Conducting a personal assessment helps human resource managers gather relevant information on individuals seeking to be hired or promoted. The information is used to select or decide whether or not a candidate is suitable for the position. Assessment may take the form of cognitive tests, personality tests, integrity tests, job knowledge and experience, and others such as physical fitness. The method of assessment used depends on the type of job, promotion, or training in question. For instance, if the work is sports-related, physical fitness should be considered the first assessment method. However, I have always found cognitive tests more effective compared to the other methods.
I would choose a cognitive ability test to select employees for hiring or promotion as an HR manager. The method evaluates skills that require thinking. The skills include reasoning, problem-solving, memory, arithmetic, and also verbal solutions. They show how intelligent a person can be. Cognitive skills are judged from employees’ performance without bias, unlike personal tests where people lie about their strengths and weaknesses. They are also general in that they test the physical, verbal and mental abilities of an individual. A candidate with sufficient intelligence will reason the same or better than even a person with experience for the job. Cognitive assessments are, therefore, better than the other methods of assessments like personality tests.
The effectiveness of each assessment is monitored and evaluated based on three factors, that is, validity, face validity, and reliability. Validity is what the method measures and is dependent on the use of the assessment. For instance, when selecting members to acquire training to improve on performance, the poorly performed will be selected, but if it is a promotion, the best scorer will be picked. Face validity aims to evaluate whether a method will benefit the average individual by making him learn more while reliability shows the consistency of the method. Data from cognitive tests will help the organization employ and promote intellectuals who will provide quality labor for the organization. proper selections will be made based on the results from the assessments in line with the goals of the assessment by the organization.