What are psychometric tests?

Every company goes through a lengthy process to hire their employees. Recruitment process consists of various rounds of interviews, group discussions, tests, and other methods of assessing employee’s overall skills and abilities.

One of the methods of testing is psychometric test which is a test measuring your mental ability. It is scientific and standardized way of assessing various aspects of your behavior, mental capacity, and your personality style. These tests come in various forms which can be used to measure a potential employee’s abilities and see whether his/her skills and style match that of the organization. These tests, along with other methods such as interviews help the employers to make a wise decision.

 The tests are very structured and evaluate many aspects of the candidate’s skills such as intelligence, personality, ability to cope with stress, cognitive aspects, etc. It can be taken online or can be taken in person.

Psychometric tests are an old concept existing since the early 20^th century but they were restricted to the educational forum. Alfred Binet introduced the first intelligence test in 1905 and ever since, many tests have been introduced, modified and used in various fields and domains. Psychometric tests have become an absolute necessity in the selection process as employers are not just looking at educational qualifications but would like to assess a candidate’s other acquired skills.

Why is it used so profusely? 

Psychometric tests are used because:

• They are very efficient tools in the recruitment process
• They are standardized tools.
• They are unbiased and objective.
• They are impersonal.
• They can cut down the HR costs.
• They are also good indicators to future job performance.
• They can help compare candidate’s values and roles to that of the company.
• They are non-discriminatory.
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They can be administered before the interview or as an add-on to the interview process. These kinds of tests don’t analyze your psychological stability or emotional intelligence; hence they are very different from clinical tests.  But over the years, some aspects of emotional stability has been introduced to understand coping styles of candidates when it comes to stress, pressure, anger management, etc. A psychometric test should be used only after checking its validity and reliability. It is used almost in every sector ranging from IT, armed force, police forces, and other sectors.

Psychometric tests fall under two broad categories: 

• Aptitude tests- These tests measure various skill sets which match the role of the candidate for that particular organization. These include verbal reasoning, logical reasoning, Numerical reasoning, etc. These tests may be multiple choices based, formal and impersonal.
• Personality tests- Personality is an important construct to determine the role of the candidate in an organization in terms of motivation level, enthusiasm, values, and success at workplace.
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Psychometric tests are very reliable in determining candidate’s role in the organization and to see if he/she is a suitable fit. It is important to administer these tests in the early stages in order to avoid future conflicts and performance level of the employee.