Since time immemorial traditional assessments are being used by organizations to onboard skilled candidates. In these assessments the companies intend to test candidate's aptitude, cognitive, and psychometric profiles to find the job and cultural fit. But are traditional assessments able to test the real skills of the candidates?
A 2020 survey by the SHRM estimates that, at present, 18% of companies use psychometric testing in the hiring process and this is growing by 10-15% every year. If we add aptitude, skills, L & D, OD and all other application areas around 50% of the organizations are using talent assessments.
A recent study by Armezo and HR Shapers found that while the usage in increasing, 52% of the respondents selected faking the response as the biggest challenge encountered while administering the traditional assessments. These assessments have also been blamed for invoking social acceptance bias and inaccurate reporting because of lack of self-awareness.
Having a typical question and answer-based approach, candidates don't find these assessments engaging and the drop-out rates are pretty high, resulting in incomplete assessments and wasted resources.
Assessments are difficult to administer, and things may not always go as per the HR's expectations. To avoid the consequences of relying on traditional assessments, organizations are inclining towards an approach of persuading natural and instinctive abilities of candidates using Game Based Assessments.
WHAT ARE GAME BASED ASSESSMENTS?
Game based assessments (GBA) are psychometric assessments, intentionally built as games. They have several key advantages over more traditionally based model of assessments. They reveal true behavior and abilities of candidates, gives a fair chance to all the potential candidates to showcase their skills and are comparatively easy to evaluate. Game based assessments are immersive and fast-paced and reveal a candidate's natural behavior and responses in a way that traditional testing methods cannot.
Solving the very issue of manipulation. Why it is virtually impossible to manipulate game based assessments?
- 1. These assessments never ask for a direct response:
- Candidates get immersed in the game without realizing the competencies getting measured which brings out their natural responses to situations.
- 2. Immersive and engaging in nature:
- The immersive nature tends to reduce stress resulting from the stereotype threat. Games also minimize socially desirable responses, by eliciting more authentic behavior.
- 3. Multiple scales:
- Game-based assessments like Gammezo use multiple scales to ensure that responses are mapped to multiple traits and can't be manipulated.
- 4. Minimize bias:
- Games do not assume that the test-taker is aware of one's personality and the design of games is such that there is no interference because of a lack of self-knowledge.
- 5. Reveals a candidate's natural behavior:
- Game-based assessments are progressive - they adapt as the candidate engages with it and reveals natural behavior without the pressure of looking good.
TRAITS MEASURED
A good predictor like Gammezo is based on the Big 5 theory of personality having the five broad personality traits namely extraversion , agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism which are essential to be judged while onboarding candidates to understand their approach towards a problem . In conjunction with cognitive and aptitude assessments, they bring out the best fits for the respective jobs.
- 1. Openness to experience
- How well a person responds to ambiguity and uncertainty. Magnitude of response to rigidity in framework can be well tested and such abilities can't be manipulated.
- 2. Self-motivation
- To test if the candidates are self-driven and disciplined.
- 3. Extraversion
- In the world behind the global connectivity, one cannot be a sure judge of themselves being an extrovert or an introvert in diversified situations.
- 4. Agreeableness
- Traits like authenticity, harmony and politeness, to paint a picture of how naturally agreeable a person is.
- 5. Emotional quotient
- A key trait in this group is emotional stability, but we also measure the likes of self-belief and resilience in this group.
Game-based assessments are a coming as a fresh method for assessing candidates while providing an immersive and engaging experience. Multiple data points and a stress-free environment create an unbiased and objective selection criterion.
CASE STUDY
The client is one of India's largest automobile manufacturers and was struggling to assess their territory managers on specific competencies required to do their job better. They needed an assessment to create individual training and development plans for the managers in the service training department. There was a reluctance and stress amongst the participants towards the traditional assessment and therefore client's mandate was to get an assessment that is engaging and fun to complete.
"Gammezo", India's 1st game-based assessment from Armezo was chosen by the client as it offered the assessments in a neutral, immersive, and engaging manner. The Competencies measured were categorized as Work Management, Change Management, People Management, and Self-Management respectively. The program was launched across the country with over 200 participants. The output reports were simple and easy-to-understand and came along with automated built-in Development Action Plans. Basis the scores and development plan the participants were categorized into different training program buckets. There were no direct questions asked to avoid the risk of manipulation and because of the game-play the participants were motivated to complete the assessment in a fun and stress-free environment.
The initiative received accolades from the business teams and because of the word-of-mouth publicity amongst the participant group; the assessment was completed by 100% participants. Over 90% participants rated the experience engaging than traditional assessments.
Game-based assessments have become the tool of choice for hiring and developing great talent.