Psychometric Assessments: Is Ravana Cultural Fit For Your Organization? Imagine how easy it must be for the hiring manager to have a candidate of Ravana's calibre served and seasoned on a platter for hire.
By Nishant M
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Most of us have heard of Ravana, the mythical character in the Hindu epic Ramayana, the Rakshasa or Demon King of Lanka. Often depicted as a powerful entity with ten heads, each with unique knowledge of the Shastras and Vedas, the man was a great scholar, capable ruler, and a maestro of the veena.
Now, imagine a candidate with a similar résumé, vying for a position in your organization; perfect on paper as someone once said. Imagine how easy it must be for the hiring manager, his or her instinct even, to have a candidate of Ravana's calibre served and seasoned on a platter for hire.
But, the question remains – how perfect is Mr. Perfect about Paper Ravana for a particular organization? Better yet, who is it that identifies the synergy between employee and company culture?
The Qualities of an Interviewer
For now, we have an interviewer – often considered the final wall in any recruitment process. In many ways, the growth of an organization, and also the candidate in question rests on the hands of an interviewer.
People might wonder if it is at all sensible to let one man or woman, a panel even, hold such power. Others might defend them, citing their wealth of experience in the field and Human Resource knowledge among others. Then again, there is also the powerful human instinct.
Are they enough? Technology has, in an age of excellence, progressed with aggression. This, almost at a level where universities and training programs alike fail to keep pace. During such a time of turmoil, with the availability of only a thin talent pool, it makes sense that an interviewer would grab the first great candidate in sight. But are we, in fact, looking at the big picture?
In a flash, qualities such as instinct, knowledge and experience in an interviewer, though valued immensely still, become obsolete. Information outside the realm of a résumé emerged with greater importance. And assessments grew to fill that information gap.
What's Best is Always Situational
Hiring managers began realizing that the best may not always be the best for the organization that what the candidate presents him or her to be, isn't always who they are in reality. So, how do we identify organizational synergy with accuracy? Is there even a way to decipher the ten Ravana personalities as a cultural fit for your organization?
Yes, on aggregate, there is. We call them Psychometric Assessments – a tool that does not diminish a candidate's worth. By diminish, we imply the Jonathan Ives case, pioneer of glass iPhone screens and brushed aluminium MacBooks. Would he have been just as great in an another organization? Would larger, more orthodox organizations have accepted his bold push in the field of design?
The word best is always situational, and this is equally applicable to employees as well. While there is no substitute for due diligence, Psychometric Assessments go a long way toward understanding the mind of a candidate, his likelihood at attrition, his affinity to the company environment, and more.
To fill that information deficit in a recruitment process is to find the ideal candidate suited to your company, and with their Psychometric Assessments does just that for many firms.
Psychometric Assessments have no doubt become game changers for companies in the recruitment process, and in several cases, have also aided in leadership development programs and employee promotions. These are important to understand.
Why?
Simply because, in an age of excellence, we need to find not just any Ravana, but the Ravana that thrives in your organizational culture.