In an article published in the Psychological Bulletin, Frank Schmidt and John Hunter analyzed 85 years of research in order to underline the most effective methods for recruitment (entry and mid-senior levels). They arrived at the conclusion that Cognitive Ability Tests were the most sufficient predictor of on-job success and performance.
Simply put, a person with a higher score in a Cognitive Ability Test is likely to perform better than a peer who has scored lesser. The predictive validities of different types of selection tools are presented below and you can perceive a clear winner.
This is the reason why recruiters of the small, medium, and large enterprises rely so much on Cognitive Ability Tests in order to hire candidates that can perform better on-job, learn new skills, and also be team player. Not only that, a recent article in Harvard Business Review points out that when it comes to “forecasting potential to excel in a bigger, more complex job at some point in the future, the question shifts to how likely an individual is to be able to learn and master the requisite knowledge and skill. The single-best predictor of this is IQ or cognitive ability."
“Cognitive Ability” or “Aptitude” or “Intelligence”, and the assessment of it, has had a long, diverse, and tumultuous history of fierce debates, multiple theories, and strategic methodologies. To abridge all of that history is basically two binary groups would be troublesome but not implausible.
One group suggests that there is a singular idea of intelligence like the British psychologist Charles Spearman (1863-1945) who stipulated that general intelligence or the g-factor is present in differing degrees in human beings. The other group believes in multiple components of intelligence like Louis L. Thurstone’s (1887-1955) idea of Primary Mental Abilities.
iMocha's Cognitive Ability offering is based on the US psychologist Louis L. Thurstone’s idea of Primary Mental Abilities. Instead of regarding intelligence as a singular, one-factor parameter, he introduced seven different types of intelligence that derived from seven types of primary abilities:
iMocha understands that the job-skill ecosphere is rapidly burgeoning, and we are moving towards a skill economy. While that is true, concurrently, we can also witness the rise of specialists: be it in data, programming, cloud computing, database, finance, or others.
Every job role is different because its scope is different and iMocha creates a customized Cognitive Ability test to suit that job role. There are certain job roles that require lesser problem-solving capabilities as compared to other job roles. This is the reason why iMocha maps every job role to ability or a group of abilities prescribed by Louis L. Thurstone’s framework of Primary Mental Abilities.
For this we follow a three-step process:
STEP 1:
Understand the job role
iMocha tries to find the answer to: What abilities would the candidate need to be able to succeed at this particular job at this specific company?
STEP 2:
Map it to Louis L. Thurstone’s framework
We study the job role, and the domain in which it functions and then we come up with a list of abilities, proficiency level, and experience level.
STEP 3:
Final delivery:
We deliver a customized, ready-to-use, EEOC compliant, job-fit and skill-fit assessment that can help our customer hire a bankable talent.
iMocha has a host of ready-to-use Cognitive Ability Tests, which are benchmarked and suggested by domain experts worldwide. These include (but are not limited to):
STEP 1:
iMocha consults with subject matter experts (7-10 years of experience) and figure out what kind of abilities or skills are needed to function in that job capacity. For example, a Software Developer needs to be proficient in reasoning and logic.
STEP 2:
iMocha studies the job role in detail and maps it to the Louis L. Thurstone framework of Primary Mental Abilities.
STEP 3:
iMocha creates the test and sends it back to a peer group in order to review it and suggest improvements, if any.
STEP 4:
The test goes through an internal Quality Process focusing on EEOC guidelines and US grammar.
STEP 5:
iMocha releases the test on production for its customers to use and start hiring.
The skills landscape is changing rapidly and along with all pre-existing notions of what is a “job-fit” candidate is also transforming. To keep with this tornado of requirements, iMocha Cognitive Ability Tests do not prescribe a single-hat-fits-all solution to its customers. In fact, according to an article published in the Harvard Business Review, “to accurately forecast how successful someone will be in a particular activity, you must examine the cognitive skills he or she possesses that directly affect that activity—in this case, in the workplace.”
Not only that, our Cognitive Ability tests can help you:
Cognitive testing will enable you to spot candidates with high potential — one that not only has the required skills to perform the role, but also possesses the intellect and drive to excel in roles.
iMocha provides AI-powered skill assessments to help organizations hire job-fit candidates in an unbiased, time-effective, and predictable manner. To know more about how you can create tests with iMocha, visit here.