What can you do to prepare for a psychometric test in Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne?

It can be quite overwhelming when you are first faced with a pre-employment psychometric test in Brisbane, Melbourne or Sydney, particularly if you have never sat one in previous recruitment drives. As with everything in life, once you know more about these tests and what is expected, you will start to feel more relaxed and confident.

What are psychometric tests and why are they used?

At Urban Psychometrics, we use a psychometric test in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane as part of the recruitment process for many national and international companies. What they actually measure is how you think in the abstract, as well as your verbal and numerical reasoning abilities.

These are timed tests, but you can use practice tests at home to help you understand them better and to increase your confidence. Many people who have a university education, think that they will fly through these tests, however that isn’t always true and plenty of non-tertiary educated candidates have sailed through these tests.

The reason that a psychometric test is so useful in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne is because employers want to employ the right type of person for a specific role. These tests help employers to put together a behavioural profile of each candidate, helping them to predict how each candidate will act in certain circumstances, and whether they can think outside the box, be a good team leader, etc.

These are all difficult characteristics to measure, which is why integrating a psychometric test during the recruitment process in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney has such great benefits for both the employer and the potential employee. Employers have a very effective and proven method of sourcing the best candidates for their company and candidates can be assured of finding a role that will be eminently satisfying and fruitful for them.

Preparing to take a psychometric test in Melbourne, Sydney or Brisbane

Your best course of action to prepare for these tests is to practice the types of questions that are designed for the role you hope to achieve. For example, management positions require a different set of questions to those designed for a data analyst’s role or for someone who works in the mining industry.

Examples of these questions can be easily found online, and your best strategy is to focus on completing all the easier questions first within the given time frame, leaving the more difficult questions to the end. This is because all the questions are given the same rating. With these few tips, you should have a much greater probability of scoring high on your psychometric test, whether you sit it in Sydney, Brisbane or Melbourne.

For more information on psychometric tests in Brisbane, Melbourne or Sydney, call us on 07 3535 1220 or send us an email.

How can businesses with narrow margins benefit from using pre employment testing?

You might believe that pre employment testing is only of benefit to large national or multinational companies with big budgets and high margins. Nothing could be further from the truth, because it’s often the businesses with narrow margins and tight budgets who really benefit from using a pre employment assessment during the recruitment process.

In today’s competitive marketplace, many companies, particularly those that are in the retail industry, have very narrow margins and need to keep all of their costs down, including their labour costs. This seems to preclude the additional costs of pre employment testing, however it has been shown that an investment in the hiring process can lead to greater profitability in the long run.

Pre employment testing equals greater profits

When you see companies with low margins generating higher than average profits, you can pretty much guarantee that they have invested their time and money in hiring the right people for their company. A personality assessment and other psychometric tests, used during the recruitment phase, have been clearly shown to help employers find the most suitable people for their business, giving them an edge on their competitors and a positive impact on their bottom line.

A pre employment assessment identifies candidates who are matched perfectly to specific roles within an organisation. When an employee is happy in their work and feels supported and appreciated by their employer, they are unlikely to leave for greener pastures.

A lower turnover and higher retention rate is often the result of a successful recruitment phase, characterised by pre employment testing. Happy and content employees lead to increased sales and profits for the company, ensuring that the company’s investment in the recruitment process was very profitable.

On the other hand, employing the wrong people for your company, leads to higher turnovers and lower retention rates, due to disgruntled employees looking for better working conditions elsewhere. Staff who do not feel happy in their work and have no loyalty to the company, don’t work at their best, resulting in average sales, slim margins and mediocre profits.

All of this can be turned around by a simple investment in the recruitment process, using pre-employment tests, such as a personality assessment and other aptitude tests to employ the right people for your company. This creates a positive cycle leading to higher margins and profits, rather than a negative cycle leading to narrow margins and returns.

