Introduction

Psychometric tests covers a variety of tests that are used to make objective assessments about an individual. Applied in a work setting, these tests can provide an accurate profile of the candidate’s critical thinking abilities, working style and even his or her preferred corporate culture. Organizations that use psychometric tests as part of their selection process often report higher success in placing the right employees for the job as well as considerable cost-benefits return in the long term.

Why Use Psychometric Tests?

Research has shown that traditional methods of assessing candidates, such as basing information from transcripts, references, candidate bio-data, unstructured interviews, are very weak predictors of job success. One of the main reasons for this is the inherent subjectivity in the assessment methods above.

In a job interview, for example, the interviewer tries to make a judgement of what the person is like as a person and how he or she might behave in a variety of different situations. This judgement will of course be influenced by many factors, for example :-

   How experienced the interviewer is in interviewing applicants
   The range and relevance of the questions asked by the interviewer
   Who the interviewer is comparing the candidate with 
   What particular stereotypes or prejudices the interviewer may have 
   What sort of mood and general state of health the interviewer and the candidate happens to be in that day 
   The extent to which the candidate is projecting his or her true self 

The psychometric approach on the other hand, tries as far as possible to overcome the sources of error and likely misjudgement mentioned above by utilizing scientific research in its development. All information from the individual is obtained, evaluated and expressed in an objective and standardised approach. Research show that, statistically speaking, psychometric tests are one of the most reliable forms of revealing whether or not a candidate is suitable for a job.