We use psychometric assessment on most senior searches and in most advisory work. We also see it misused often enough to want to be clear about what it is for.

What a good instrument gives you

A structured view of preferences and tendencies: how the person handles ambiguity, how they make decisions, how they respond to conflict and pressure, what motivates them, where they are likely to overplay a strength. On the ability side, verbal and numerical reasoning against a senior norm group.

The report we provide on a shortlist gives the ability profile, the behavioural implications, the top strengths, the main risks and the likely derailers, plus interview questions written to test each of them.

What it does not give you

Track record. A psychometric cannot tell you whether the person has run a £200m business unit, integrated an acquisition or rebuilt an HR function. That comes from a structured interview and references, and it carries more weight.

Fit. Instruments can tell you how someone prefers to operate. Whether that suits your Board, your culture and your Chair is a judgement the interviewers have to make.

A verdict. Any report that produces a single recommend or reject score for a senior role is being used beyond its design.

How to use it well

Run it after the first interview, not before, so the assessment informs the second conversation rather than screening people out. Share the results with the candidate; senior people expect it and it improves the conversation. Use the derailer section to write interview questions, which is where the real value sits. Weight it at perhaps a fifth of the decision, behind track record and references.

Internal candidates

For internal succession work psychometrics are more useful than in external search, because track record inside one organisation is already known and the question is how the person will behave in a bigger, more exposed role. That is exactly what the instruments are designed to inform.

We only use them with the candidate's informed consent, we use qualified practitioners, and we never share the raw report beyond the decision-makers.