Suitability Score Explanation

Let’s say Talent fusion is hiring for two roles, a Customer Service Agent and an IT Systems
Administrator, these two may take a psychometric test that constitute of questions/sections in;
• Mathematical Reasoning
• Verbal reasoning
• Critical Thinking
• Problem-Solving Ability
• Emotional Intelligence
• Communication Skills
There is usually an equal number of questions for each section, let’s say 10. Now since each role
requires a different set of personality traits, skills and disposition, these sections are not equally as
important for both roles. The IT role would require more mathematical reasoning, Problem-solving
Ability and more technical aptitude than the customer service role which would require more Verbal
reasoning, communication skills, emotional intelligence and a more extroverted personality trait.
Because of this, weighing will be introduced.

How weighing works

Though there are an equal number of questions (10 in this case) for each section, each section is not
supposed to contribute equally to the total score. So the importance of each section can be
mathematically quantified by expressing it as a percentage of the total score. Alternatively said, each
section is expressed as a percentage it is supposed to contribute to the total. For our example, we may
say;

Weight (as a % of the total)

Section IT Support Customer Service
Mathematical Reasoning 15% 5%
Verbal reasoning 5% 20%
Critical Thinking 15% 10%
Problem-Solving Ability 25% 10%
Emotional Intelligence 5% 20%
Communication Skills 5% 30%
Technical Aptitude 30% 5%

Calculating Suitability Score

Let’s say that two IT Support candidates get the following marks in the psychometric test,
Section
Mathematical Reasoning
Verbal reasoning
Critical Thinking
Problem-Solving Ability
Emotional Intelligence
Communication Skills
Technical Aptitude
Total Mark
Total% (unweighted)
Actual Mark (out of the 10 questions in each section)
Candidate 1 Candidate 2
3 9
9 3
4 8
5 8
9 4
9 3
5 9
44/70 44/70
63% 63%
Their weighted mark for each section will be calculated like this;
𝑊𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡
Weighted Mark =Actual Mark× ( )
𝑀𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 𝑃𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑘

For the candidates, the weighted Mark for Mathematical Reasoning would be;
Candidate 1 Candidate 2
15 15
Weighted Mark =3× ( )=4.5 Weighted Mark =9× ( )=13.5
10 10

The Suitability Score is then the sum of all the weighted marks, in this case, that would be,
Weighted Mark
Section Candidate 1 Candidate 2
Mathematical Reasoning 4.5 13.5
Verbal reasoning 4.5 1.5
Critical Thinking 6 12
Problem-Solving Ability 12.5 20
Emotional Intelligence 4.5 2
Communication Skills 4.5 1.5
Technical Aptitude 15 27
Suitability Score 51.5 77.5

Though Candidate 1 had a higher total mark than Candidate 2, candidate two has a higher suitability
score than Candidate 1 and therefore candidate 2 is the more preferred candidate

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS EXAMPLE IS JUST FOR EXPLANATORY PURPOSES ONLY.
Further research and customizations are required and if need be, outsourcing of testing, scoring and scaling modules can be
implemented