To find out if pre employment testing can help your business become more competitive, call us on 07 3535 1220 or send us an email.

The future of the cognitive ability test in the recruitment process

A cognitive ability test is a psychometric test that is designed to test a candidate’s numerical reasoning, verbal, abstract, mechanical and spatial reasoning. In other words, they test how well a candidate learns, remembers, pays attention and solves problems, rather than testing for a particular skill set or specific knowledge.

At Urban Psychometrics, we use a cognitive ability test in Brisbane and Melbourne as part of the recruitment process for our clients. A cognitive ability test has been shown to be much better than a personality test to predict how well a candidate will learn a new job or task and how well they excel at critical thinking. Let’s look at the future of these tests in the recruitment process over the next few years.

The popularity of a cognitive ability test will increase

Whilst we have seen a steady increase in the use of the cognitive ability test in Melbourne and Brisbane over the past few years, we expect this increase to continue during 2018 and beyond. With the state of the financial and retail marketplace and the fact that many employees no longer remain in one job for longer than 3 years, employers need to identify candidates who can learn the job very quickly. A cognitive ability test helps an employer to select the right employee for the job, reducing the costs of the recruitment drive and a lengthy training period.

Online testing will become the norm

With the increasing use of the internet and mobile devices in both our private and our work lives, companies will need to become more high-tech with their recruitment process. They will need to ensure that psychometric tests, such as the cognitive ability test, are not only available online, but are also mobile friendly. You might be surprised to learn that many of these online tests still require a Flash plug-in on the candidate’s PC, which is clearly not an option on mobile devices. If your online assessments still require this antiquated software, it’s time that you upgraded the systems that operate your assessments. After all, the best candidates will expect their employer to be up to date with all the latest technology.

For more information on using a cognitive ability test as part of your next recruitment drive, call Urban Psychometrics on 07 3535 1220 or send us an email.

An overview of using a verbal reasoning test in Brisbane, Melbourne & Sydney

At Urban Psychometrics, we often use a verbal reasoning test in Brisbane, Melbourne & Sydney as part of the recruitment process for our clients. These tests are designed to measure a candidate’s verbal analytical skills and are important to identify employees who can analyse written data and arrive at valid conclusions.

Employers like to use a verbal reasoning test because they are better at predicting a candidate’s job performance than other traditional methods of selection, such as an interview and CV. The verbal reasoning test we use in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane typically provides a paragraph of written information accompanied by a list of multi-choice questions that candidates are required to answer.

A verbal reasoning test can be combined with other types of aptitude tests, such as numerical reasoning, and inductive or deductive reasoning, as well as a personality test, depending on the needs of the employer. In the majority of instances, these tests are performed online and can be accessed by candidates at home.

Benefits of using a verbal reasoning test in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane

  • These tests can be used to identify the top performing candidates early in the selection process.
  • Candidates are less able to ‘sell themselves’ to an employer, pretending that they are capable of performing the required tasks, because their abilities will be highlighted in the verbal reasoning test that we use in Brisbane, Melbourne & Sydney.
  • Professionals or graduates with specific qualities can be identified. For example, the ability to accurately draw logical conclusions from a variety of written and verbal information and communicate this information in a simple format is vital to the success of businesses in many industries.
  • With a verbal reasoning test, employers ensure that they only employ the right person for the job, and one who is competent in the required tasks.
  • Employee retention rates are reduced, because employees perform well in their jobs and are less likely to resign due to boredom or an ill-fitting position.
  • Recruitment and training costs are reduced, because employee positions don’t need to be filled as often, given that employees remain with their employers for longer.

For more information on using a verbal reasoning test during your next recruitment drive, call Urban Psychometrics on 07 3535 1220 or send us an email.

Is a numerical reasoning test too complicated for most candidates?

We often use a numerical reasoning test in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne during the recruitment process for particular clients. These clients tend to be banks, accounting firms, consultancies and other professional service areas where a high level of numeracy is vital.

