ADVERTISING FEATURE
How can personality traits and interpersonal skills be used in conjunction with quantitative assessments to better predict student success?
perseverance – some call it grit or tenaciousness – is the most vital skill to yield success in their programme. In addition, characteristics such as curiosity, self-discipline and organisation better position MBAs for success in their careers. How should institutions decipher between applicants when accounting for their experiences as well as their soft skills? Institutions will want to have a deeper understanding into applicants’ demeanour, attitude and soft skills as these have implications not only for that applicant’s success, but also for other learners in the programme. While admissions officers tend to lean on subjective measures to yield insight into these skills, the PSQ offers an objective, research-based option to assess them. Much of what is gained in Business School are the insights, perspectives and experiences students share with each other through group projects and/or in a cohort structure. This is an opportunity for students to build on career-critical soft skills. Without strong interpersonal skills, this could be detrimental to one’s self and other learners in the programme. What makes behavioural and interpersonal skills so valuable in education and careers? It’s important to note that it’s not just the interpersonal skills themselves that are of value, but also the ability to be self-aware of these skills and how that translates to one’s working style, relationships, and so on. Being mindful enables us to be humble, approachable and able to improve, which opens us up to being better learners and advances our ability to solve problems – which is what employers value most. The PSQ assessment is one way students can be more aware of the importance of these skills and unlock insights into what their individual skills mean in a broader context.
or within career centres or professional development programmes. When we consider the notion that ‘practice makes permanent’, the idea that these skills are practiced and emphasised on a continuum through the application process and beyond is key to improvement. What other ways can students demonstrate their full self to prospective Business Schools and employers? Students should be prepared to not only show prospective Business Schools the ‘what,’ but also the ‘how’. For example, it’s not just the successful completion of a project that is notable, but the interpersonal skills a student used – like teamwork, collaboration and trust – to get there. Sharing experiences, career goals and purpose, both verbally (for example, interviews) and in writing (for example, personal statements), alongside quantitative measures like the GRE and undergraduate GPA, will help paint the most robust picture of who an applicant is.
Interpersonal skills, when added to quantitative assessments such as GRE scores, do an even better job of predicting academic success in Business School (as measured by an individual’s graduate GPA) in comparison to relying on quantitative assessments alone. Behavioural measures can also help predict other notable outcomes, such as whether someone might take on a leadership role or engage in extracurricular activities – something standardised test scores and GPA aren’t designed to predict. How can programmes identify and value these traits? Programmes can glean insights in a variety of ways. We recommend getting to know candidates as individuals through a holistic admissions process of which the PSQ would be a seamless addition. It’s a simple, straightforward assessment for applicants – with no preparation required – that yields valuable, objective insights for institutions about someone’s interpersonal skills. What should Business Schools do to stress the importance of interpersonal skills and better incorporate them into their admissions process and beyond? Business Schools can showcase the significance of interpersonal skills by including measures and requirements for applicants to demonstrate them in the admissions process (for example, through the PSQ, personal statements, and so on) as well as emphasising the importance of improving, expanding and building on their interpersonal skills as a programme outcome while sharing the opportunities they’ll have to do so. They can do this by including it within their onboarding or orientation process; academic advising process;
31
‘The PSQ…yields valuable, objective insights for institutions about someone’s interpersonal skills’
Alberto Acereda is Associate Vice President of Global Higher Education at ETS. Previously, he worked as a research professor and administrator at several universities in the US.
Made with FlippingBook - Share PDF online