Psychometric assessment faqs

Psychometric assessment is a valuable resource for businesses who are recruiting, developing or promoting their employees. Scientifically developed assessments can provide valuable additional information on candidates and existing employees which can’t be sourced easily in other ways. 

1. What is psychometric assessment?

Psychometric assessments are a standard and scientific method used to measure individuals' mental capabilities and behavioural style. Psychometric assessments are designed to measure candidates' suitability for a role based on the required personality characteristics and aptitude (or cognitive abilities).

2. What types of psychometric assessment tools are available?

Psychometric assessment falls broadly into two types, ability tests and personality questionnaires. 

3. What are they used for?

Ability tests, as they suggest, are used to assess specific skills such as verbal and numeric reasoning ability, or technical skills such as data entry accuracy.
Personality questionnaires measure someone’s preferred style of behaviour at work. As a result, they can be used to:

• Identify the best-fit applicants for a given rol
• Improve interview hit rates
• Identify future leaders
• Redeploy talent across the business
• Evaluate the talent pool following a merger /acquisition / restructure
• Create winning project teams
• Manage the transformation of a technical specialist to an effective people manager.

4. Can assessments be completed online?

Yes, all the assessments we offer are available for candidates to complete online, saving you time with no need to set up assessment centres or provide invigilators. We do all the administration set-up and liaison with the candidates for you.

5. How do I know an online candidate hasn’t had someone else complete the assessment for them?

The ability tests we use include a checking option, whereby candidates can be asked to complete a sample selection of test questions on site – the system will then compare their answers to those provided online and assess consistency.
The personality questionnaires incorporate a consistency check as well, which will identify whether the person completing the questionnaire is likely to be giving genuine answers.

6. What psychometric assessments does Ashtons HR Consulting offer?

CEB SHL Verify Ability tests:

• Numerical Ability
• Verbal Ability
• Deductive Reasoning
• Checking
• Calculation.

CEB SHL Occupational Personality Questionnaire (OPQ)
CEB SHL Motivational Questionnaire (MQ)

7. How do I choose which assessment tools to use?

Many employers take a blanket approach and put candidates through verbal and Numerical Reasoning tests as a matter of routine, without really understanding what the tests are measuring. We will talk to you in advance to get a detailed understanding of what you are trying to measure, so that we can recommend the most suitable assessment tools for your needs.

To discuss your requirements, please contact Ashtons on 0333 222 0989, complete our online enquiry form or email enquiry@ashtonshrconsulting.co.uk.