Unfortunately, we have seen many candidates becoming quite scared when faced with a numerical reasoning test in Melbourne for example, thinking that they are not good at maths. It’s good to know therefore, that these are not maths tests, but a simple test of numerical reasoning and if a candidate is good at verbal reasoning, they will have a good chance of doing well in these tests.

Features of a numerical reasoning test

Most of these numerical reasoning tests are multi-choice questions, where the answers are listed underneath the question and the candidate needs to select the correct answer. The majority of calculations are very simple and candidates can use a calculator, so they don’t have to perform maths in their head!

Depending on the client, these tests are usually taken online at an assessment centre and candidates need to answer as many questions as possible within a limited time frame. Questions usually involve percentages and proportions, fractions, ratios and interpreting data from graphs or tables. In many instances, a candidate will need to read a question and then transcribe the information into an equation before they can calculate the correct answer. If a candidate has high school maths, they should have no problems with completing a numerical reasoning test.

There are plenty of practice numerical reasoning tests available online, giving candidates the ability to refresh their numerical reasoning and increase their confidence in completing these tests. It’s advisable that candidates answer the easy questions first, moving onto the harder questions later. This prevents them from becoming stuck on one hard question, not giving themselves time to complete the easier questions before their time runs out.

The key for successfully selecting the correct answers is for candidates to be very precise in their calculations. This is because in a numerical reasoning test the list of multi-choice answers contains only one correct answer; the other answers tend to be answers given by candidates when they have made a simple mistake in their calculations. Numerical precision is often a skill that employers look for in a candidate, which is one reason why these tests are so popular.

For more information on numerical reasoning tests in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, call us on 07 3535 1220 or send us an email.

Is a psychometric assessment really reliable and valid?

At Urban Psychometrics, we have used psychometric assessments in Australia for many years and we are convinced that they are both valid and reliable.

Some people however, are skeptical that these psychometric assessments can quantify human behaviour and even predict how individuals will behave in various situations. If you are unsure whether these assessments can be of use during your recruitment process, there is actually quite a lot of research that clearly demonstrates their validity and reliability.

Over the past 50 years of research, studies have repeatedly demonstrated that a psychometric assessment can consistently predict future job performance and how an individual will fit within your organisation. They can also predict an individual’s propensity for risk aversion and for taking responsibility for the health and safety of others in the workplace.

An individual’s emotional intelligence and their behaviour under stress or under changing conditions in the workplace can all be predicted using a psychometric assessment. In Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, we have found great success with the outcomes of these assessments for our clients and they have shown to be both reliable and valid.

What do you need to know about psychometric assessments?

These assessments have been shown to be internally consistent, which means that if we ask the same question in different ways, an individual will give consistent answers. They also demonstrate what we call ‘test-retest’ reliability, which means that if we give the same test to a group of candidates multiple times, they will produce the same results each time the test is taken.

The psychometric assessments we use in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane are valid because they have been shown to measure what they are designed to measure. So if a particular assessment is meant to measure their intelligence, memory or job performance – that is exactly what it measures.

One of the arguments that have been raised against these assessments is that candidates can ‘fudge’ the results, giving recruiters the information they think will make them a good candidate for the job. Unfortunately for the candidates, psychologists are aware of this problem and have a number of proven strategies to catch anyone who attempts to fake their results.

For more information on psychometric assessments in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, call us on 07 3535 1220 or send us an email.

Psychometric tests vs skills tests

As many of us are aware, pre employment testing is an essential component of the recruitment process, giving employers a better chance of finding the right person for a specific role. Psychometric tests, such as a cognitive ability test or a personality assessment are frequently used for recruitment purposes, but you can also use a skills test as well. So, is a skills test better than a psychometric test or should you use both tests?

