Learn About Psychometric Testing

Companies using assessment as part of their selection procedure have a number of options to choose from. The general options are:

• Aptitude Tests: these assess the skills required to do the job and will generally include tests of verbal and numerical reasoning for professional level roles.
• Personality Questionnaire : profile the personality of the candidate against the traits or characteristics deemed necessary to succeed in the role.
• Assessment centers: these can take from half to two days in length, will include the above and generally a combination of group discussion exercises and management simulation in-tray or presentation exercises. This process gives a far more detailed picture of strengths/ weaknesses and potential for development.

Guidance to maximize your performance at assessment

·           Listen very carefully to the instructions given. Instructions and examples are given clearly beforehand so that by the time you start the actual test you should be very clear on the format of what you have to do.

·           Most aptitude tests are preceded by a number of example questions, completion of these is not timed, so take the time to be sure you understand completely what you have to do, as once the test starts, you are on your own. During the examples stage you are welcome to ask questions for clarification.

·           Have your watch out in front of you on the desk and take note of the finishing time. Aptitude tests are strictly timed, so it is important to work as quickly and accurately as you can.

·           To optimise your performance, you should be fresh (not tired), clear your mind and really concentrate on the test for its duration.  Take very little notice of anything else going on around you, and if you find your mind panicking or drifting a bit, re-focus quickly as panicking won’t help!

Personality Questionnaire

There are two main types of personality questionnaire. One will provide you with a series of statements, ie: “I can relax easily” and will ask you to indicate whether you agree strongly, agree, unsure, disagree or disagree strongly. The other version will present you with 4 different statements and will ask you to indicate which of the 4 is most like you and which is least like you.

Personality questionnaires are not timed, but you will be given an indication of the approximate time it will take.

Answer as honestly as possible, as the company will be interested in discovering the ‘real’ you, and using this information to increase the probability that you will succeed in the role. Often a trait can be both a strength, and a weakness, and the suitability of the candidate is very much determined by the combination of characteristics rather than individual scores on any particular one trait.

Management Simulation Exercises

Listen very carefully to the instructions given. Write down on a piece of paper the key words describing the objective of what you are asked to do, and the time frame, so as to help keep yourself focused.

Structuring the information appropriately will assist you in completing the task assigned on time.

Best of Luck!

Reproduced with kind permission from

La Creme Recruitment

www.lacreme.ie