Over the last 30 years, the occupational and assessment environments have changed drastically. Back in the '70s, 'flexi-time', 'wireless access', 'positive discrimination', 'CSR', 'portfolio careers', 'out-sourcing' and 'down-sizing' were unknown. Jobs for life were an everyday concept, a mouse was nothing more than a small rodent and losing a file meant sifting through your rubbish.

Thirty years ago psychometric assessment was in evidence, but tests were in pencil and paper format administered in supervised environments and used by perhaps 1 in 10 organisations. How things have changed: never mind the plethora of wireless mice and Web 2.0 and even 3.0; psychometric assessment is now a widely accepted business tool used by 1 in 3 organisations. Clearly, there has been an increase in the credibility of psychometric assessments as people have become more familiar with the benefits they experience from building their talent strategies and processes on scientifically proven tools.

According to Julie Morosco, HR Director at SHL, our psychometric testing partner, using assessment tools and techniques to get the talent equation right is key to remaining competitive: "Today, organisations recognise that talent management and the war for talent globally is key to their strategies and the success of their organisations. Thirty years ago, recruitment was generally treated as transactional - like payroll processing. Today, being smart about how you define, identify, acquire and then develop and retain talent are key drivers for private and public sector organisations."

Her colleague, Director of Science and Innovation, Eugene Burke adds, "Another difference to thirty years ago is the recognition that 'experience' is not enough. The world is not static and 'jobs for life' have more or less gone the way of the dinosaurs. So, the shelf life of what we know and can do is reducing. That means that those softer skills or competencies that underpin learning, adaptability, innovation and a commitment to delivering are all the more important. In a nutshell, gaining knowledge and knowing what to do with it is what counts rather than the history you read on a CV."

The tool revolution

In the 'noughties' organisations want to know how to define the talent they need and to assess it objectively, scientifically and efficiently. This has led to a major revolution in the use of assessment tools to identify talent.

Today, assessment software is increasingly commonplace, with HR processes moving online. Whereas thirty years ago candidates would have travelled to a site to sit an assessment, today they're more likely to sit at home and take that assessment from a remote location, at their own convenience.

These changes have been driven by three key elements: advances in technology, globalisation and the development of the HR function. Unsurprisingly, it is these changes that have also had the greatest impact on psychometric assessments, where technology will certainly be the default method of the future.

Tomorrow we may see assessment bundles where only those components of ability, personality, motivation and values that talk to critical behaviours are deployed.

Future trends

So, what does the future hold for psychometric testing? Professor Dave Bartram, SHL's Director of Research comments, "The next big breakthrough will be in hard to measure areas. I'm confident we'll see the development of new and sophisticated methods of measuring skills that are currently difficult to measure, especially online, for example 'judgement', 'social competence' and 'creativity'.

"We will need to reflect the different ways people will be expected to work too. Our carbon footprint is already a major consideration in the way we live our lives, and this will be complemented by advances in technology leading to a continued reduction in the number of people travelling to an office. Why should the assessment process be any different? In many ways, technology underpins how we do things today and this includes the design, development and delivery of assessment tools tuned to the needs of organisations in the twenty-first century. But that technology is only an enabler to execute a task. Thirty years on, we have a whole new view on assessment driven by a better understanding of behaviour in the workplace and a stronger insight into what underpins those behaviours, whether they are positive behaviours that support the 'bright' side of effective performance, or counterproductive behaviours that live on the 'dark' side of people and organisations and result in derailment.

"On the practical side, technology will drive new needs and new innovations. We may see candidates' career profiles stored on chips or even their mobile phone SIM cards, with data transferred via Bluetooth style technology to employers when vacancies arise."

Chartered Occupational Psychologist Howard Grosvenor adds: "We're already seeing changes in the way that employers and recruitment agencies attract candidates. In the next 10 years we may see the end of the conventional approach of advertising in the printed press. Instead employers and agencies will be using networking sites and professional communities on the internet to produce a list of potential candidates instantly, once their requirements have been defined; this will be very different from contemporary methods like Monster.com because it will be driven by 'organic' user-generated content.

"The success and growth of sites such as Second Life mean that in the future it is entirely possible that assessment and development centres will be delivered in virtual environments. Moreover, it is not inconceivable that people will have regular paid employment in such 'parallel' worlds – Second Life already has virtual estate agents, for example. The interesting paradox is that while people may present different 'identities' in the virtual world, the essence of who they are – their abilities, preferences and motivations – will largely remain the same. So in the future we are likely to want to assess the same things as we do at present, but the way in which we assess will change because of technology and our increasing knowledge.

"Ultimately, what we will see in the world of psychometrics will be driven by what organisations need and do, and by providers' innovation in solving the problems that organisations face. Today, it is about cheat-resistant online assessments defined in terms of the behaviours underpinning effective performance. Tomorrow we may see modular assessment bundles where only those components of ability, personality, motivation and values that talk to critical behaviours are deployed."

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