Psychometric tests vs skills tests

A cognitive ability test is designed to measure general intelligence (spatial, numerical, verbal, abstract and mechanical reasoning), whilst a personality assessment measures aspects of your personality that are relevant to the workplace. A skills test on the other hand, determines whether an individual can perform certain tasks and if so, how well they perform these tasks.

The underpinning of these two types of tests are completely different with psychometric tests being founded on proven theories and statistical analyses, whilst skills tests are simply based on whether you can do a task and how well. Both a cognitive ability test and a personality assessment are useful indicators of performance regardless of the role and industry, whereas a skills test is role and industry specific.

A skills test won’t tell you how someone works under pressure or whether they would make a good team leader, so their use is restricted to specific types of jobs. This doesn’t mean that they aren’t as useful in pre employment testing as a cognitive ability test or a personality assessment, simply that they have different uses and are not always applicable during the recruitment process, depending on the role that needs to be filled.

For example, a cognitive ability test can tell an employer whether a candidate is suitable for a role that demands precise attention to detail, whilst a personality assessment tells an employer whether they will work well in a team environment, and a skills test reveals whether they can use a specific type of software. All of this means that psychometric tests have a wider applicability in pre employment testing than skills tests, but both can be just as important in selecting the right candidate, it simply depends on the requirements of the role.

For more information on using psychometric tests or skills tests for your next recruitment round, send us an email or call us on 07 3535 1220.

The evidence for using a psychometric test during recruitment processes in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.

The use of a psychometric test in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney has continually grown over the past few years with the majority of businesses now incorporating them into their recruitment processes. Clearly employers can see the benefits of employing an individual who is perfectly suited to a specific role, rather than someone they hope will do a good job.

If you are undecided about using a psychometric test in Brisbane, Melbourne or Sydney for your next recruitment round, here are 7 benefits you might not have considered.

  1. Equal opportunities: To overcome any accusations of favouring one candidate over another for nefarious means, such as by gender, race or cultural origins, a psychometric test is completely objective and would stand up in court.
  2. Lower training costs: With the increased costs of training staff, employers want to feel secure that staff will remain in their jobs, rather than leave after a short period of time. Psychometric tests help an employer to select candidates who are well suited to their roles, making it less likely they will leave due to lack of job satisfaction.
  3. Lower test costs: As the use of a psychometric test in the selection process has increased, the operating costs have dropped, resulting in the simple fact that the cost of these tests is no longer prohibitive to most employers.
  4. Lack of confidence in qualifications: Employers are now recognising that formal qualifications do not necessarily equate to an individual doing well in a certain role. This type of assessment can only be achieved with the use of a psychometric test, which is another good reason why their use is increasing across the board.
  5. Reduced litigation: With the increase in employment related litigation over the past few years, the use of an objectively based selection process that is founded on accepted principles, helps employers to hire staff who will blossom in their new roles. Happy employees with well-rounded personalities are less likely to become disgruntled in the workplace and less likely to take legal action for trivial issues that can easily be resolved in the workplace.

For more information on using a psychometric test in Brisbane, Melbourne or Sydney for your next recruitment round, send us an email or call us on 07 3535 1220.

Is a personality test a relevant pre-employment assessment?

One pre-employment assessment that is often used is a personality assessment, but some people are questioning their usefulness and wondering whether they should be used at all during the recruitment process, specifically the MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator).

The author of the article referenced above questions the validity of the MBTI, given that he can see aspects of his own personality in many of the different personality categories. He goes further to say that the use of a personality assessment could be vastly improved if it actually predicted and modified behaviours.

Well, there actually is a personality assessment that can achieve these goals and it is called the DISC. Pre-employment testing using the DISC personality profiling tool helps to predict an employee’s behaviour at work, based on their everyday behaviour.

How can DISC help expand a personality test?

Simply basing your recruitment on personality testing doesn’t always work, because it doesn’t help to differentiate candidates with the same qualifications or experience. This is where DISC can be successfully included in pre-employment testing, because it helps recruiters to select which candidate is the best fit for a specific role and for an organisation, based on their behaviour.

