How to Pass Psychometric Tests


Companies have long hoped to be able to make the best possible hires to fill positions. However, most fail more than they succeed and find themselves in an endless turnover cycle. For that reason, all kinds of new techniques for making better choices have emerged over the past several years. The psychometric test has reared its ugly head for job applicants, and you need to be prepared in case you are asked to take one (or more) of them. It’s comforting to know that they are rarely used by themselves to make hiring decisions but are considered along with several other measures, with the conclusions of the interviewer carrying the most weight.


What are Psychometric Tests?

So what are they and what do they do? First of all, they are intended to objectively measure your abilities and probably your personality. The ability tests will ask you to carry out a range of tasks. The personality test will examine how you do things but more importantly how you interact with whatever surroundings you find yourself in and particularly with the people who make up those surroundings.

On the day of the test, you will be in a room with a lot of desks and other examinees. The test may be taken on a computer or it may be in pencil-and-paper mode. You can expect a thorough explanation of the procedures that will include a little bit of information about the tests you are taking and how long each will last. It’s the job of the test administrator to make certain the test is fair to everyone. For example, if you realize that you haven’t marked questions correctly, if you report it, it will not affect your score.

Tips for taking psychometric interviewing tests:

Some people suffer from severe test-anxiety and these tests may not be an accurate measure of their abilities or their personalities. Almost everyone experiences some of this, so it’s best to do some things ahead of time that can help you do the best you can. It would be a shame if you were the best candidate for a job but were eliminated just because you were not prepared for the test.

1. Practice. A number of practice tests are available. Look in a local bookstore or get online and Google “psychometric test”.

2. You are entitled to know why you are taking the test. If you are not given that information, ask for it.

3. You are also entitled to have your scores given to you privately. Again, if this doesn’t happen, ask why.

4. You are entitled to know who will see your scores and where they will be stored and for how long. Ask the question.

5. When you are in the testing room, clear your mind of other things and listen carefully.

6. If something is not clear, ask for clarification.

7. If you are taking the test on a computer, fiddle with it to be sure it is working properly.

8. Keep your mind on your own little space. It’s irrelevant how others are doing.

9. If you don’t know the answer to a question, guess.

10. Read each question carefully.

11. Don’t panic if you’re not going to finish. It may be built into the test.

12. If you finish early, go back over your answers. It helps if you’ve marked the questions you were not sure about so you can find them quickly.

The best advice is to calm down and deal with your anxiety before you even begin thinking about the test. If taking a practice test helps, then do so by all means. Use techniques for becoming calm and confident and you will have a much better chance of passing with flying colors.

By: Carl Yorke

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Techniques to handle tough questions from an interviewer — like “What have you been criticized for?” and “Why should we hire you?” — to demonstrate that you are cut out to succeed at any company.

Myung P asked:

I recently, got a call from an Employer whom after my 3rd and final interview notified me that I was one of the final candidates and that they will be conducting a back ground check. I was fine with that, however, they requested a recent pay-stub which cought me off-guard. Is this normal practice?

Basic rules

In different industries, the from and content of behavioral interview will be different, but some of the skills are used for all trades and all the issues.

There are some basic rules can be used in behavioral interviews, before we describes these rules, It is important to stress at the outset that: the purpose of any tips is let the interviewer to better understand you. Tips itself is important, but the most important thing is that you should understand the reasons why to use these tips, in order to bring the biggest benefits to you by using these tips reasonably.

First rule: prepare the examples according to the company culture and the job requirements

Every company is looking for the suitable job candidates. Where “suitable” means: your personality, quality and capacity are consistent with the company requirements and position qualifications. The culture determines what are the most important values in the company. For example, there are more requirements for fashion design ability and creative ability as a employee in L’OREAL, these requirements original from the company culture. Each position has its own characteristics that determine the qualification of this position is very different from other positions.

Listed below are some capacities required for common positions

Marketing department: creativity, ability to understand other people’s perspectives, ability to handle conflict, capacity to deploy resources from different departments.

