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Old 22nd Jun 2005, 23:18
  #32 (permalink)  
silversaab
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Australia
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Errrm..back on the topic..

Firstly, if you read up on this form of "testing", the jury is still out among professionals (and I mean psych specialists, NOT HR types) on this fad. It's been in increasing use now for 10-15 years and the main danger is that while it is a useful tool among many to help select the right person for the job, it's importance and accuracy in many cases is overemphasised , generally because your score is interpreted by poorly trained staff who have no psych background other than attending some overpriced 1 day seminar.

I know someone who used to use these tests in her HR job, and feels they were passingly helpful in selecting the right person, but her boss insisted on using them as the sole culling and selection tool (qualifications and experience being equal among applicants). Ultimately they ended up placing some highly efficient, ruthless sociopaths in a couple of positions and wound up with a flurry of resignations and a big mess on their hands.

Secondly, I've done a few psychometric tests over the past 15 years or so, and have had (I've gleaned) pretty much the same result/score each time. My success in getting a job offer has actually been more evident in the attitude of the interviewers during my interviews, which is to say, if they didn't like me, or were just going through the motions to place an insider in the job, I got no further than a second interview (and probably then only to make up the numbers).

Ultimately I'm glad I didn't end up getting some of those jobs. If a company isn't able to adopt a human approach to recruitment, and if this is some relection of that corporation's attitudes, why would you want to work there? You'll probably only end up being unhappy working with a bunch of %$##^&$.
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