11 December 2009

Supermarket introduces psychometric testing for graduates

Supermarket chain Waitrose has become the latest big-name company to introduce psychometric testing in its recruitment process, according to media reports.

Waitrose has received 2,500 applications for 20 posts in its latest graduate recruitment round, and psychometric tests will be used in the filtering process for aspiring store managers.

The company typically invites 150 candidates to its assessment centre, so the initial selection stage is a significant task for HR. As a result it has decided to add an extra hurdle into the process in the form of an online situational judgement test, in which the applicants say how they would respond to common workplace situations.

Anglie Johns, manager of recruitment services at Waitrose, is reported as saying that this year there was always going to be challenging in terms of the sheer volume of applications.

The psychometric test had been introduced to pre-empt the situation by making the selection process as robust as possible.

The situational tool chosen is called Graduate Dilemma, developed by A&DC, and is not retail specific but presents the user with several typical management scenarios.

However, Waitrose was able to make the tool bespoke by adapting the scoring key to take account of the particular qualities and competencies it was seeking.

 

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