The use of team profiling assessment designs is a speciality of Rob Williams Assessment ltd. We can create a range of psychometric tests for coaching and for self-development purposes. 

our profiling assessment designs

Digital skills profiling is a new service:

Graduate employers are profiling for adaptability, resilience, influencing skills, understanding complexity, negotiating skills, persistence, communication skills and ability to learn.

Personality Profiling

This is a speciality of Rob Williams Assessment ltd. We can create a range of psychometric tests for coaching and for self-development purposes. For example bespoke personality questionnaires such as the one described in the case study here.

Coaching with personality tests

Here are some of the psychometric tools commonly used for executive coaching:

  • CEB’s 32-scale OPQ, and other e.g. 16-scale version of the OPQ.
  • OPP’s MBTI Step I and II.
  • Saville Consulting’s Wave Styles.
  • Hogan Development Survey (de-railers).
  • FIRO-B (relationship building).

Personality Coaching 

We also have designed development centres that involve coaching with personality types:

  • Coaching tests with senior managers at a French financial services company.
  • Development centres for senior managers at an aeronautical company.
  • Accelerated development programme at a media company.
  • Fast-track selection centres (public sector).
  • Coaching tests at development centres in Kiev, Ukraine (manufacturing sector), including OPQ feedback.
  • Development centres for all managerial levels in a global bank (report writing, face-to-face feedback and development plan coaching), including OPQ feedback.
  • Leading development centres involving 25 candidates per day (retail sector).

Here are some of the psychometric tools commonly used for executive coaching with personality.

  • CEB’s 32-scale OPQ
  • MBTI Step I and II
  • Saville Consulting’s Wave Styles
  • Hogan Development Survey (de-railers); and the
  • FIRO-B (relationship building).

We have access to the most popular personality tests. Firstly, general personality tests. Secondly, specific personality tests.

Personality Profiling

Coaching Personality Tests. Woman with book on her head.

Role profiling

Best practice dictates a personality questionnaire needs to be suitable and valid for each and every type of subject assessed. Once a large set of personality questionnaire data has been collected then it becomes possible to develop such a profile. 

Norm groups

Your results are compared to norm groups produced by test publishers such as SHL, Cubiks, Saville Consulting and TalentQ. A norm group is simply a summary of the test scores for hundreds/thousands of test takers.

The idea is that you can be benchmarked by comparing your score to that of a similar norm group. For example, psychometric tests used on a graduate recruitment scheme would compare your scores to that of previous graduates. Or even graduate applicants on the same graduate management scheme.

Personality Sifts pre-interview

The Internet allows personality test results to be processed very efficiently. This allows employers to sift out unsuitable applicants. Personality test results are not necessarily used to sift in applicants. Typically “passing” a personality test sift is the fast track to getting an interview with the employer.

Personality Profiling

Validation Interviews

We all know the purpose of an interview. With personality test scores, an interview is also the perfect means to check (or validate) those personality questionnaire scores. That is why it is so important not to try to fake your  personality test. Your potential employer will have your personality questionnaire results in front of them when they interview you.

Personality test reports 

Personality test reports vary between the very basic set of scores to very sophisticated team, coaching and developmental reports. Most of these are designed for development purposes.

Popular Personality Tests

Firstly, we have Hogan’s Bright Side of Personality, Leadership High PotentialValues, Preferences Inventory and Dark Side of Personality.

Also, global test publisher Cut-e. Then comes, a second global test publisher called CEB – here are some of their most popular personality test examples. Then, a third;IBM Kenexa – Occupational Personality Inventory (OPI)/Talent Profile and their Rapid Personality Questionnaire (RPQ).

Another popular tool is Saville Consulting’s WAVE’s personality test.

Also, see their WAVE personality report examples.

In our opinion the other most popular personality tests are: CEB OPQ; the NEO PI-R, the 16PF, and the MBTI.

Competency profiling

Having a competency framework helps an organisation to:

– Know which knowledge, skills and abilities are important for success in each role

– Measure and benchmark organisational performance

– Select, develop and performance manage employees (against the competencies associated with each role).

– Is it more cost effective to adapt an already validated model?

– How best to get buy-in across the business? Firstly, for involvement in the development stage. Secondly, to get commitment to future use of the validated framework.

– What role analysis techniques are most suitable for analysing each of the job roles?

