| Many Manufacturing and Engineering organisations still | | | | clients three types of Psychometric tests: ability |
| use psychometric testing as a way of assessing the | | | | tests, personality tests and aptitude tests. |
| abilities of candidates who apply for Executive and | | | | Ability tests look at what the applicant is capable of |
| Senior Management positions. In some instances, the | | | | doing rather than the knowledge and skills they have |
| executive recruitment agency conducting the | | | | picked up in the past. They are used to identify an |
| assignment may be asked to organise the testing | | | | individual's underlying capability to perform specific |
| and in other cases the recruitment business might | | | | tasks. |
| administer the testing themselves. | | | | Personality tests look at the ways a candidate would |
| Due to the evolution of psychometric testing and its | | | | typically respond in certain situations and how they |
| increased use within industry, there are now a wide | | | | view the world at large. They are often used to |
| range of tests available which not only look at the | | | | analyse whether an individual would fit into the |
| technical abilities of the applicant, but also their ability | | | | "culture" of the company and how they would gel |
| to work well in a team, their leadership ability and | | | | with the other employees within the business. |
| their long term development potential. For applicants | | | | Aptitude tests are designed to determine an |
| with no previous experience of testing procedures, | | | | individual's aptitude for the specific role he or she is |
| psychometric tests can sometimes be daunting and | | | | applying to. Unlike ability tests, this type of test |
| can often lead to stress which can potentially affect | | | | focuses specifically on the job a candidate is applying |
| their chances of performing well in other parts of the | | | | for. These tests are often used in engineering and |
| interview process.It is important to consider that | | | | manufacturing jobs where a conventional interview |
| quite often these tests are used merely as a means | | | | might not highlight effectively how competent a |
| of backing up information picked up in other areas of | | | | person is on specific technical tasks such as |
| the interview process and that the people who | | | | mechanical design or plc programming. |
| perform the best on the tests are not necessarily | | | | Executive recruitment consultants and employers |
| the right people to lead a team or develop a new | | | | typically use these tests in conjunction with |
| product. | | | | structured interviews to give more of a 3 dimensional |
| Executive Recruitment Firms will often offer their | | | | view of potential candidates for important hires. |