Founded using the theory of psychologist William Moulton Marston, DISC focuses on four behavioural traits: dominance (D), inducement (I), submission (S), and compliance (C). As you can imagine, being able to predict a candidate’s responses and behaviour based on these traits, gives recruiters much more information on which to base their final decision.

Even more importantly, a DISC personality test that is used as part of a pre-employment assessment can help to improve communication and productivity within an organisation. For example, a supervisor who scores heavily on ‘compliance’ will need more information and greater detail from their staff in order to fulfil their own role.

If staff are aware of this personality trait in their supervisor, they can predict the type of information that will be requested at meetings and in so doing, they can actually alter their own behaviour to better aid communication and productivity. In turn, the supervisor who is aware of DISC staff profiles can alter his or her behaviour to better communicate with other members of staff.

DISC is a personality assessment that gives recruiters greater power to not only recruit the best candidates for an organisation, but it also helps staff to understand one another and communicate more effectively. For more information on how to use pre-employment testing in your organisation, call us on 07 3535 1220 or complete our online enquiry form.

How can a psychometric assessment help employers to understand their team?

At Urban Psychometrics in Brisbane, we are often asked how we can help organisations to better understand their employees. Specifically, how to use a psychometric assessment and an aptitude test to recognise the strengths and weaknesses of team members, and how their personalities may or may not support team effectiveness.

This article outlines a few key considerations for achieving this type of understanding and our recommended approach for these businesses.

Tailored psychometric assessments

We understand that some psychometric assessments are more or less suited to different population groups in Brisbane. Therefore, at Urban Psychometrics in Brisbane, we have a range of tools that can be used in these situations.

Some of our more commonly used psychometric assessment and an aptitude tests for understanding personalities include:

  • NEO Personality Inventory-3: A personality test that uses a standard five factor model of personality (Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness).
  • Myers-Briggs Type Indicator: A self report questionnaire indicating people’s preferences in how they perceive the world around them and make decisions, based on these perceptions.
  • Occupational Personality Questionnaire: A 32 scale questionnaire that assess a person’s preferences under a work context. Basically this test asses how well an individual aligns with their role.
  • Team Management Profile: A 60 item questionnaire that is focused on understanding an individual’s approach to their work. This profile includes an understanding of their leadership strength, decision making skills, interpersonal skills and ability for team building.
  • Work Personality Index: This psychometric assessment measures personality traits directly relating to an individual’s work environment and their effectiveness in their role.

All of the above tools are based on a 4 or 5 type model of personality and help people toward a better understanding of their own behaviours, attitudes and preferences, providing a solid foundation for team development dialogue.

Understanding Team Dynamics

A team development workshop helps the team to explore their strengths and challenges and identifies any key issues or problems. It also helps leaders to understand their team’s mix of strengths and weaknesses.

A key element of our workshops at Urban Psychometrics in Brisbane is a number of interactive experiential activities that help to illustrate differing work styles, communication and problem solving strategies of the individual members of the team. This ensures that the workshop is not just theoretical, but is based in practical reality.

There are three stages for understanding the mix of personalities within a team and how they can support or hinder one another: personality profiling, individual development and team development.

For more information on psychometric assessment in Brisbane, contact us on 07 1803 6147 or complete our online enquiry form.

 

How to prepare for a psychometric test in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne

The results of a psychometric test in Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne provide employers with a behavioural profile of their candidates. These psychometric assessments can include an aptitude test, personality test and an ability test, and give employers a good idea of how well candidates suit particular roles in their organisation.

If you are applying for a job that includes some form of psychometric test, it’s best to call the recruiter to discuss the particular attributes that the employer is looking for in a candidate. You can often find this information in the job advertisement, but it sometimes pays to confirm with the recruitment agency.

