Any tips?

Just think “how would TJ answer this….”

psychometric measure personality
assesment measure abilities or protential if you want to get picky

You cannot have a psychometric test for dyslexia

In answer to the original question…just do the test and answer honestly.

If they don’t give you the job because of it, at least you aren’t working for a company that relies on something unreliable.

They’ll probably use a Lucky 8 ball anyway to make the decision in the end anyway.

for a nominal fee i will leave my job and come and complete mental health assessments on your applicants. in this day and age can your company really afford to be having people off sick with stress?

not only do i help weed out the weaker workers, but i can also provide a service sourcing people with afflictions usefull in the workplace:

OCD for filing + cleaning
multiple personality disorder for reception (always a new voice answering the phone keeping things fresh)
and so on.

email in profile if you’re interested in my services 😆

Junkyard – Member
psychometric measure personality
assesment measure abilities or protential if you want to get picky

You cannot have a psychometric test for dyslexia

Gotcha.

not only do i help weed out the weaker workers

That is a very good point…I suggest employing a the Gladiators ‘The Eliminator’ event…

Then anyone who loses doesn’t get the job…actually anyone who loses is shot – this way companies would be doing the world a favour and improving the gene pool.

McHamish… your ideas show potential, please submit an application form to my new business along with your family history, a completed risk assessment and a sample equalling or exceeding the value of ten english pounds worth of each illicit substance you have experimented with in the past.

you will have to complete some psychometric tests first of course 😆

only kidding! no psychometric testing… i will assess your sense of humour, lolcat finding abilities and put you in a room full of women and dangerous psychiatric patients, if you come out alive then you’re hired.

Sounds like a plan phil. Need a partner? A business partner I mean, not a partner for sexytime. Er, not that I find you unattractive, just that my bread’s not buttered like that. Oh god, now I sound homophobic. Ohmygodohmygodohmygod 😳

True there is no scientific or business evidence for their use

Incorrect. SHL UK, Oxford Press and others have massive databanks with which they are able to assess the predictive accuracy of their Psychometric tests.

don’t worry b’mitch, i know you’re not homophobic… after all your sperm helped produce one of this countries finest gay men (i’ve not met your son, but if he’s anything like you then i feel safe in my assumptions)

business partners are hard to come by.. but your idea shows potential, please submit an application form to my new business along with your family history, a completed risk assessment and a sample equalling or exceeding the value of ten english pounds worth of each illicit substance you have experimented with in the past.

you will have to complete some psychometric tests first of course

only kidding! no psychometric testing… i will assess your sense of humour, lolcat finding abilities and put you in a room full of women and dangerous psychiatric patients, if you come out alive then you’re hired.

My advice is: Either, answer all the same column/number/letter question, or answer the opposite to what you would answer.

I’ve done lots of these tests and the results are usually either generalised/vague, or wrong.

If they are using these tests to generate interview questions, you will probably be answering a question they think they already have the answer to. There’s a good chance you will mess up on this.

These tests are written by clever people who think they have all human traits nailed down, but human psychology just isn’t that easy to measure. So these crude tests are at best vague, at worst, totally misleading! Individuals are much more complex and these tests can’t pick up on this.

How you react to each situation depends on the individual situation and a raft of other things. You may be very compassionate in one predicament and a heartless monster in others etc etc.

In light of this, psychometric testing is only a little more useful than a horoscope! They are not much more than a bit of entertainment.

Anyone using these as a serious point of reference clearly has no confidence in their ability size people up, or are automatons in a big organisation. It’s ridiculous to think that someone in that company believed the bullshit other “experts” fed them!

HR departments are more of a hindrance to business than and aid. What you need is to meet the person you will be working for. What HE/SHE thinks is the only thing which matters! They will principally want to know you have the right experience and expertise for their department and that you will fit in with their team. They will be the judge of your character, not a dumb test!

Regrettably, HR frequently come inbetween applicants and their potential boss. I once had an all day interview which involved these tests and a list of interview questions in the morning. There was a medical and lunch followed by exactly the same interview questions in the afternoon. It was a weird day, they were just weird! I felt as if they didn’t trust anyone and were particularly intrusive insisting on a medical at this stage. I didn’t get the job, nor did i want it, because I got another offer – much better pay and condidtions and the boss seemed relatively normal!

My feeling is that a potential employer should be able to get the measure of you over a couple of interviews. If they can’t do this wothout the support of psychobable tests, they probably aren’t going to be good people to work for.

Don’t mention the clown bike.

Do a free practice test online: http://www.thepsychometrictest.com/trial/

Study the answers and the reasons you scored what you did.

Answer questions honestly.

Regrettably, HR frequently come inbetween applicants and their potential boss.

This, unfortunately is bang on.

