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Psychometric assessments: Tips for job seekers

The psychometric assessment has become a normal step in the overall job interview process. But even though this form of testing has become ubiquitous, there remains misconceptions about the exam, and many are still unsure of how to approach this form of assessment.

The principle of these types of assessments is to gain insight into individuals’ personalities, skills and their own capabilities, which is why these tests aren’t just used for job interviews – they’re also used when making decisions about promotion, training and development.

There are a range of tools available that organisations use to explore numerical capability, strategic thinking and the ability to deal with complex verbal challenges, as well as off-the-shelf and bespoke questionnaires. The data is used to build a picture of your overall strengths and aptitude, motivations, aspirations, preferred way of working and cultural fit.

While it might sound a bit intimidating at first, especially if you’ve never encountered one before, it’s simply just another way for the employer to learn more about you.

Psychometric testing tips

Approach the assessment as an opportunity to further demonstrate your strengths.

Instead of dreading the testing process, look at it as a way to expand on your strengths to the company. Approach the test honestly and enthusiastically, as this will come across to the interviewers just the same as it would in a normal interview.

Ask your recruiter for a sample test or take free sample tests online to practice.

But remember, the assessment you take is likely to be unique to the role you have applied for, so it can be difficult to prepare any specific answers. However you can still practice answering sample questions to become more comfortable with this style of assessment and to understand the types of questions asked, do not expect the questions to be identical.

So, while it’s difficult to know any of the specific tests you may encounter, it’s still helpful to do some practice tests online to get yourself used to answering these types of questions.

There’s a lot of free options available, but here’s a selection:

Example psychometric questions

Verbal reasoning question:

For verbal reasoning, you could be given a statement and then be asked a True, False or can’t answer question about it, or be given a list of statements and be asked to make a deduction from them.

For example:
All of these words are similar to each other.

Excited, Thrilled, Enthusiastic, Eager, Passionate

Find another word that matches the above words:

Ecstatic, Doubtful, Uncertain, Hesitant, Unlikely

Answer: Ecstatic

Numerical reasoning question:

Usually in numerical reasoning questions, you’ll be given a list of data and questions will then be based on them. For example, you might have different population rates for each year, and questions stemming from that could ask you to work out the difference in the rates, or to work out percentage differences. It can even be a sequence question such as:

What is the missing number in this sequence: ? 2 4 8 ? 32
Answer: 16. Each number gets added by the same number. 4 + 4 = 8.

It’s impossible to predict what specific questions you’ll be asked, but taking a few practice tests to help you get in the right mindset for psychometric assessments can be helpful in being able to ace them once the day of testing arrives. Remember these steps and keep in mind it’s all part of the broader spectrum of the interview process, so don’t be too daunted by it. If you want to learn more about the whole interview process, download our Interview Guide. Good luck.