Bayt.com, the Middle East’s number one job site, announced today that it has launched an online psychometric evaluation service for the region’s professionals and organisations. The launch comes at a time when63% of the region’s professionals agree that companies in the Middle East should start using or supporting psychometric evaluation, with15% disagreeing and another18% stating it depends on a number of factors – according to Bayt.com’s latest online poll series.
Psychometric evaluations or tests, which are a standardised process to map and plot the psychological traits of an individual in order to measure sensitivity, memory, intelligence, aptitude and personality among other educational and psychological traits, can help an individual to make the best possible career choice, and can enable employers to check the suitability of a potential candidate for a specific vacancy. The Bayt.com psychometric evaluation tests are designed to specifically evaluate the work-related/professional attributes of an individual, in view of the cultural nuances and work-place characteristics specific to the region. Professionals from entry-level graduates to senior executives can benefit from the psychometric tests, by using them to find a career path most suited to their personality.
“As the number one job site in the Middle East, Bayt.com has – and continues to build – an extensive knowledge of the region’s recruitment practices,” said Lama Ataya, Marketing and Corporate Communication Director at Bayt.com. “It has applied this insight and successfully customised one of the most widely used global HR tools to the recruitment and cultural trends of the region. All of the tests designed by Bayt.com have been tested on a wide, representative sample of jobseekers, and we have found them to be highly accurate.”
When asked about psychometric evaluations as part of the Bayt.com poll series, the majority of respondents agreed that there were a number of benefits for professionals taking such tests:30% agreed that its acts as a guide to finding the right career,17% said that it measures an individual’s intelligence when it comes to work and another12% said that it serves as a measure of a professional’s sensitivity to various work factors. For the most part,35% of the respondents agreed that it was a combination of all of these factors.
However, when asked whether they had ever taken a psychometric evaluation, the majority of the region’s professionals,68%, had not undertaken one but agreed that they would like to. A further12% of respondents said that they had undergone a psychometric evaluation for an employer or potential employer, while10% said they had undergone a test out of choice. Interestingly, just10% of the professionals that participated in the poll said that they have not undergone a test and do not believe in them. Furthermore, asked whether friends and family had undergone a psychometric test, almost three quarters of those surveyed,74%, said that they had not.
The ‘Importance and use of psychometric evaluation in the Middle Eastern workplace’ March online poll series conducted by Bayt.com, sought to understand from the region’s professionals their level of knowledge about- and experience with- psychometric tests, and how important they consider them to be for professionals and organisations in the Middle East.
Participants in the poll were asked whether or not they, as an employee, are invited to sit for a psychometric evaluation as part of their personal and professional development. For the most part, employees were not:62% said that psychometric testing didn’t take place,5% said that it depends, and32% replied that they do undergo such testing when it comes to their evaluation. When asked why people might not undergo a psychometric test, more than a quarter of respondents,28%, said that it was because they are not yet popular with the region’s organisations;17% said that it was because of a lack of understanding as to what it entails;12% said it was because they thought these tests are unreliable;7% said it was because professionals would discover unpleasant traits about themselves; and5% said it was because of the high cost. Another28% of the respondents agreed that it was a combination of all of these factors.
Bayt.com currently offers a variety of psychometric evaluations for the region’s professionals. The ‘Key work attributes’ evaluation identifies key professional strengths that will distinguish professionals from their peers in the workplace. The ‘What kind of leader are you?’ evaluation helps to distinguish what style of leadership works best for a professional which will help him/her get the best out of their team and excel in their career. The ‘Which career suits you best?’ evaluation allows professionals to find their true career calling and helps identify exactly what type of career they are best suited for; while the ‘Global cultural compatibility’ test helps professionals to determine their compatibility with the social and work environment around them, to highlight levels of commitment, productivity, effectiveness and overall success quotient as a working professional.
“Psychometric testing of potential new recruits has been popular with organisations around the globe for a number of years because of its positive application for finding a candidate that is the best fit for an organisation and a specific vacancy,” said Ataya. “By extending these tests to professionals, we are empowering them to discover just where their competencies, preferences and abilities lie in terms of industry type and in terms of their role within an organisation, which will enable them to find a career and position that they are suited to and that they can make a success of.”
“The results of the poll series, which was conducted with professionals working in a number of different industries in the region, show that psychometric testing is something that professionals consider as highly important, and their uptake and use will likely bring widespread benefits to the Middle East’s job market,” concluded Ataya.
Data for the ‘Importance and use of psychometric evaluation in the Middle Eastern workplace’ poll series was collected online between March2 and232010, with a total of4,865 job seekers from across the Middle East. This and other Middle East human resources research, as well as information on Bayt.com’s psychometric evaluations, are available online on www.bayt.com.