In the challenging landscape of recruiting top-tier managers and executives, organisations often grapple with unique hurdles. When it comes to appointing pivotal roles such as a managing director or CEO, the pool of qualified candidates is typically small. This scarcity elevates the importance of each potential hire, making the selection process crucial.

A common stumbling block in managerial hiring is the evaluation of soft skills. Technical prowess alone does not equate to effective management. Many professionals, although technically adept, may lack the interpersonal skills vital for leadership roles. This gap often emerges when promotions are based solely on technical merits, overlooking the nuances of people management.

Another significant challenge in executive recruitment is coordinating schedules. The demanding calendars of senior executives and managers make arranging interviews, particularly those involving multiple stakeholders, a logistical puzzle.

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The role of psychometrics in managerial and executive hiring

Psychometric testing emerges as a powerful tool in this context. It offers deep insights into the capabilities of senior business leaders, insights that interviews alone might miss. For effective executive and managerial assessment, a comprehensive suite of psychometric tests is essential. These evaluations should be taken seriously by both the candidates and the hiring organisation, ensuring that decisions are grounded in robust data. Ideally, these insights should complement interviews, facilitating a well-rounded approach to selection.

Online assessments offer the added advantage of convenience. They can be completed anytime, anywhere, aligning seamlessly with the busy schedules of potential candidates. This flexibility is particularly beneficial in executive recruitment, streamlining the process to focus on the most promising candidates for final, often hard-to-schedule, interviews.

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The unique challenges that employers face in manager and executive recruitment

Low Volumes

When selecting a new managing director or CEO, it’s very unlikely you will find hundreds of suitable, experienced candidates for the role. Low volumes come with problems of their own, making each and every viable candidate essential to the process.

Soft Skills

Many first-time managers are tremendously competent technically, but lack those softer skills that management requires. This often happens when professionals are promoted based purely on their technical expertise, but not their people skills.

Scheduling Issues

Its no secret that executives and senior managers are busy people. Finding mutually agreeable times to partake in interviews, especially partner interviews, is a particularly mammoth task, and can take a significant amount of time.

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How psychometrics should be used to hire managers and executives

At Test Partnership, we provide a suite of assessments tailored for managerial and executive roles. Some of these assessments are specifically designed for leadership positions, presenting candidates with scenarios relevant to business leadership. Others cater to high-stakes, low-volume recruitment, evaluating essential psychological traits common across various roles.

Our assessments are designed to be both convenient and accessible. They can be administered remotely, allowing candidates to partake at their convenience, or they can be integrated into in-person interviews or assessment centres. We offer a wide array of tests that cover a comprehensive range of psychological constructs, delving into both cognitive and behavioural traits. This ensures a holistic assessment of managerial and executive candidates, evaluating not just the hard skills related to task performance but also the soft skills essential for contextual performance. This comprehensive approach ensures that we capture the full spectrum of skills and traits that can't be gauged through interviews alone.

The breadth of assessments we offer allow HR teams to assess a wide range of important psychological constructs, extensively covering both cognitive and behavioural traits. This ensures that managers and executives can be assessed on both the harder skills associated with task performance, the softer skills associated with contextual performance. This breadth ensures that managers and executives are assessed holistically, capturing the skills and traits which cannot be measured via interview.

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How Test Partnership Facilitates Managerial and Executive Recruitment

At Test Partnership, we provide a suite of assessments tailored for managerial and executive roles. Some of these assessments are specifically designed for leadership positions, presenting candidates with scenarios relevant to business leadership. Others cater to high-stakes, low-volume recruitment, evaluating essential psychological traits common across various roles.

Our assessments are designed to be both convenient and accessible. They can be administered remotely, allowing candidates to partake at their convenience, or they can be integrated into in-person interviews or assessment centres. We offer a wide array of tests that cover a comprehensive range of psychological constructs, delving into both cognitive and behavioural traits. This ensures a holistic assessment of managerial and executive candidates, evaluating not just the hard skills related to task performance but also the soft skills essential for contextual performance. This comprehensive approach ensures that we capture the full spectrum of skills and traits that can't be gauged through interviews alone.

The breadth of assessments we offer allow HR teams to assess a wide range of important psychological constructs, extensively covering both cognitive and behavioural traits. This ensures that managers and executives can be assessed on both the harder skills associated with task performance, the softer skills associated with contextual performance. This breadth ensures that managers and executives are assessed holistically, capturing the skills and traits which cannot be measured via interview.

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Assessments we recommend for Managers and Executives

1. Perceptions Managerial

This test measures the ability to make sound judgements and apply effective decision-making in workplace relevant settings.

Situational judgement tests are ideal managerial selection tools, providing an excellent behavioural indicator of judgement and decision making.

2. Concepts Critical Thinking

This test measures the ability to conceptualise, apply, analyse and evaluate information in order to reach a meaningful conclusion.

More powerful than a traditional verbal reasoning test, Concepts Critical Thinking is essential for roles involving complex qualitative information and / or meaningful decision making.

3. TPAQ-45 Complete Profile:

This test measures the key personality traits which collectively comprise a person’s character, temperament and behavioural preferences.

The TPAQ-45 Complete Profile measures 45 distinct personality traits, providing an unparalleled level of depth when predicting future performance, job-fit, and culture-fit.