Psychometric tests involve assessing an individual’s proficiency by measuring several psychological variables such as aptitude, achievement, personality, intelligence, performance, and so on, with each variable slightly representing the types of psychometric tests. The procedure reveals these variables in an organized succession, which allows the candidates to respond in a specific manner, and the responses measured and analyzed. While employers deploy psychometric assessments based on preferred variables, let’s look at the how they can use psychometric tests in recruitment.
List of the Types of Psychometric Tests
1. Achievement tests
This type of psychometric tests helps recruiters to measure employees’ accomplishment in a specialized expertise, knowledge or skill. It identifies the proficiency of an individual relative to a given population, measuring what the individual has achieved or learned through formal education, training or instruction.
Some of the types of achievement tests are:
- Diagnostic achievement test: it’s a test that helps employers to assess candidate’s achievements from preliminary level to expertise.
- Survey battery: a type of test to assess individuals at the junior level.
- Single survey tests: achievement psychometric test that focuses on individuals with one area of expertise.
The use of different types of psychometric tests is crucial in any effort to acquire intrinsic qualities of job candidates.
2. Attitude tests
Employers seek a blend of attitude with the existing employees while bringing in new hires. Attitude describes the way people see things or their approach to others or things. Attitude test may require the evaluation of several variables. For instance, the testing of an applicant’s attitude towards women, elderly people, and LGBT individuals to understand they can work with others.
Maintaining a diverse culture at your workplace while having a larger number of LGBT individuals means you’d have to hire candidate(s) without prejudice against these members of your workforce. Hence, an attitude test that reveals how the candidates can coexist with LGBT individuals would help your decision on those to hire based on this criterion.
3. Aptitude tests
Aptitude tests provide information about the candidates’ ability to cope with future job requirements. It measures the individual’s ability to acquire and apply a particular skill. Under this, psychometric assessments will provide individuals aptitude to learn a new language, manage people, code, and to do almost everything.
Hence, aptitude test reveals the candidates’ potential ability to acquire certain knowledge or discharge a particular duty. For instance, candidates with verbal ability may do better in writing jobs whereas those with good performance in numerical ability have better chances in analytical jobs.
Types of aptitude test include:
- Personality test: measures a candidate’s attitude towards stakeholders, project management style, ability to cope with stress, behavior towards managers and co-workers, creativity level, style of decision-making, etc.
- Verbal reasoning test: designed to measure candidate’s written and oral skills. It ascertains the individual’s ability to efficiently convey information and work concepts, etc.
- Abstract reasoning test: designed to measure a candidate’s conceptual reasoning skills – fluid intelligence or lateral thinking. This type of test ascertains candidate’s ability to integrate complex information, learn new information quickly and its use in solving work-related problems.
- Numerical reasoning test: measures more of a candidate’s ability to accurately analyze numerical data quickly, identify critical issues, interpret graphic data and provide logical conclusions.
Conclusion :
The use of different types of psychometric tests is crucial in any effort to acquire intrinsic qualities of job candidates. It’s an invaluable tool in any candidate recruitment exercise.