5.5 Assessment and testing

The fifth step to evaluate when hiring dyslexic thinking talent is assessment and testing. Finding the best candidate for the job involves filtering applicants at each stage of the recruitment process. But what happens if the filters you use exclude the very minds you're trying to attract?

For years, many workplaces have relied on standardised tests, which gauge traditional forms of intelligence. Frequently, these tests take place in the final stages of a recruitment process, and are often the key factor in deciding who to offer the job to. However, these tests significantly disadvantage dyslexic thinkers, measuring the very things we find challenging our kryptonite, rather than identifying our strengths or superpowers, which are the skills the workplaces now need.

Many large and well-known brands use them. And while psychometric testing companies may say how innovative their software is in identifying strengths and not screening out neurodiverse candidates, the evidence speaks for itself.

One test against the clock involved identifying numerous subtle differences between multiple different facial expressions and naming the emotion. While dyslexic thinkers index highly in emotional intelligence, they struggle with tests against the clock.

Test two asks candidates to read numbers at speed and identify them quickly and accurately, again disadvantaging dyslexic thinkers who excel in lateral thinking and problem solving, but take longer to read and process information, which inhibits their response time.

The results of these tests provide a limited view of candidates, which often conflicts with real-world evidence, and the outcome is that organisations miss out on the talent that could drive their business forward.

What's more, AI is taking over the tasks that dyslexics find challenging, doing them faster, and better than humans. Research from innovative testing company Arctic Shores, featured in our Intelligence 5.0 report, finds that AI now excels at psychometric reasoning tests, verbal reasoning, and situational judgement tests, all thought to be great predictors of job performance in humans.

ChatGPT outperforms 98.8% of human candidates in verbal reasoning tests. However, AI is less effective at assessments requiring connecting, communicating, and reasoning skills, all areas where dyslexic thinkers excel. But these are not skills that psychometric tests are designed to measure.

One thing is clear. In order to attract the dyslexic talent organisations need to move their business forward, they need to rip up the current testing processes and switch to assessment models that focus on skills first.

Global organisations like HSBC, Siemens, and Cisco are leading the way. Here's Fran Katsoudas, Executive Vice President and Chief People Policy and Purpose Officer at Cisco, speaking at Davos.

I feel like a skills-based approach is a win-win, both for the company and for the talent. Like, every company wants access to the best talent. There's no question. And I do think that in the past, some of the systems that were a bit more focused on scale or efficiency, didn't allow us to get access to so many.

And so the way that it works is that there have been a few shifts. The first is we move more and more away from specific experiences that are required. And I think that's really important. So many times, we'll ask someone, have you done this role, as opposed to, do you have this skill? And that is such a different question and approach. And it allows us to get to talent that we wouldn't have normally seen, which I think is so important.

Great insight from Fran, on how beneficial skills-based hiring is for both employees and employers.

Here's Matt, from Randstad Enterprise, to explain more

Randstad Enterprises in-demand skills research shows that dyslexic thinking skills are needed everywhere now. From engineering, to marketing, to AI computing, the most commonly needed skill is creative, complex problem solving, which dyslexics have in abundance. This group of people have the most sought after skills, but they are being approached and tested incorrectly.

The challenge lies in breaking down the barriers that keep dyslexic talent hidden from recruiters. Standardised tests are one of those barriers. Often used as benchmarks of intelligence, they are a key factor in deciding between candidates at the end of the recruitment process.

But with their timed elements, they favour candidates with faster processing speeds, and they fail to measure the in-demand skills workplaces now need, like creative problem solving, innovative thinking, or interpersonal skills. What's more, they may not accurately predict an individual's ability to thrive in today's dynamic work environment.

As the landscape shifts towards creativity, adaptability, and emotional intelligence, we need to find new ways to assess for the skills workplaces now need. That means, shifting to assessment systems that recognise skills and potential.

Here's Sam Schlimper, Managing Director of Randstad Enterprise, to explain more.

I think there's no better time than now to really think about this. It's super critical, it's always been critical, but even more so now when we've got the advent of humans and machines coming together to join in a workforce in many different ways, whether that's being augmented, hybrid, blended together. And that's going to continue forward.

So for organisations to really understand what they have in their humans, both from a potential and power perspective, is such a no-brainer. It's almost interesting that we aren't able to look at our return on investment from our people in that way when we do that with all other things in our organisation. And so, the time is now to be able to do that.

I think that also leads to really understanding what you have in those humans. And that requires us going beyond often, the very narrow lens we currently look at from a talent perspective. So imagine being able to understand people in who they are at their inherent core, what potential and skills they bring to your organisation, how they can utilise that through their motivations and aspirations, to do fantastic work and provide outputs that are going to differentiate you from your competitor.

And that's really what the assessment and selection piece can do. But at the moment we use a very narrow lens and often, a lens that filters people out, rather than filter in.

So some of the important things is language really matters. The word assessment itself can be quite interesting in it sounds like a test. And for some people that might be exciting, but for most, that's not.

So really going on more of a discovery-needs alignment and that language being really important. I'm going to discover who you are, what you bring, the skills you bring, and how you can best utilise them in my organisation and the team you're going to be in. Isn't that just a wonderful way? And just by reframing that language helps us as organisations think about how we actually get that done.

Another area that I think we can look at in assessment, whether it be psychometric or others, is you would never make a really important life decision based on tiny sets of data or one set of data in a point in time. And often, we do that when we're thinking about hiring or mobilising or promoting people.

What we want to do is understand people over a period of time and through a number of data points. And if you're doing that in a time-bound process like hiring, you can really get that done. But it doesn't mean you have to have exactly the same way of doing that for people. It means you can really get to discover who they are through their own journey.

And that's what we can do now because of a different way of thinking about processes, a different way of thinking about technology, and how we can see people for their full potential and full skills. It's actually just not even a should be doing. It's an absolutely critical for organisations to have sustainable performance from people.

So here are three ways you can adapt your assessment and testing. Broaden your horizons and measure talent based on skills and potential, instead of standardised testing. In particular, focus on the skills needed to do a job and choose an assessment method that best uncovers these, rather than a one-size-fits-all standard test, which claims to benchmark intelligence. Assessments that evaluate practical skills, creativity, and problem solving over rote memorization or processing speed work for all.

In whatever assessment you offer, provide the kind of adjustments that will empower dyslexic thinkers, like extra time to think around the problem and come up with the best solution. Consider alternative assessment formats to accommodate different thinking styles. Videos are a great way to explain what candidates need to do, rather than written instructions.

Amazing advice. So to summarise, when it comes to evaluating your assessment stage, here are three key takeaways.

One, take a results-driven approach and measure talent based on skills and potential, instead of standardised testing. Choose assessment methods that evaluate practical skills, creativity, and problem solving over rote memorization or writing speed. Two, provide adjustments such as extra time to empower dyslexic thinkers. And three, use diverse assessment formats to accommodate different thinking styles.