Aptitude testing can be used to accurately determine a candidate's individual strengths and optimally align their future career path with these strengths. Job seekers are often unaware of their exact skills and abilities and may not even be looking for the job that is perfectly suited to them. Career profile matching can open up completely new ideas and perspectives in this regard.
More than 10,000 participants took part in a survey conducted by HR Consult Group AG with the aim of gauging current opinion on the service and image of personnel consultancies. Among other things, the survey examined how well aptitude testing procedures and, in particular, suggestions for suitable job profiles are received by candidates.
Just under a third of candidates are willing to spend money on aptitude testing.
At 31 percent, just under a third of survey participants are willing to pay for a professional profile recommendation. Almost one in four of those surveyed would spend up to €49 for a career profile recommendation, while 7 percent would even invest up to €89. For more than a third, however, €49 would already be too expensive. At 32 percent, just under a third of those surveyed have no interest in this consulting service.
If we take the desired salary into account when analyzing the responses, we see that the higher the amount specified, the less important the cost factor is. Candidates with a desired salary of €150,000 or more make up the largest group for both the "max. €49" and "max. €89" responses. This group gave the fewest votes for the answer "too expensive." Candidates with the lowest desired salary of €30,000 to €45,000 form the largest group for the answer "too expensive." However, looking at the distribution of the shares for the answer "max. $49," a similarly high demand can be seen across all desired salary groups. In other words, the demand for a career profile recommendation is not directly related to the desired salary, but rather to the price of the service.
However, one thing is quite clear: as salary expectations rise, interest in this consulting service declines. This is certainly due to the fact that candidates with higher salary expectations have been in the workforce for longer and therefore have the corresponding professional experience. They usually already know where their strengths lie and in which positions they can best utilize them.
Career profile matching is particularly helpful for candidates who are still unsure about where their career journey should take them. But people who want to completely reorient themselves thematically—i.e., venture into a new field—also benefit greatly from this analysis. It provides security during the orientation phase and ultimately also helps with the actual job search. Because only those who know what they are actually looking for will ultimately find a job that really suits them," explainsMatthias Barhainski, HR consultant at SENATOR.
About the author
After completing his studies in automotive engineering and industrial engineering, he began his professional career in the automotive industry in the areas of sales, development, and marketing, and also spent a year in Japan with one of the largest automotive suppliers.
He then moved to a world-renowned premium car manufacturer, where he was responsible for product marketing for Japan and South America as well as marketing strategy for North and South America.
In 1994, he decided to become self-employed and founded a personnel consulting firm in Munich, where he has been driving development and expansion for over 20 years. As managing director, his industry focus is naturally on the automotive world as well as mechanical and plant engineering.
His doctorate in the field of aptitude diagnostics ideally complements his areas of expertise, particularly in relation to human resources and management consulting. His dissertation deals with the identification and verification of typical personality traits of engineers and the definition of areas of development for a successful career.
These are scientifically derived and presented in the book "Eignungsdiagnostik im Praxiseinsatz" (Aptitude Diagnostics in Practical Use).
At the same time, he focuses on establishing networks and cooperation models as well as the continuous development of systems and processes in HR consulting.
Over the past 20 years in HR consulting, he has developed several brands that continue to operate successfully on the market today.