The first person who sees your CV (especially for a large company who is going to receive a lot of applicants) will probably be someone junior in the HR department. They’ll have a check list that you’ll have to meet to get your CV/application seen by the next person. If you don’t meet this checklist you’ll go straight in the ‘not suitable’ bin.

It’s prone to error, but unfortunately it’s a necessary evil. Your potential line manager doesn’t have time to go wading through all the dross to find the good applicants.

I applied for Army Officer selection about 7 years ago…I was rejected at first because I didn’t have A levels…the fact that I had a 1st class degree didn’t matter. Only being recommended by my uncle who was a retired colour sergeant and had worked with someone working in officer recruitment got my application seen by someone who could ignore the checklist that the lady in the army careers centre was following.

*Awaits a full and comprehensive assessment*

You know you can hold all the opinions you want on this subject you aren’t going to change the fact that companies use these tools to decide on whether you get the job or not.

Those of you who take such a dim view can only hope that you don’t apply for a job where you have to go through some form of assessment to evaluate your suitability for a job. Which is going to really limit your career or your business if you’re an owner of one.

I sell them, I do very well out of it. My clients see the value and I make a good living from something I enjoy and see the value of. I also know that I help people be better people (more than I can say for a lot of people commenting on this thread).

What HE/SHE thinks is the only thing which matters!

Spongebob i think that’s probably a bit naive.

There are always multiple stakeholders in making a hiring decision, especially at the more senior end of the scale. Quite apart from the CSR implications, many organisations operate matrix structures and the role could have more than one boss.

geetee1972…. I had to do one to get my current job… the results were inconclusive (I spotted the pattern in the questions) so they called my referee… I got the job.

I did one for a previous job… a girlfriend filled it out for me. I got the job. I saw the results, it descrbed my gf’s perception of me, not me. I was content and successful in the job.

All I know is I help companies make better strategic plans and improve and exceed their budgets. If I’m going to get the scythe out… I’ll look to the HR budget for ‘savings’.

Sorry that’s just the way it is. 😆

Sirs

Well it turned out to be an aptitude test (2 sets of 4 boxes each with certain symbols therein, into which group did 5 different boxes fit?)

Guessed 2 and left 2 blank of 23. Will of course keep you updated.

Kind regards,
cynic-al

You know you can hold all the opinions you want on this subject you aren’t going to change the fact that companies use these tools to decide on whether you get the job or not.

Fair enough…I don’t think anyone is denying that consultants make a good living from these tests, or that some companies rely on them.

When I was involved in ‘trial’ psychometric tests the consultant told me I ‘had no ambition and wasn’t interested in succeeding’. This seemed a little odd to someone who was halfway through a degree, and who extended the duration of their degree by working in industry during the 3rd year to improve my future prospects, and ended up with a 1st.

Plus, I’m not sure there are many people who ‘aren’t interested in succeeding’…

One of the other graduates was told he wasn’t particularly active and didn’t probably enjoy sports, specifically team sports. He played Saturday and Sunday league football and organised the student team.

Those of you who take such a dim view can only hope that you don’t apply for a job where you have to go through some form of assessment to evaluate your suitability for a job.

You’re right…I hope I don’t have to apply for a job at a company that holds such a dim view that unreliable tests are reliable indication of an applicants value or suitability for a role they haven’t performed yet.

I guess it’s difficult for graduate positions, the applicants don’t have relevant experience so employers need something to give them an indication of the candidates suitability. They aren’t confident in education standards, or their ability to identify the dross through interviews so have to try something.

For experienced hires I would imagine that the quality of the relevant experience would be a better indication of their suitability though.

I sell them, I do very well out of it. My clients see the value and I make a good living from something I enjoy and see the value of. I also know that I help people be better people (more than I can say for a lot of people commenting on this thread).

Good for you…but you’re not going to change my opinion or experience of them.

My clients see the value and I make a good living from something I enjoy and see the value of. I also know that I help people be better people (more than I can say for a lot of people commenting on this thread)

not suite sure how i feel about that comment. 😕

EDIT – I’ll bite… how do you help people be better people? i’d love to find a job where i have the impact i do on vulnerable adults lives each day but actually earn good money! i’m rambling now, back to the question – how do you help people be better people?

As in “I’ve done a couple of these and so of course, I know all there is to know about it…”

phil – you’re a mental health nurse! What on earth do you know about working selflessly to help make people better people.

Same goes for mitch, ya money grabbing scrote!

Whilst I think of it, a Hong-Kong based trader who bankrupted his bank (Barings) back in the ’90’s had sat a psychometric questionnaire (they’re not “tests”) and the standout item in the interpretive text was that he was the kind of high-risk personality who shouldn’t be trusted with, for instance, large sums of money….

What HE/SHE thinks is the only thing which matters

What if they are great at their job but a poor judge of charachater or capability. Is it really true that everyone who can do a job well would be able to appoint a suitable person just by meeting them?
You do have some funny views