What is a psychometric test, and how do you practise (with examples)?

• What is a psychometric test?

• Why do employers use psychometric tests?
• How to practise for a psychometric test
• Examples of psychometric test questions

Applying for a job in New Zealand can feel like a long process. From searching for roles, to writing your CV and cover letter to attending interviews, you’ll probably feel pretty tired by the end of it.

And, just as you’re getting to the end of it, you’re hit with the psychometric test. These two words have the ability to strike fear into many of us, often because we don’t know what they are, and what will be involved.

To show you that psychometric tests are nothing to be afraid of, here, we’ll break down what they are, and how you can prepare for them.

Psychometric tests are tests designed by psychologists, and are often used to help determine whether a job applicant is a suitable personality and intellectual fit for a role.

Typically, the type of psychometric test you might face as part of a job application will be multiple choice, and could consist of aptitude questions and/or personality questionnaires. Aptitude questions could involve identifying the next shape in a pattern, while a personality question might be along the lines of ‘I have trouble standing up for myself’, and ask you to rank how true this is for you from one to five.

Psychometric tests are what’s known as standardised tests, in that the questions you’re asked, and the way that they’re scored, is the same for everyone. For example, this means that the personality questions you’re asked will have nothing to do with how you’ve come across during an interview, and will likely be the same for all applicants going for the role.

Every stage of your job application offers an opportunity for the hiring manager or recruiter to evaluate how well suited you are to the job they’re advertising, and a psychometric test is just part of this. Specifically, because psychometric tests are scored, it gives them some tangible data to include in their decision-making process.

For example, being good at non-verbal reasoning (a type of aptitude question) can demonstrate to an employer that you’re good at thinking on your feet and making decisions quickly. It also shows an ability to think logically, and is particularly valued in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) fields.

The personality question side of psychometric tests allow the hiring manager to assess how well they think you’ll fit into the culture. Unlike the aptitude side of the test, there’s no correct answer to these questions, but, of course, if you were coming across as someone with little regard for those working around you, it might ring alarm bells for your potential employer.

These will vary more depending on the type of role you’re applying for, but generally fall into a number of categories:

• Numerical reasoning: this might involve being presented with a graph and having to interpret it in your answer.
• Non-verbal/abstract reasoning: this could involve a series of changing shapes or patterns, where you need to identify the next in the sequence.
• Verbal reasoning: here, you could be presented with a short text and be required to, for example, correctly determine whether a statement about the contents of this text is true or false.
• Inductive reasoning: here you might be asked to draw a reasonable conclusion from a couple of observations. For example, you might be given a specific statement such as ‘I observed a seal eat a fish’, then a pattern statement ‘all records of seal diets include fish’ and be asked what conclusion you can draw from this. Here, a reasonable conclusion would be, ‘all seals eat fish’.