Aptitude Tests Blog

When push comes to shove, how do you know which candidates to call for an interview and which ones to politely dismiss?

What is your time worth? Some employers have given up altogether on actively recruiting and have passed on the task to greedy employment agencies.

Did you know the internet provides useful tools to make your choice more impartial? Knowledge appraisal is what it's all about. If your inbox has been flooded with 50, 100, 200 applicants for the one position you just advertised - how do you know who is telling the truth about their background and abilities?

Despite popular belief you do not have to be a specialist in every field of expertise to produce a meaningful test of knowledge and abilities. All is required is some decent course material which can be turned around into a set of multiple or free text questions. If you are concerned that people answering questions randomly might get away with an average score - it is not so. The same question can be presented couched in two different ways. Chances of guessing your way through the test are much lower.

What about the accreditation racket? You and only you are the judge of who is fit to work on your team. Why should you pay extra in recognition of qualifications you do not really need? Are people's mindsets being affected by what government think you should do or not do in your private enterprise? What you are really after is your procedures manual turned around into an aptitude test. Therefore you can screen people on really the issues that are important to you as an employer - not what some academic or some government boffin thinks.

Aptitude tests are despised by people who perceive them as another unfair selection criteria. Others assume their usefulness is degraded if taken online - just google away the answers you need! For the first issue you can provide a sample test to minimize the effect of surprise and give time for people to adjust to the software. Secondly tests have a time limit. If people are able to check an answer online - why not? Wouldn't you like people working for you to be pro-active? But if it means getting their qualifications while being paid on company time to do something else - of course not.

What if people cheat and get a professional to do the test online on their behalf? Simple - get them to do the test again when they arrive for the interview. Questions are presented in random order. They won't have time to memorise everything.

Following on the success of our general knowledge, personality and IQ tests we are now releasing some vocational assessment tools.

Kitchen Chef

This test covers issues such as food safety, cooking methods, food classification and trends in food preparation.

Accounting

Deals with principles of accounting and bookkeeping, double entry, depreciation and amortization, cash versus accrual methods, etc...

Internet Competence

Here we check your ability to deal with email, search engines, social media, viruses, and other issues in our cyber world.

Health Care

Nursing, first-aid, vital signs, How knowledgeable are you in health matters? This is not an accreditation for health workers but it will gauge your understanding of common health issues.

Legal Matters

From copyrights, vexatious claims to remedies for negligence, lawyers are everywhere. This test will reveal your grasp of the legal landscape and its jargon.

Why should you use these professional aptitude tests online?

Candidates considering a career move may want to discover how much prior learning they already have acquired.

Employers may want to screen job applicants with a simple baseline tool to give a level playing field to everyone - without incurring the high fees of accreditation institutions.

Job seekers may want to test their knowledge prior to a job interview - just to be on the safe side...

Hate them or love them, you are bound to come across some psychometric tests in your job hunting. To avoid the effect of surprise and perform well under the stress of time-limited tests your only option to pass this next hurdle is practice.

The last thing you want in recruitment is to be treated like a commodity. People would measure up your brains if they could and this last mode of selection is the last straw in the job search obstacle course you're going through.

Do not despair - hope is at hand. Besides, you are not competing against computers or machines but other human beings who will also have to sit for the same test.

Look at it from the employer's point of view for a minute if you will. These days trust and honesty are in short supply. People have no shame in lying, fudging and stretching things to get a foot in the door. An aptitude or knowledge test might in fact be your saving grace as it is an unbiased way to see how all candidates perform without any prejudice.

At the end of this article you will find a link to a resource that will give you a chance to practice at home those types of tests before you are faced will the real thing.

A good test is designed in such a way that answering multiple choice questions at random will render an abysmal result. Since guessing is not the way to go, you'd better get the best return on your limited time by moving across to the questions you do know about.

Also remember that the same question is often asked multiple times in slightly different ways in order to eliminate chance.