Sales department: ability to convince others, marketing capabilities.

Finance department: basic financial knowledge, integrity and pragmatic.

Thus, when you application for a department in some company, you need to prepare for the special characteristics required by this company, these issues are often intertwined in an interview.

Second rule: STAR strategies

What are STAR strategies? STAR is stands for Situation, Task, Action and Result, STAR strategies is very useful for providing examples in behavior interview. These strategies provide you a structure which you could use to demonstrate your examples to the interviewer clearly and logically. Also these strategies could be used in a broad scope of applications, STAR strategies are some universal rules which allows you feel comfortable in an interview, so you should be well skilled using these rules. We described STAR strategies in detail below:

1.Situation

You should tell interviewer the situation you were faced with in the task that you needed to accomplish. This part need not to be explained very detailed, but should be explained clearly, especially the problem which you have encountered should be explained nicety, in order to let the interviewer understand how difficulties of the situation you have encountered, at the same time you should explain the constraints factor for resolve this problem. The information you have given could illustrate that the method you have used in the circumstances is the best one.

2. Task

You need to give a comprehensive description of your method that used for resolve the problem. The purpose of this part is to leave the interviewer with a general impression and clearly understand to what you have done.

3. Action

In this part, you need to describe the action you took, what kinds of difficulties you have encountered, and how to resolve the problem at last. Do not try to tell what you might do, but tell what you did. Generally the action part should be described in chronological order, so that let the interviewer review the situation together with you.

4. Result

Finally you should to talk about the results of the whole thing, what you have achieved, including the attainment of the objectives, and the feedback from the internal and external of the team at the end. Meanwhile you can highlight what you have learned from the whole thing, in which it is shown that you have the ability to keep learning from life.

By: David E.Martin

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By the time you get to the end of an interview, you are probably feeling a mixture of tension and relief. So when you are asked if you have any questions, it’s easy to say no or ask something irrelevant. You will no doubt have prepared your answers to interview questions, but have you taken the time to prepare questions for interview panels?

Asking questions both gives you the opportunity to find out more about the company and the job you are applying for and it gives the employer a chance to see how well you understand the position, and enables him to gain further insight into your knowledge of the industry and your enthusiasm. It can also help both of you to get a greater understanding of your suitability for the post. Don’t forget that interviewing is a two way process and although the interviewer will do most of the asking, you should use the discussion as a way of finding out if you really want the job.

What sort of interview questions to ask? Let’s start with the ones you should never ask! Don’t ask about salary, perks, paid holidays or sick leave. Of course, you are very interested in all of these, but they should not be your main concerns and even if they are, they should not appear to be, if you want to get the job. All of these can be discussed and negotiated when you have been given a firm job offer. Also avoid any negativity, such as revealing things you haven’t or been successful in or enjoyed in previous employment.

Getting a job is all about what you can do for the employer and not what he can do for you; at least from the employer’s perspective and so that should be the focus of your questions. From your background research before applying, you should know quite a bit about the organization – are there any existing projects or new developments where your specific skills would be invaluable?

Come up with a list of questions about these areas before the interview and then you can choose the most appropriate one, based on what has already been discussed. If you have only one or two questions prepared, you may find that everything you thought of asking has already been covered.

There might be the opportunity to introduce something which you haven’t already talked about, for example, if you know that the company is planning to expand into Europe and you speak one or more European languages, you could ask for more information about these plans and if there is any way in which you might become involved.

If you listen carefully throughout the interview, you may pick up a few ideas for questions. This is useful if you have learned new information which didn’t come up during research and it shows that you pay attention – not always easy in a stressful situation.

When being interviewed for a job questions are an important part of your strategy. Use your questions to show your competence and to demonstrate skills and successes. Often two candidates are equally suitable for the post, but asking intelligent questions which show that you are hardworking, enthusiastic and very capable could swing the decision in your favour. So make sure you include the preparation of questions for interview in your job search plan.

© Waller Jamison 2007

By: Waller Jamison

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