Psychometric assessments or tests are used by employers to evaluate an employee’s potential and to match individual skills to the demands of specific jobs.
These tests are ones that you do not pass or fail as such, but they give an objective indication of your ability, aptitude and potential for acquiring skills that the employer is interested in.
There are several different types of tests but they largely fall into three categories: ability and aptitude tests, personality assessments, and motivation questionnaires.
Ability and aptitude tests
These measure specific skills, and the score gives an indication of the candidates’ existing ability or potential to learn the skills needed. They usually test verbal, numerical and diagrammatic reasoning and are timed tests.
Personality assessments
These assess your individual preferences in behaviour and values. It gives an employer an insight into how you see yourself and others, in a way that may not be revealed in an interview.
Motivation questionnaires
These give an employer an insight into what motivates your behaviour in work and social situations. Again, they reveal aspects of your personality that may not be evident in an interview scenario.
In both of the latter two categories, employers are looking to see if you will fit into their culture. So, if they have a team-oriented culture, they’ll be looking for people who work that way, rather than those who are self-motivated and enjoy solo challenges.
At graduate and management level, some form of psychometric testing is increasingly being used as part of the recruitment process. However, they are not taken in isolation, but rather as one part of the recruitment process.
Prepare yourself for the tests
• Try to find out what assessments will be used.
• Employers may make practice tests available beforehand – spend time practising if you can.
• There are plenty of online examples of psychometric tests – practise with these if you can’t get one from the employer (for example: http://www.bradleycvs.co.uk/interview/psychometric_tests.htm).
• Be sure your mathematical skills are up to speed – do you know how to work out percentages?
• Look at university and college websites such as http://www.imperial.ac.uk/careers/student/UG/applicati/Psychometric.htm for reference guides and further advice.
• Be sure to inform the company if you have any disabilities, such as dyslexia, or medical conditions that may adversely affect your performance. They should accommodate your needs.
• Try to work out what skills the recruiters are looking for, and then try to demonstrate your ability accordingly – but don’t try to be someone you aren’t.
• Ask for feedback – employers are obliged to give you your results even if you do not get the job.
In the test room
• Read instructions carefully and slowly – don’t hurry through this part; make sure you know exactly what is expected of you, and in what time period.
• If there are practice questions, be sure you do them, and ask for clarification if there is anything you do not understand before the test begins.
• Plan your time to enable you to answer as many questions as possible. Don’t panic, however, if you can’t answer them all – sometimes, the tests are designed this way.
• Don’t make silly mistakes – check the question and answer numbers correspond.
• If it is a multiple-choice test, rule out the obviously wrong answers first.
• Make any changes to your answer clear.
• Don’t lie – be honest and go with your gut feeling. Neither you nor the employer will be happy if you end up in a job to which you aren’t suited.
• Move through the test at a reasonable pace – don’t get hung up on one question.
• If you do finish with time to spare, go back and review your answers.