A leading law firm says it is considering the introduction of psychometric tests to its graduate recruitment process in an effort to increase diversity.
Simmons & Simmons hopes testing will improve the quality of candidates accepted for training contracts and at the same time promote diverse representation by being less reliant on academic qualifications such as A-levels.
A website for trainee solicitors has reported the firm is working with an external recruitment consultancy since earlier in the year and it has been advised on a number of different testing options.
Simmons graduate recruitment partner, Nick Benwell, said there are no psychometric tests that are specifically aimed at the legal profession, so his company needed to be sure that they are relevant.
He went on to say the principal goal was to make sure the company finds the best candidates, rather than introducing tests for testing's sake, or just to get the number of applicants down.
A number of other major law firms, including Lovells, CMS Cameron McKenna, Link- laters and Clifford already use some aspects of psychometric testing and verbal reasoning as part of their pre-selection or interview processes.