Psychometric Testing and Assessment Centres

What are psychometric tests?

Psychometric tests can be used as part of the recruitment and selection process by employers to assess your ability in specific skills, eg. verbal, numerical and diagrammetical reasoning, or to find out about your personal qualities by using personality questionnaires.

Ability or aptitude tests

Practising tests can be helpful, to familiarise yourself with the types of questions as well as getting feedback on your performance.

Personality questionnaires

Personality questionnaires assess different aspects of your personality, they explore the way you react in different situations. There are no right or wrong answers, and they are not usually timed.  They are used to see whether you would 'fit in' with the culture of the organisation and suit the role applied for.  You should answer questions honestly and not try to second-guess what the employer is looking for.

When do employers use them?

Sometimes they are used in conjunction with a face-to-face interview and are often carried out at an Assessment Centre, along with other tests.  Sometimes used as a 'first sift' i.e. only candidates with a certain mark proceed to the next stage.  Used mainly by large companies.

The following is a range of sites where you can practise ability/aptitude tests and personality questionnaires:

www.shldirect.com 
Timed verbal and numerical tests with feedback on how you compare with other applicants.

www.ase-solutions.co.uk
Aptitude test questions from the Graduate and Managerial Assessment. Examples of personality assessment questions (Click on 'support')

www.morrisby.com
View examples of the ability tests found in the Morrisby Profile. Advice and information about taking psychometric tests.

www.kenexa.com
Provides general information about employee assessment techniques and practice tests.

www.markparkinson.co.uk/psychometric_links.htm
Contains a list of online practice psychometric tests and questionnaires.

www.prospects.ac.uk 
For more detailed information on psychometric testing.

What are Assessment Centres?

They normally form the final part of the selection process, after interview, so if you have reached this stage, you are doing well.

Candidates are set a number of exercises designed to assess whether they possess the competencies and personal qualities sought be the employer for that particular role and their suitability for the organisation.

Exercises will assess competencies such as the following: Leadership skills, analytical skills, oral and written communication, numerical skills, ability to work under pressure, and team working skills. 

Employers will also be wanting to see how you work with other people and how you react in social situations.

Tasks may include a range of activities including the following:

• Psychometric tests and/or personality questionnaires
• Interviews – with one or more interviewers
• Individual and/or group presentations
• Group exercises – such as a teambuilding task or business case study
• In-tray or e-tray exercises
• Social events
• Written exercises or case studies

For further information

As a current student, recent graduate or member of staff you also have access to many additional websites via CareerBox where you can gain information on an practice psychometric tests.

The Employability & Enterprise / Students 1st Centre (RM050) has a section on Psychometric Testing, containing a variety of self-test books, and books giving hints on how to pass graduate psychometric tests.