May 2010 Newsletter

How many of us remember what it was like to try and get that first job at the very start of our working careers? 

If you are over 40 you are probably one of the lucky ones that found getting that first job not so difficult. Up to the 1970’s there was a general shortage of younger employees and most young people could expect to walk straight into a role upon leaving school or university. However, trends in employment in recent years have seen a proliferation of jobs that require specialist skills and knowledge. This is fine if you are already in the workplace and are in the skills pipeline, but is tough if you are recent school leaver or graduate.

Making things worse for younger employees is that we live in a world that is more risk averse and less likely to give a young employee a go. Increasingly employers go for the safe option and try and recruit their new staff, fully trained and from their competitors.

This leads us to create our skills shortages to some degree, like hunters all chasing the same quarry. It also leads to salary inflation as well as employment instability. In addition it leads to the rapid aging of the work force in some categories of employment. An example is in technical sales roles where there are very few younger people in evidence, the category is increasingly dominated by older / veteran participants. The problem is primarily caused by employers not giving younger candidates a go.

Part of this problem stems from a reduction in the supply of graduates in the sciences, but a good deal also stems from employers forgetting how quickly young people can absorb new knowledge and develop new skills. Perhaps employers should reflect on the opportunities given to themselves when they were younger, of the trust they were given and then see the way to give opportunity to the current generation of school leavers and university graduates. 

Psychometric testing. Just what is it?

The word psychometric is formed from the Greek words for mental and measurement. Psychometric tests attempt to objectively measure aspects of your mental ability or your personality. You are most likely to encounter psychometric testing as part of the recruitment or selection process and occupational psychometric tests are designed to provide employers with a reliable method of selecting the most suitable job applicants or candidates for promotion.

Psychometric tests are seldom used in isolation and represent just one of the methods used by employers in the selection process. The usual procedures for selecting candidates still apply, for example: A job is advertised and you are invited to send in your resume, which is then checked to see if the organisation thinks that your experience and qualifications are suitable.

It is only after this initial screening that you may be asked to sit a psychometric test. These tests aim to measure attributes like intelligence, aptitude and personality, providing a potential employer with an insight into how well you work with other people, how well you handle stress, and whether you will be able to cope with the intellectual demands of the job.

There are two main types of psychometric tests:

1. Ability Tests – Measure your ability to perform or carry out different tasks.

2. Personality Questionnaires - Measure your way of doing things, and specifically the way you interact with your environment and other people.

Aptitude Tests

Aptitude and ability tests are designed to assess your logical reasoning or thinking performance. They consist of multiple choice questions and are administered under exam conditions. They are strictly timed and a typical test might allow 30 minutes for 30 or so questions.

* Verbal Ability

* Numeric Ability

* Abstract Reasoning

* Spatial Reasoning

* Mechanical Reasoning

Aptitude tests produce raw scores which are compared to a benchmark which may be either average scores for a particular norm group or which may be a specific criterion of performance. In other words, your score may indicate that a certain ability is better than say 70% of graduates, or is at a level which shows sufficient competence to carry out certain tasks required by the job.

Aptitude tests are designed so that very few people will be able to complete all of the questions, and the problems usually become more complex as the test progresses. Don’t be concerned if you do not complete all of the questions - its the number of correct answers that matters.

Personality Questionnaires

The principle behind personality questionnaires is that it is possible to quantify your personality by asking you about your feelings, thoughts and behaviour. You will be presented with statements describing various ways of feeling or acting and asked to answer each one on a scale. For example;

1. I enjoy taking risks?

A)         True

B)         False

2. I like to be the centre of attention?

A)         Strongly disagree

B)         Disagree

C)         Neutral

D)         Agree

E)         Strongly agree

The number of questions you are expected to answer varies from about 50 to 500 depending on the particular questionnaire used by the employer.

Personality has a significant role to play in providing answers to questions the employer may have regarding your enthusiasm and motivation as well as providing an insight into whether you are going to fit in, in terms of your personality, attitude and general work style.

Psychometric text courtesy of: www.psychometric-success.com