Assessments

 
Very often the interview will be the first contact you will have with the organisation after applying for a job. The interview is generally used as part of a battery of measures and if all goes well and if both you and the organisation decide to proceed to the next stage there are a number of more rigorously structured and detailed forms of assessment which you may be asked to undergo.

Psychometric tests are becoming more and more widely used, they are standardised methods of eliciting a sample of responses from a candidate which can be used to assess various psychological characteristics by comparing them with a sample of the results obtained by a comparable group of people.

Tests can be classified under four headings; manual ability, mental ability, personality and interests, and motivation. Manual ability tests are not commonly used in management selection. Mental ability tests can measure general ability and are frequently composed of a battery of sub scales measuring such specific abilities as verbal reasoning, numerical ability, abstract reasoning and mechanical reasoning.

The use of personality tests in selection is more contentious, however if used correctly by suitably qualified individuals trained in administration and interpretation they can play a valuable role in identifying preferred ways or dealing with the world.

Tests of interests reflect the fact that tasks often have their own intrinsic motivation and a person who finds the work interesting will be happier and more productive.

Tests of motivation are used to determine which situations increase and decrease individual motivation and may measures things like a need for power, affiliation or achievement. Generally tests of interest and motivation are little used in selection.