Psychometric Assessments
Psychometric assessments may form one stage of the recruitment process. They help employers gather objective information about an applicant in order to decide if they are the most suitable person for the job. The results are generally used in conjunction with other information such as your resume, interview responses, and referee comments.
They are used across many industries and are commonly part of the selection process for graduate programs (often early in the process).
Most tests are completed online. The organisation will send you a link to a test website and a timeframe to complete the test within. You may also be given a test to complete at an assessment centre too.
There are a number of commonly used psychometric tools:Aptitude tests
Aptitude tests are used to ensure a minimum level of ability in using numerical and written information. You may encounter them at the first stage of a graduate recruitment campaign where they can be used to reduce the size of the applicant pool by eliminating scores below a certain level. Tests may include:
- Verbal reasoning (critical evaluation of written information)
- Numerical Reasoning (analysis of numerical data)
- Abstract Reasoning (often use of diagram sequences)
Personality Questionnaires
- Occupational Personality/Motivational/Values based questionnaires.
These are used to get an idea of your fit with the role, team or organisation, or may be used to flesh out questions for a final round interview. For example, an employer wanting someone for a role requiring consistent attention to repetitive detail will probably not want to give that job to someone who is very creative and gets bored easily.
The best advice for personality questionnaires is to go with your first answer as this is generally a true reelection of your style.
Assessment preparation
Becoming familiar with what to expect in the tests can help to lower anxiety around the process and help you become familiar with the times condition of the aptitude tests. Practice tests are available:
- Onetest Online HR Solutions
- SHL
- Assessment Day
- The Complete Guide to Pre-Employment Testing - Job Test Prep (available in the Careers Resource Centre )
Other strategies include:
- Read the newspapers and complete crosswords to 'exercise' your mind
- Brush up on basic mathematical calculations such as calculating percentages
- Get a good night's sleep and don't skip breakfast!
And remember - for timed tests, it is unlikely that you will finish. The best strategy is to find a balance between speed and accuracy. There is no point finishing the test if you get them all wrong!