What a Psychometric Assessment can tell us – Marzenna Almendro

“Why should I invest thousands of Rands in Psychometric Assessments?” says the astute business owner. It certainly is a legitimate question. One can expect to pay anything from R 2000.00 to R 100 000.00 for an assessment battery for an employee selection. I can hear you choke as you read that – surely that amount of money is pure insanity? You may be sceptical – how accurate are psychometric assessments? What sort of probability do they have in providing you with the security of hiring the ‘right’ person?

Perhaps one should ask the question: how much loss did YOUR business swallow the last time an employee resigned because they were an ill fit for the job role? Loss includes anything from training costs, impact on productivity to the impact on staff morale (think of those team members who have to carry the additional burden until the new recruit joins the team), time and other admin costs. Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, has estimated his own bad hires have cost his company well over TWO BILLION RAND. Incidentally, he now offers almost R 30 000.00 bonus to quit after their first week on the job. True Story.

Look to any massively successful business in South Africa (and the rest of the world), and you will see a positive correlation between the use of psychometrics and low staff turn-over. Anyone can wear a mask during that first interview. Anyone can ask a friend to be their reference. And some even go as far as forging qualifications to get the role they want. What about competencies that a candidate may not even be aware of? Psychometric Assessments can access that information. Sounds scary, but rest assured that candidates are protected in the fact that only trained specialists are allowed access to such assessments. These professionals, such as registered psychologists and psychometrists, have been trained to conduct these assessments in fair and ethical manner. The actual assessments go through stringent processors before being accepted as an official psychological assessment by the Health Professions Council of South Africa.

In closing, Walt Disney once said, “You can dream, create, design and build the most wonderful place in the world, but it requires people to make the dream a reality”. What kind of people are defining your business’s reality?

Bio of Marzenna Almendro

Marzenna graduated with an Honours Degree in Psychology, and went onto complete her practical hours at a reputable psychometric consultancy gaining a wealth of experience in psychometric assessments in the work place, which allowed her to write her board exam and register with the Health Professions Council of SA in 2010. She has a wealth of experience in many environments, including managing the radio station for retail giant Pick n Pay. Holistan was born in January 2015, a concept she created derived from the word ‘holistic’ which, to her, means “adopting an integrative approach”. Holistan offers psychometric assessment for various purposes, most notably recruitment and development, with a footprint across South Africa. tel: 011 201 2142, email: marzenna@holistan.com