Having practiced beforehand will cancel out the effect of surprise. Of course the tests you will face when applying for a job will be proprietary to that company but you will be confident that you've been there, done that...

Rather than hitting aimlessly at all jobs that you can find, this selection process will in fact force you to specialise in a given field. As the saying goes: "Jack of all trades, master of none." As you start to focus on a given industry or job classification you will find that your knowledge of that field increases - a definite plus when being screened for an interview. You will also find that doing your homework to find out what you need to know about a company you are aiming to work for will deepen your grasp and increase your confidence.

It's not the number of times you fail that matters, it's the number of times you get back on your feet and have another go. Go for it - you deserve it, you and the people you love.

How current is your knowledge of procedures and systems in your industry? You might use that stuff in your trade on a daily basis or just look it up on the internet if need be. Nevertheless it can be used as a selection criterion to cut down a long list of job applicants to a shortlist for interviews.

As you get older your memory is not as supple as it used to be. You also learn not to remember things that can readily be referenced.

Unfortunately that's not a good situation if you get screened through a battery of aptitude or knowledge tests. This is exacerbated by the fact that some people have spoiled it for everyone else by making false claims in their resume.

In recruitment you are presumed a liar until proved dependable - through a test that is. This sets a fair but high standard for everyone.

It will be difficult to assess someone's experience and seniority through a test (that's what face to face interview are supposed to determine). In a world where everything is standardized or packaged there is no room for giving someone a go. You deliver the skills or we look at the next person.

Nobody is interested in what fresh insight you can bring to the firm. All they want to know is that they don't need to waste time on your training or induction. You are deemed to pick up the ball running. All what is required is to obey the procedures manual and whoever can do it the cheapest will get the job.

Only once you're in, can you flex your problem solving skills and be flagged for a promotion. Another hurdle here: If your strategy is to enter at a low position and move through the ranks you might find you have to compete with outsiders poached straight out of competitors. They have done exactly for the last 5 years what the job description calls for, while you lag behind and can't show evidence of any management skills.

The whole concept of aptitude tests can be overused to coerce people into pigeon holes they don't want to belong to. But if you want to get the job and pay the bills and support your family what choice do you have?

In this world people unashamedly lie about their qualifications and work history. Aptitude tests are being used to screen candidates worth calling for an interview.

Psychometric tests can be taken online wherever you can log onto the internet. Make sure you are not being distracted and that your laptop battery will not run out.

On the positive side you can see that it is a fairer system where all candidates are judged on the same criteria. On the negative side it can be a humbling experience to fail a set of 50 or 100 questions administered by some computer out there in cyberspace.

Young adults would be accustomed with the practice as IQ tests or others are being routinely administered on campuses. Mature workers can stand at a disadvantage for being exposed to this type of selection. Do not despair. There is hope. Like everything else in life, you can prepare yourself for such an encounter.

We live in an increasingly categorised world where even the most mundane of tasks have been documented and it won't be long before you can apply to study at the Advanced Tertiary Institution of Performing Janitors.

Aptitude tests are here to stay - so just get over it! It is a game of mental gymnastics and with the appropriate preparation you will be able to demonstrate your aptitude - no more no less.

A well written test will get cheats undone by repeating the same question in slightly different ways to cancel out random right answers.

Tests can be used to assess your problem solving skills, your behaviour under pressure (tests must be completed within a given amount of time). Other tests can check your knowledge of procedure manuals and regulations. Tests can check your fluency in a foreign language, your grasp of computer programming, your math skills and a whole range of abilities.

Tests are only as good as the person who wrote the test in the first place. Of itself a test can be questionable but when the performance of many candidates is rated the results are obvious. You can tell those who understood the questions from those who fudged their answers. You can tell those who have a relevant background from those who stumble along.

Whether you get the job or not you should ask for the results of your test if possible. How you rated across the batch of other candidates that day can also be helpful information.

Aptitude Tests is an online service to prepare yourself for aptitude, knowledge and IQ tests.

Resume Digest is an online service to customize your application for each job you are responding to.