– How to benchmark employee performance against the trial competency framework?

– How to validate the effectiveness of the draft competency framework?

Competency design – Telephone interview 

Previous projects that have encompassed telephone interview sift designs include:

  • Competency-based sift design for telephone and cv-based sifts (finance sector)
  • Telephone interview script design (consultancy firm)
  • Conducting telephone interviews for the armed services
  • Telephone interview design (manufacturing sector)

Personality Profiling

Belbin Team Roles

Most of the personality inventories focus on the individuality of the person assessed. A new development seeks to assess the way in which personal tendencies are manifested in a group context in the form of team roles.

The Belbin Team Role Self-Perception Inventory (BTRSPI) is probably the most known tool of this kind. It proposed 8 team roles.

Coaching personality tests. People in office talking.

Work test designs

Firstly, the ideal for personality questionnaire design is to have sets of items on each scale measuring the same latent variable. Secondly, this is as described by the scale name and the scale descriptors.

What’s a “Psychometric Test”?

A psychometric test is a series of written or practical tests which assess a clearly defined sample of human behaviour. There are many different types of psychometric tests, including measures of skill, ability, intelligence, personality, motivation and interests. Psychometric tests can play a useful role in the assessment and development of individuals. They can give objective evidence of the human attributes they measure and have been shown to be one of the best predictors of job performance when used in selection. In practice, they are generally used in conjunction with other methods such as interviews to give the “whole picture”.

Personality Profiling

Psychometric Design Criteria

There are two main types of reliability study: internal reliability and test re-retest reliability. Both represent best practice in psychometric design. Hence both reliability measures are key stages of a psychometric test development project.

Psychometric test validity

Rob Williams Assessment Ltd has considerable experience in assessing the validity of psychometric tests. This is one of the key final stages in any psychometric test design. Most recently we have been asked to validate situational judgement tests. In addition to testing the SJT reliability. Plus, advising on suitable cut-off scores which minimise any adverse impact (due to gender, age, ethnic group and disability).

We consult on how to improve any test’s psychometric properties. In particular, the test’s internal reliability and construct validity.

Coaching personality tests. Candidates writing exam.

Psychometric Test Reliability

Rob Williams Assessment Ltd has considerable experience in assessing the internal reliability of psychometric tests – a key stage in any psychometric test design.

There are two main types of reliability study: internal reliability and test re-retest reliability. Both represent best practice in psychometric design. Hence both reliability measures are key stages of a psychometric test development project.

Internal Reliability

A reliability value of 0.7 is the cutoff value for aptitude tests/ability tests. The measure used is called Cronbach’s Alpha.

A higher internal reliability value of 0.8 is considered acceptable for personality scales. There is an academic debate about whether situational judgement tests can be expected to have internal reliability. Regardless of this Rob Williams Assessment Ltd has developed SJTs with Cronbach’s Alpha values in excess of 0.8.

Test-Retest Reliability 

Test-retest reliability is a key final stage of test development. There are two administrations. These are a few weeks apart. This tests the reliability of the two sets of results.

Personality profiling

Personality test validation stages

There are several stages in any psychometric test validation study.

  • Best practice advice on how to set-up a validation study involving any psychometric tool;
  • Statistical analysis of the psychometric results;
  • Analysis of the effectiveness of the ability test design; and
  • Production of an easy-to-understand report outlining where and how the psychometric tool is adding value to the selection process.

Personality validation examples

  • Validation (leisure sector, hotel sector, insurance sector, transport sector).
  • Bespoke personality questionnaire validation studies for sales and customer service staff in a call centre and for managers in the retail sector.
  • Selection process validation from online sifting via phone interview/assessment centre through to acceptance (financial services sector).
  • Emotional intelligence questionnaire validation.
  • Personality questionnaire validation (insurance sector).
  • Customer service psychometric test validation.
  • Graduate-level aptitude test validation of verbal and numerical reasoning tests (accountancy firm).
  • Middle manager general ability verbal and numerical reasoning psychometric test validation studies (retail sector)
  • Personality questionnaire validation study incorporating 360-degree feedback results
  • Validation study using salary grades (financial services sector).
  • Cross-cultural personality questionnaire validation based upon managerial status and earnings
  • Call centre work sample simulation psychometric test validation studies.

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