right jobs.

Traditionally, the process for assessing current or prospective workers has been subjective. Managers use their feelings, observations, judgments, and life experiences to evaluate candidates. For example, when you interview someone, you try to be objective - but you know that your personal beliefs and values often keep you from being totally objective.

So, how can you be more 'scientific' about evaluating people? Psychological testing offers a way to go beyond the subjective - and find a more objective way to assess someone's personal attributes. Even then, subjectivity is still part of the process, but that's not always a bad thing. It would be unwise to completely ignore our perceptions and feelings about others. However, our perceptions can benefit from a little objectivity.

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