Problem solving ability is, in many ways, a person's ability to do their job. Every role involves problems of some kind, the complexity and nature of those problems varies, but the capacity to resolve them is fundamental to performance in almost all roles.
The good news is that problem solving is one of the most measurable traits in hiring. We'll cover why it matters and how to assess for it accurately in your hiring process.
Problem solving ability is fundamental to performance in almost every role
Most workplace tasks and responsibilities involve solving problems. You may have customers to deal with, projects to complete or strategies to create. Employees who solve problems well identify issues earlier, find better solutions faster, and require less intervention from managers and colleagues.
The cost of poor problem solving compounds quickly. A junior employee who struggles with novel situations needs constant supervision and will fail to complete their tasks to the highest level. A senior employee who reaches flawed conclusions shapes decisions that affect whole teams or clients. Unlike some traits, problem solving ability is very visible in work output.
Cognitive ability assessments are essentially problem solving assessments
Cognitive ability is the strongest predictor of job performance across roles and industries (Schmidt & Hunter, 1998). This is because cognitive ability directly measures the capacity to process information, identify patterns, and reach valid conclusions. Sound familiar? Someone's problem solving ability is underpinned by their cognitive ability.
The common aptitude test types map to specific problem solving abilities:
- Numerical reasoning - the ability to interpret data, identify quantitative patterns, and reach accurate conclusions from numerical information. In practice: solving data-driven problems, evaluating financial information, and making evidence-based decisions.
- Verbal reasoning - the ability to evaluate written arguments, identify logical conclusions from text, and resolve ambiguity in complex information. In practice: understanding instructions, evaluating proposals, and navigating competing priorities expressed in writing.
- Inductive reasoning - the ability to identify rules and patterns in abstract information and apply them to novel situations. In practice: diagnosing unfamiliar problems, spotting trends, and adapting solutions to new contexts.
Administered online at the start of your hiring process, cognitive ability assessments give you an objective, comparable score for each candidate before anyone has been shortlisted.
Gamified assessments are a more candidate friendly approach to cognitive ability
Traditional cognitive ability assessments are effective but can be time-consuming for candidates, which affects completion rates at the top of the funnel. Our MindmetriQ gamified assessments measure numerical, verbal, and inductive reasoning in a significantly shorter and more engaging format - assessing a candidate's problem solving ability in as little as 12 minutes.
Because of the gamified format, MindmetriQ also captures sub-facets of cognitive ability that traditional assessments don't reach, including working memory and processing speed. This gives a richer picture of how a candidate thinks under pressure, delivered in a fraction of the time.
Optimise your structured interviews with problem solving questions
Cognitive ability assessments do the heavy lifting on problem solving. But it's useful to use part of your interviews to validate and extend the problem solving assessment. Standard behavioural questions like "tell me about a time you solved a difficult problem" are relatively boring and most candidates have (potentially fictitious) pre-prepared answers for those.
"Unfinished Story" questions work differently. Rather than asking candidates to describe a past situation, you present a real, complex problem your organisation has faced - or is currently facing - and ask them how they would resolve it. The candidate has to reason in the room, not recite a prepared answer. Some examples of how this looks in practice:
- "The person previously in this role struggled with [specific problem]. How would you approach that?"
- "In this role you'll regularly face [likely challenge]. Walk me through how you'd handle it."
- "Tell me about something you had to teach yourself recently. What was it and how did you go about it?"
These questions will give you much more interesting and richer responses. You'll also be able to quickly identify the candidates with weaker problem solving ability as they will likely struggle or give poor, generic answers.
Conclusion and next steps
Problem solving is objectively measurable with cognitive ability assessments. You can deploy them en masse early in the process, without taking up your valuable time. Structured interviews with targeted questions help validate and probe further to show you how candidates think in real time.
Together, they give you a considerably more reliable picture of a candidate's problem solving ability than CVs or standard interview questions alone.
Test Partnership offers several assessments suited to measuring problem solving:
- Aptitude tests - numerical, verbal, and inductive reasoning assessments for an objective measure of cognitive ability
- MindmetriQ gamified assessments - a faster, more engaging alternative that also captures working memory and processing speed
All are suited to early-stage screening, ensuring you progress only the candidates with the problem solving ability your role requires. Or book a call with our team to discuss your hiring needs and get started.
Ben Schwencke
Chief psychologist at Test Partnership. MSc in Organisational Psychology with over ten years experience in psychometric testing.
