Psychometrics Testing: What You Need To Know...

Personnel Today magazine says that "...Psychometrics testing is now a fundamental part of recruitment and every day more companies are integrating it as part of their process in getting the right people for the job.”

In fact it is now used by over 80% of the Fortune 500 companies in the USA and by over 75% of the Times Top 100 companies in the UK. The purpose of this testing is to make an assessment of personal attributes such as personality, interests, aptitudes or general intellectual ability as part of a recruitment selection process. It is a very broad brush approach to understanding the specific traits and skills of very complex human beings.

Psychometrics Testing For Recruitment & Selection

You are most likely to encounter psychometrics testing as part of the recruitment or selection process and occupational psychometric tests are designed to provide employers with a reliable method of selecting the most suitable job applicants or candidates for promotion. Employers use in-depth psychological profiles to assess personality and intellectual levels; they are seldom used in isolation and represent just one of the methods used by employers in the selection process. The results of individual testing gives management an idea of how the employee will fit in with company ideals and policies.

Psychometric Tests will help you find your best career, but finding the right job is only part of the battle, now you have to win it. A new study has shown at least 5% of graduates have admitted to cheating in psychometric tests, with another 17% saying they would cheat if they knew how to get away with it. However, distorting your apparent test results and thereby personality in order to get a job is almost certain to cause you problems later. In general, psychometrics testing can help students by providing an objective measure of some times hidden abilities and form a robust foundation for making career decisions.

Psychometric Testing Shows How You Will Fit In

By Peter Fisher

Psychometric testing is increasingly seen as the best way to get a good corporate fit with new recruits.

Because recruitment is an expensive business it is extremely important to get it right first time and psychometric testing provides a useful aid for recruitment but should only be used as part of an overall process. Poor selection decisions can result in further recruitment costs, additional training and orientation costs, reduced profit, loss of competitive advantage, as well as damage to image and reputation.

As a candidate, taking a psychometric test now will forewarn you to what an employer or recruitment agency will learn about you when you take a psychometric test for them. Reading your own psychometric report is a big help when writing your CV or preparing for an interview. If an applicant goes into an interview fully aware of their own faults and prepared to defend them and present their strengths, then the applicant is at a great advantage.

In theory, physcometric tests would be used as a pre-interview measure, to highlight areas that the candidate should be quizzed on in interview. Having said that depending on the type of position you are seeking, some employers prefer to go through the interview process and use the psychometrics testing to confirm their own impressions. The combination of competency based interview and objective assessment techniques (psychometric testing) is the best way of predicting an individual's suitability for a job. Tried and tested human resources tools like interviewing the candidate and talking to people given as references are equally important.

While hard skills testing and interviews have long been a part of staffing firms' value-add proposition, they alone are no longer enough to assure your customers that the candidate will fit in the position or the work environment. Psychometrics have a valuable role to play but should be used in conjunction with a competency and biographical interview and potentially other exercises (case studies, team exercises etc) that give a better insight to the candidate. They can even go so far as to offer trigger questions you can use in a follow-up interview – for example, someone may seem to be a very good networker but their attention to detail might appear to be lacking, which gives you an area to concentrate your interview questions on.

Psychometric testing is now a fundamental part of recruitment. The whole point of psychometric testing is that it presents a snapshot of your potential and while you can't swot for it, having a handle on how they work can help you to improve your score.

Peter Fisher is an expert Author, Career Coach and Publisher of Tests: How To Pass where you can research Psychometrics Testing any time you need.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Peter_Fisher
http://EzineArticles.com/?Psychometric-Testing-Shows-How-You-Will-Fit-In&id=610774

To be successful in a job, you should be confident that your values, abilities, and personality are in line with those needed for the career or job that you choose. Psychometrics testing provides a potential employer with an insight into how well you work with other people, how well you handle stress, and whether you will be able to cope with the intellectual demands of the job.

Also in this Psychometric Testing Section

• Personality Tests

• Personal Style Indicator

• People Maps

• Describe Your Personality

Return To Your Career Change Home Page

---

Looking for other ways to understand psychometrics testing?

An answer to an interview question? A CV or Resume layout? How to start Networking? More free Cover letter examples, or some ideas of your options?

Just enter your keyword in the search box below to find your answer on this site or anywhere else on the web. You will see some adverts that may be of interest since Google targets ads to your particular interests, but your results will be below that.