Once you have a fair idea of the required attributes, then the following three tips should help you to prepare for your psychometric test in Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne.

1. Familiarise yourself with psychometric and aptitude tests

If you have never completed a psychometric or aptitude test before, then it will be to your advantage to find out what type of questions you might have to answer. An aptitude test is generally composed of multiple choice questions that must be answered in a short time frame and cover a variety of topics, including HR, marketing, economics, social sciences and biological sciences.

2. Spend time practicing online aptitude and psychometric tests

It makes sense to search for examples of these multi-choice questions that might be included in your aptitude test, and which can be found online quite easily. It is unlikely that you will be faced with the exact same questions, but the practice and the subsequent improvement in your problem solving skills will be of great benefit to you.

3. Aim to complete the psychometric test within the timeframe

Did you know that most aptitude tests are designed so that candidates don’t have enough time to complete them! In fact, only about 1 to 2% of candidates usually complete within the given time frame. This means that the more you practice and aim for completing all of the questions within the time frame, the more you will stand out from the competition.

For more information on psychometric tests and aptitude tests in Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne, get in touch with Urban Psychometrics today.

Which is best: Online or paper-based psychometric assessments in Brisbane?

In Brisbane, online psychometric assessments have dominated the industry for many years now, with the benefits of cost-effectiveness, efficiency and convenience driving the demand. Indeed, online aptitude tests and other psychometric assessments require fewer resources and save time, removing the need for face-to-face test administration sessions.

At Urban Psychometrics in Brisbane however, many of our clients still find that paper-based psychometric assessments are the best way to go in many circumstances, particularly when recruiting for bulk candidates. Paper-based assessments allow large groups of candidates to be assessed at the one time, and provide a much more personal experience for the candidate.

Psychometric assessment case study

Recently, we worked with a coal mine in NSW to help promote contractors to permanent roles. Since these candidates were already working on site, the client had a fair idea of the candidates’ abilities to perform in the role, based on their observations. Therefore, the client was more concerned with the candidates’ alignment with the organisation’s values, once these candidates relaxed into a permanent position.

Psychometric assessments, specifically a personality assessment, were incorporated into a broad recruitment process to assess the degree of alignment between the candidate’s motivations and attitudes, as well as the values the organisation would like its people to uphold.

A key consideration for the client was ensuring that the candidates completed the assessments within the stated timeframe, and around their current roster. They were also concerned for the older generation, who had indicated concerns around online technology.

While the evidence indicates equality between online and traditional paper based tests, the client felt the paper-based process would be better suited to this group, having easy access to support and help if needed. Also, considering the number of candidates and hence, the number of interviews taking part on site, it made sense to structure the psychometric assessments around the interview schedule.

The personality assessment was administered in groups of up to 24 people and assessments were scored and reported the same day. Psychometric results were integrated with interview performance and observations on the job. The client was able to make a decision and rank candidates that same day, to quickly move onto the next stage of the process.

For more information on incorporating aptitude tests, ability tests, and personality tests into your recruitment process, get in touch with Urban Psychometrics in Brisbane today.

What do employers need to know about psychometric pre-employment testing?

Psychometric pre-employment testing helps organisations to recruit the best people for specific roles, even when finding skilled candidates can be quite a challenge. This is because a simple recruitment test is not enough to fine tune your selection process, and can result in hiring the wrong people for your organisation.

Hiring the wrong people is a waste of your time and when you consider the cost of your recruitment process, it is not a very effective recruitment strategy. This is why we recommend that you include a psychometric test in your recruitment process.

