What are Psychometric Tests and how can they help you get a job?

Psychometric Tests have become an almost mandatory test that every jobseeker has to encounter during their job search days. For candidates who thought that merely preparing an impressive Resume and giving a great face-to-face interview would be enough to get the job; it’s time for you to upgrade. There is another challenge of Psychometric Tests that candidates have to ace before getting the offer letter to their dream job.

But, before you start thinking about cracking Psychometric tests for job seekers, it is very important for you to understand what psychometric tests really are? To help you understand Psychometric tests and everything associated with it, we have compiled a comprehensive guide for you below:

What are Psychometric Tests?

Psychometric Tests are a recent phenomenon that has become a regular feature in the recruitment process at different private and a few government organizations. These tests are designed as an additional layer of scrutiny that job seekers have to clear in order to prove their eligibility for the job.

There are different types of psychometric test which are used by recruiters and HR professionals to test different aspects of candidate such as their personality, skills, intelligence and emotional quotient. On the basis of the psychometric test results, the final call about hiring a candidate is taken.

Why are Psychometric Tests Used?

Psychometric Tests are nowadays used very extensively my corporate recruiters to screen candidates before hiring them. There three main reasons that can be attributed to such high popularity of Psychometric Tests among recruiters

1. Allows for Objective assessment of candidates: One of the prime reasons behind the high adoption rate of Psychometric tests among recruiters is their ability to accurately evaluate both knowledge and personality traits of job seekers. Subjective and behavioural aspects such as general awareness, stress management, time management, capacity to work with other team members and such aspects after often evaluated effectively using psychometric tests.

2. Makes Recruitment Process more efficient: As majority of the assessment of interview candidates or job seekers is done through the test, they save a lot of time and resources during the recruitment process for the company.

3. Reliable indicator of on-job performance: The biggest advantage of using Psychometric tests is that the assessment put out by the tests helps recruiters determine the future performance of the employee after taking up the role. Several studies have proven that psychometric tests allow recruiters to choose the right candidates who in future have proven to be an ideal fit for their role with exceptional performance.

What to Psychometric Tests measure?

The term Psychometric is a combination of two Greek words i.e.

Psycho = Mental and Metric = Measurement.

Therefore, simply put, the psychometric tests are designed to test the mental ability and prowess of job seekers and understand if they are an ideal fit for the job. But, this is too simplistic of an approach to understand a complex concept like psychometric tests.

Psychometric Tests are designed to test objective aspects about the candidates, as well as subjective ones. In short, these tests help HR professionals to cross-verify the subjective information that you have provided on your job resume such as skills, personality traits and others. However, psychometric tests do not limit themselves to such simplistic assessment. There are diverse arrays of factors that are tested through Psychometric tests and the key among them include:

  • Candidate’s Capabilities: Psychometric Tests assess the job seeker’s abilities in terms of skills and qualities which are mentioned on the job resume.
  • Job Aptitude: Similarly, these tests also check the job aptitude, which are non-quantifiable qualities of job seekers that are a must for them to fulfil the daily responsibilities that are entrusted to them as part of their job. Job aptitude checks if the candidate is able to perform well as part of a team or how to they handle stress or high pressure situations.
  • Personality: Another aspect that psychometric tests reflect upon is the personality of the job seeker. These include the general assessment of nature of the candidate i.e. introvert / extrovert. In addition to this, they also test the emotional quotient and professional maturity of the candidate.

Different Types of Psychometric Tests

As stated above, there are many different types and formats of Psychometric Test that enable HRs and recruiters to evaluate and analyse the profile of a candidate.

• Aptitude Tests: Aptitude based psychometric tests have become the norm of the day in the recruitment world today. These tests are designed to assess a specific or general set of skills, depending upon the nature of your job. There are different types of Aptitude test that one can be offered under this category:

  • Diagrammatic Reasoning Test: Analysing flow-charts and diagrams
  • Inductive Reasoning Test: Identifying trends or patterns based upon graphs
  • Logical Reasoning Test: Assesses decision making ability of the candidate
  • Numeric Reasoning Test: Data Interpretation and Analysis
  • Verbal Reasoning Test: Ability to evaluate written information in text form
  • Error Checking Test: To check ability to point out errors in complex datasets

• Skill Tests: The second most common type of psychometric test is the skill test. This test allows recruiters to evaluate your quick learning ability and your comfort with regards to adaption to new technology or processes. Again the type of psychometric skill test that you face would highly depend upon the kind of job that you are applying for. Candidates seeking roles in accounts and financing might be asked to evaluate a balance-sheet whereas creative professionals like designers and graphic artists might be required to produce an impromptu design to exhibit their skill and adaptability.

• Personality Tests: This is another common type of psychometric test that candidates might face during recruitment process. These tests are generally used by recruiters to assess if the candidate being assessed is the right cultural fit for the organization. These tests are aimed at assessing behavioural traits and other subjective aspects in a job seeker. For instance, group discussion tests are often used by recruiters to assess the ability of a candidate to perform in a team.

With more and more number of corporate organizations adopting Psychometric tests for screening job candidates, the day is not far when these may be compulsory and probably the first step in the hiring process. The effective results shown by Psychometric test have also compelled government agencies like SSC and Banking institutions also to include them as part of their recruitment process. Therefore, in order to be better prepared for the recruitment process, candidates must know and take up a few psychometric tests. For more interesting articles related to career and job search, please visit www.jagranjosh.com/jobs.

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