Types of Psychometric Tests: Used In Recruitment

Psychometric tests are designed to test a candidate not only for their intellectual levels but also for their behavioural attributes as well. There are various types of psychometric tests available in the market online, which ensures that you get to make a data-driven decision for your recruitment needs. Psychometric tests aren’t something which is new to this industry. They have been in and around since the beginning of 20th century and was originally developed for educational psychology.

In the recent times, with recruitment soaring into the digital era, psychometric tests are being used by over 80% of the Fortune 500 companies in the U.S and by over 75% of the Times Top 100 companies in the UK. Starting from management consultancies, financial institutions, civil services, armed forces, etc. everyone has started utilizing psychometric tests extensively due to its unlimited advantages.

As psychometric tests give an inside look into the candidate’s personality, preferences, and abilities they are one the best sources to hire personnel who will match your company culture to the best. As one of the selection tools used by the recruiters, these tests can be applied right away at the early stages of recruitment to screen candidates who are unlikely to fit the job.

Because of their importance and insight into personnel decisions, psychometric tests have become vital among the recruiters to be included in the selection process to produce accurate results based on standardized methods and statistical principals and methods. However, within the psychometrics, there are different types of tests which cater to different needs as per the requirement of the industry. In this article, we will try and give insights into the various types of psychometric tests available to help you ease your recruitment process.

types-of-psychometric-tests

Aptitude Tests:

Aptitude tests also known as ability tests measure a candidate’s ability to grasp knowledge and information and the time taken to process the same. The main goal of aptitude tests is understanding the cognitive abilities of the assessee. They essentially evaluate a prospective candidate on their:

Numeric reasoning,

Verbal reasoning,

Abstract reasoning, and

General aptitude test which comprehensively tests a candidate based on their verbal, logical and numerical abilities all at once.

Achievement Tests: yes

This test tries to measure a candidate’s’ level of knowledge based on their formal education, training, and instructions. A given population is selected and the candidate’s grasp on that specific knowledge background is tested and measured as per the industry standards.

These following subcategories of achievement tests are used in various HR scenarios:

Survey Battery: This is a junior level test that helps the recruiter in evaluating the candidate’s basic knowledge and to evaluate those enrolled in beginners’ courses.

Single Survey Achievement Test: This test specifically focuses on a single area of expertise.

Diagnostic Achievement Test: This test helps you in assessing an individual’s achievements right from the beginner level to subject level expertise.

Attitude Tests:

Before we try and define attitude tests we need to understand what do we specifically mean by attitude. The attitude of a person reflects their thought and understanding and empathy levels towards others. Attitude refers to the way a person reacts to a situation and tries to reach a conclusion. Attitude varies from person to person, two people cannot be similar. However, when you are hiring someone you try to think whether they will fit into the organizational culture that you have going on in your organization.

Attitude test gives the recruiter a peek into the thoughts of the prospective candidates and the way they approach a situation or a person.