Candidate Information
The following information is provided for candidates who have been asked to complete psychometric assessments for a client with Niche Consulting. The information provided outlines information about the assessments, the process and why they are used. The following related pages answer the following:
- What to Expect of the Assessment and Testing Process?
- How to Prepare Yourself To Do Your Best?
- Do You Get a copy of Your Assessment Results?
- What are the Test Items Like – Are there examples and can I practice?
Some of the information provided in the above links may be more or less useful depending on how much you already know about assessments. Once you have read the pages you find useful, then you should be ready to complete the assessments and can go to the online testing links page.
What are assessments
There are many misconceptions about what psychometric assessments are and what the tools can or cannot measure. For most people, it will confirm things you already know about yourself or are aware of.
The psychometric assessment tools you will be taking have three main characteristics:
Scientific and Work Related
The assessment exercises you will undertake have been validated and are proven measures of preferences and abilities that can affect on-the-job performance.
Even if on the face of it, you may not see the relevance of an assessment or its items while taking the assessment, it has been selected on its researched ability to assess specific work preferences for a role.
The tools are designed to measure the desired person competencies, that is the skills, preferences and attributes, required to do well in the role.
Standardised
Standardisation means when you respond to the questions, you are doing so under the same conditions as other candidates.
For any ability tests you will experience the same testing instructions, the same or very similar questions (that are proven to be equivalent) and the same example items.
For personality assessments the same instructions, questions and practice items.
When interpreting the tests are not interested in any one answer you give to a question, we are interested in the overall patterns of answers, and how this compares to others in similar roles.
Objective
The results of each assessment are scored according to a standard set of rules and against a standard comparison (norm) group.
This means there is little scope for subjective biases to creep into the interpretation of your results.
Why do Organisations use Psychometric Tests?
Many organisations use psychometric assessments, including ability tests and personality assessments, to find more about an individual and their strengths and development areas. Psychological assessment provides an objective and scientifically tested method to measure personal preferences and are recommended as part of a “best practice” recruitment process.
Assessment can also be used to assist in identifying development needs, career options and future potential of an individual. As such assessments may also be used by organisations to assist in career planning, succession planning, leadership development and personal development initiatives.
In recruitment situations, assessments are typically used as part of the selection process alongside the other methods such as:
- CV screening
- Interview
- Referee checking
- Skills assessments
- Drug and alcohol testing
While interviews and referee checking provide both objective and subjective information about you (i.e. descriptions, observations and opinions from other people which are not necessarily true), psychological assessment information is mostly free from subjective bias. Your results will be compared to a large sample of other people who are in similar roles and therefore your results will be interpreted with this comparison in mind.
Organisations use this combination of all recruitment information from different sources, including psychometric assessment, to build up a broad picture of your abilities, fit with an organisation and team, and work preferences.
Assessments are part of a legally defensible recruitment process which ensures candidates are treated fairly and have equal opportunities to do well in the process. For instance, if an individual is less assertive and may not interview confidently, their assessment results may determine that they have the competencies to do the role.
As all candidates going through a recruitment process will be asked the same questions in the assessments and be compared to the same norms, each has a fair and equal opportunity to perform to their best.