Human Resources: Psychometric tests

The Guardian (UK) has an interesting article that takes a look at psychometric tests so often used these days by employers when interviewing job applicants.

The paper reports that "Psychometric tests fall into two broad categories: tests looking at verbal, numeric, spatial or abstract reasoning, which will often be timed and multiple choice, and tests that look at personality, motivation and what makes you tick, including how you behave in certain circumstances."

The paragraph that caught my interest is the comment by Kevin Kingsland, chairman of the Association of Business Psychologists that, "There is an awful lot of unintelligent and amateur use of psychometrics out there."

All too often employers get caught up in the latest ideas without fully understanding the negatives and the positives for both the employer and the applicant.

Just because you have the tools to do something, doesn't mean you can do it properly

Do new-look interviews pass the credibility test?