Behavioral Assessments and Psychometric Tests for Employment - The Good, Bad, and Ugly

As a VPM, CMO, and CRO, I hired a lot of people over the years. I also advised Searchlight.ai in the past, a behavioral assessment platform, and I've personally taken many behavioral tests including VIA, Predictive Index, Culture Index, Meyers Briggs, etc. At a recent Pavilion event, they gave everyone access to a psychometric test called SurePeople.

This left me with so many questions, like:

• What’s the difference between behavioral assessments, personality assessments, psychometric assessments?

• Are they really helpful or are they biased?

• Do they really encourage inclusion or do they promote exclusion?

• Why do companies use these tests in the first place?

Most companies use these tests as a way to filter out job applicants under the guise of, “we just want to see if you’re a culture fit.”

They claim to help recruiters identify the top x% of candidates efficiently and predict their top hires at the start of their hiring funnel.

What’s the difference between behavioral, personality, and psychometric assessments?