Even though you're reading this section, the chances are that you already know something about psychometric tests. You may have come across them through work, or through study, or simply because you know a friend or colleague who has been asked to complete them. If this really is your first foray into the world of psychometrics, then don't worry. We’ll be happy to hold your hand as you get to know more.  To many people, psychometric tests still have a certain 'mystique' surrounding them, despite the fact that around 80% of the UK's top companies are using them in one or form or another.

The bottom line is this: Psychometric tests are quite simply a practical management tool designed for assessing a person's reasoning abilities, interests, aptitudes, temperament, etc.. They can be defined as “Instruments which are designed to produce a quantitative assessment of one or more psychological attributes”. What differentiates them from other forms of 'assessment', such as interviews, application forms and reference checks, is that they aim to be far more objective and standardised in the way that they measure things. That is to say, they attempt to gather information in a uniform and consistent manner.

Let's clear up one potential problem right now. Tests are NOT designed to replace any existing (traditional) selection techniques that you may be using. Interviews and Reference  Checks, for example, will remain useful tools in your selection process. These procedures, however, suffer from some well known difficulties, and testing will help to  overcome these (If your sole recruitment method is the traditional interview, then you will appreciate the problems). If you are using more 'radical' measures, like astrology or palmistry, then it is highly unlikely that your selection procedures meet the same sort of reliability and validity standards expected of psychometric tests.

As mentioned above, the most important feature of psychometric tests is their standardised format. Unlike most other techniques, tests are developed according to psychometric principles, are administered and scored in a standardised way, and are interpreted in a standardised manner. In addition, the interpretation of the test results - at least for the vast majority of tests that we use - revolves around the ability to compare people. Certainly when it comes to selecting the right people for the job, the ability to compare between candidates is essential. Not all 'psychometric' tests allow such comparisons to be made, and if you are interested in using psychometric tests on a regular basis, then you should get to know the differences between different forms of testing. These issues, and many others, are covered in training programmes, details of which can be found by accessing the appropriate pages.

If you have any specific questions, then please drop us a line or give us a call. We won’t keep you in the dark or try to blind you with science.