I have been advised by the Public Appointments Service (publicjobs) that the selection processes for general service roles in the Civil Service are based on a very thorough job analysis which identifies the key capabilities for effective performance. Once these capabilities have been identified, the most appropriate tests and exercises are chosen that best measure what is required in the role. In publicjobs, similar to many other recruiters, psychometric tests are sometimes used. Some of the skills that are required for these roles, e.g. the ability to understand numerical data or the ability to critically analyse written information are very difficult to assess through an interview, and where these skills are required, publicjobs use verbal and numerical tests.
For many of these roles, publicjobs use Job Simulation/Situational Judgement tests, where candidates are given scenarios typical of what may occur in the role and they are asked to use their experience and judgement to rate a series of possible actions to address these scenarios in terms of their appropriateness.
The use of these psychometric tests allow publicjobs to efficiently assess large numbers of candidates for a role against a number of critical skill areas. Once ability in these areas has been determined, candidates can then proceed to the next stage of the selection process. This approach is an evidence-based one, as research shows that psychometric tests are a robust, fair and equitable method of assessment with good levels of predictive ability, i.e. they accurately predict performance in roles.
I have been assured that publicjobs constantly monitor the performance of candidates throughout the selection processes across the various grounds, specifically age, gender, ethnicity and disability. For candidates with disabilities, the Reasonable Accommodations publicjobs provide ensures that these candidates perform at a similar level to candidates without disabilities.
Recruitment is a constantly evolving field. The team of Work and Organisational Psychologists in publicjobs engage in extensive benchmarking and research into different ways of assessing candidates. publicjobs can therefore use a variety of approaches, including presentation exercises and written exercises to assess specific skills required for different roles.
For the last number of years, many entry level roles do not use psychometric tests as part of the assessment process. publicjobs has assessed many thousands of candidates for Temporary Clerical Officer (TCO) and Clerical Officer (CO) roles using an Assessment Questionnaire which captures candidate experience, work preferences, skills assessments and their situational judgement.
