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An Understanding of Psychometric tools What are psychometric tools?

Psychometric tools are questionnaires or tests that help businesses to select theright people, facilitate individual and team development, and increase

organizational effectiveness. Some should only be used for the development of 

individuals, while others are designed and validated for selection.

Using a personality tool like the Garuda Profile is a powerful method of predicting

how someone will typically behave, based on the distribution and combination of 

fundamental personality traits. Type indicator and Interest inventory tools like the

Garuda Focus Profile include more changeable factors and help to identify the

types of tasks that someone puts priority on at work situation, especially in teamsituations. 360o feedback features in the tools gather feedback on an individual’s

 performance or personal attributes from several sources, typically their peers,

superiors and direct reports.

A psychometric tool should be:

Objective: the results obtained from it are not inf luenced by the administrator’s

 personal preferences or biases.

Standardized: it is administered and scored according to standard procedures;

 people’s scores on the test are compared to known benchmarks. 

Reliable: it measures in a consistent way.

Valid: it measures the characteristics which it sets out to measure. A test used for 

 job selection should predict relevant aspects of job performance.

Discriminating: the test should be discriminating, showing clear differences between individuals on the behavior being tested.

Why use psychometric tools

Individual tests are among the best single predictors of job performance and are

even more powerful when combined with other tests or interviews. They provide

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an objective and fair method of selecting and developing staff and help to remove

 bias and discrimination.

The proven benefits of using psychometric tools include:

• Increased objectivity in staff selection and development

• Improved individual and interpersonal effectiveness

• Enhanced teamwork and organizational performance

• Improved staff performance, morale and retention

They can be used in many contexts, including:

• Selection and assessment

• Individual and leadership development

• Team building

• Organizational change and development

Common myths:

Tests are not cost-effective: their accuracy in predicting job-performance makes

them cost-effective, particularly when compared with the costs of recruiting

replacement staff.

People can fake them: proper tests are extremely difficult to fake and with

 personality questionnaires there are built-in checks to highlight if this has been

attempted.

They do not reflect the job: before using any assessment tool, a corresponding

Job specification should always be developed. The assessments should measure

against this and will therefore reflect and be relevant to the job.

They are time consuming: Well IT-adapted tools are very time efficient,

administering a test is thus

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The correlation between a person’s age and performance on

psychometric tests It has been well documented that there is a general decline in psychometric performance as a person advances in age. For example, a particular study by

Samuel Granick titled ‘The Effect of Education on the Decline of PsychometricTest Performance with Age’ back in 1967 showed that this was more significant in

 psychometric tests relating to cognition, attention, perception and visual-motor coordination. However, despite these findings, older candidates can certainly

improve their performance levels through good old-fashioned practice.Age may have an impact on psychometric test performance for older candidates,

 but preparation for the cognitive battery of tests will ensure that older candidatescan still pass the test with great results. If you practice the potential questions that

are found on an aptitude test – to test verbal, numerical and abstract / non-verbalskills – you can overcome any disadvantages relating to age.

To test your aptitude you will be expected to demonstrate verbal skills throughreading and understanding or deducing information. You will also have to solve

mathematical problems as well as a number of visual puzzles through reasoning.There is certainly no reason why this group of candidates cannot work on their 

strengths and weaknesses to demonstrate better results and put themselves forwardin the best possible light. In fact, through the practice of these aptitude tests you

will start to notice an improvement in your cognitive speed and memory, ensuring

you will have all the test experience required to pass the psychometric exam with

flying colours.

Matching candidates and jobs based on psychometric tests More and more, organizations are using psychometric tests to aid the employee

selection process, to help them get the ‘right’ person. The use of testing gives large

and small organizations a competitive edge. Organizations want to know more

about job seekers these days, wanting to discover their core competencies throughthe selection process. Being aware of these desirable core competencies is a good place for you to start, so that you can then better prepare for and practice

 psychometric tests such as aptitude tests and personality tests. Certain interesting trends in organization design highlight that the compatibility

 between employers and an organization has become, and is becoming, more andmore important. Employers want you to share similar characteristics as their 

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organization and they use psychometric tests to assess how you fit with the

organization, the ability to which the employer and employee will be able to meeteach other’s needs. Organizations assess aspects such as general intelligence and

 personality traits through psychometric testing to provide an indication of person

and organization ‘fit’. It is advisable for you to develop job knowledge, andto practice psychometric tests to positively present yourself as the ‘right’ person

for the job. Practicing psychometric tests, among other things, increases your self-awareness, your understanding of your personality and values and can decreases

your performance anxiety during psychometric testing. Because psychometric testing is often conducted by external organizations, hiring

organizations are developing very specific descriptions of their desired employees,

through defining the key competencies that are important to them. Desirablecompetencies assessed by psychometric tests include an ability to adapt quickly

and deal with change, as well as networking, political skills and individual

strategic capability. The notion of emotional intelligence, which is how well a person understands their emotions and is aware of emotional states of others, has become increasingly important. Highly-developed interpersonal communication

skills, related to teamwork, are also a key deciding factor.

Another interesting trend that affects the selection process is that more people arecomfortable using a computer and the internet. This trend encouraged

 psychometric test developers to administer psychometric tests online rather than

asking candidates to come into an office to complete paper-based tests. Thischange imposed a significant challenge for test-takers, as it significantly reduced

the effectiveness of traditional practice books. Test-takers who are practising

questions out of books lose the capability to use practice psychometric tests under real conditions (i.e. time constraints and having test questions displayed on a

computer screen). This is especially important when solving aptitude tests – abstract reasoning tests, verbal reasoning tests and numerical reasoning tests.