It can feel pretty daunting to be advised you have to complete a psychometric assessment when you apply for a job – particularly if you haven’t ever faced one before! But take heart - this blog aims to take some of the fear out of the process by explaining what the assessments cover and why organisations use them.
Employers use psychometric assessments to make sure they’re choosing the right candidate for the job. Whilst there is no single trick to passing psychometric assessments, understanding what assessments measure and why employers choose to use them will help you put your best foot forward.
Student Employability and Careers Specialist Emma Spires provides answers to the questions that students commonly ask Employability Lab staff about psychometric assessments.
Psychometric assessments are a way for organisations to gain a better understanding of a potential employee over and above what they can discover from a CV and an interview. Psychometric assessments measure a person’s intellectual ability and their work style preferences. There are a variety of assessments that you might face:
Employers use psychometric assessments to help them ‘match’ people to jobs. Understanding your ability, skills and work place preferences helps hiring managers ensure they are selecting a candidate who is suited to their organisational environment as well as best qualified for the role.
Bear in mind that assessments are not only helpful for organisations but they are also beneficial for you. For example, if you do well in the assessments then that confirms you have the skills and preferences that suit the role and/ or environment you’re applying for. Conversely, if you do not do well in the assessments then you will have avoided going into a job that you may have found a struggle.
Most assessments are completed online (with the exception of some simulation exercises). Organisations generally provide you with access to assessments via a link in an email. It’s very common for organisations to ask you to complete assessments prior to meeting face to face. This is because hiring managers will generally only want to invest time interviewing you if have already met the assessment criteria.
If you are thinking about asking a friend to complete these assessment(s) for you – don’t do it! Companies are savvy about discovering cheats. They often request candidates to do a shorter version of the full test when on-site to check alignment in the results.
Practicing common assessments online is a good way to ensure you put your best foot forward (you can practice assessments here). We recommend practicing numeric, verbal and inductive assessments. It is also particularly important to practice ability assessments where your answers are either ‘right or wrong.’
With ability assessments you commonly get a set number of questions (typically 20 or 30) and a set time to complete the tests (ie, 20 or 30 minutes). It’s important to work through the assessment quickly and accurately. If you spend all your time answering 8 out of 20 questions in detail and correctly, but leave 12 questions unanswered, you will not receive a high score!
If you want to explore the use of psychometric assessments in more detail, make an enquiry through the Employability and Careers mailbox. We run workshops on this topic when required.
Written by Student Employability and Careers Specialist Emma Spires