3 Benefits of psychometric pre-employment testing

  1. Less turnover: The cost of training new employees can be quite high, so any reduction in employee turnover is going to benefit your organisation. We have found that when you use a psychometric test in Melbourne at the beginning of your recruitment process, the interviewees will be the cream of the crop and will be less likely to leave due to being ill-matched to a role.
  2. Greater cultural alignment: Hiring employees who are aligned with your organisation’s culture and values, gives your employees a greater sense of job satisfaction, and your company benefits from loyal and productive employees. Psychometric pre-employment testing gives you the ability to pre-select candidates who will comfortably fit within your organisation’s culture.
  3. More potential: Whilst most companies recruit for a specific role, you can also use a psychometric recruitment test to hire people with potential for leadership within your organisation. In Melbourne, our psychometric tests can be used to identify particular candidates who have a specific personality trait that is conducive to a management or executive role. You can then use this information when you are considering employees for leadership development in the future.

A recruitment test that includes a psychometric test is not new, as this type of testing is quite common in large successful, multi-national organisations. The point is that even small businesses can benefit from using psychometric pre-employment testing to identify the best candidates for their organisation.

If you think that your business can benefit from psychometric pre-employment testing during the recruitment process, call Urban Psychometrics in Melbourne on 07 3535 1220 or get in touch today.

Testing operators in the mining industry by Urban Psychometrics in Brisbane

Working largely in the mining and resource sector, Urban Psychometrics in Brisbane recognises the need to identify workers who have the right attitudes and abilities, and display safe practices on the job. We also recognise that the cost of selection errors can be expensive, particularly if your selection is based solely on an aptitude test. As a result, we have found 3 of our psychometric assessment options to be popular for the recruitment of Operators, Trades and Mid-Tier roles across high risk industries.

Option 1: Improve Safety – Minimise safety risks before making selection decisions

Whilst both an aptitude test and a psychometric assessment are appropriate for positions within the mining and resources sector, extra care needs to be taken when recruiting for safety oriented roles.

As can be fully appreciated, it is more cost effective to select ‘safe’ employees, than to expend a great deal of effort in training and development. The Situational Safety Awareness (SSA) Assessment helps to identify workers who have both the right attitudes and abilities to display safe practices on the job. At Urban Psychometrics in Brisbane, we recommend that the SSA is used for all roles where safety is a key component of the job.

Key Information:
Industry specific SSA assessment, including mining, construction and transport.
The SSA takes approximately 30 minutes to complete.
Results compared to Australian high-risk industries.

Option 2: Improve Safety & Increase Commitment – Get the right people for the job and keep them.

Personality assessments can help you to identify candidates who ‘fit’ well with your organisation and are able to integrate smoothly into the team, whilst an aptitude test determines a person’s ability, knowledge or skill set.

The Work Personality Index (WPI) helps to identify personal qualities that influence how well candidates will cope with different job requirements. For example, their problem solving style, how well they relate to others, and their stress resilience and leadership style.

The WPI combined with the SSA ensures that you are selecting the right person for a safety critical role. At Urban Psychometrics in Brisbane, we recommend that the WPI is used for all roles where resilience and leadership are critical parts of the job.

Key Information:
The WPI is a personality and safety assessment, measuring a candidate’s fit in a safety critical role.
The WPI will take approximately 30 minutes to complete.
Performance is compared to Australian norms.

Option 3: Improve Safety, Increase Commitment & Enhance Performance – Ensure your people are capable of doing the job

There is more data on the validity of ability assessments for predicting job success than any other method of selection, including interviews. The Test of Abstract Reasoning (TAR) helps to identify workers who can sum up a situation quickly and solve problems in the workplace, helping you to employ workers who are ready for the challenges of the role.

By combining the SSA and the WPI with the TAR you will successfully measure the degree to which a worker ‘can do and will do’ the job. At Urban Psychometrics in Brisbane, we recommend that the TAR is used for all roles where problem solving is a critical component of the job.

Key Information:
An even stronger prediction of whether the candidate is likely to put attitudes into action.
The TAR is a timed assessment, taking 20 minutes to complete.
Can be compared against a composite group of Australian adults or industry specific norms.

If you require a specific psychometric assessment for the selection of employees in the mining and resources sector, call Urban Psychometrics in Brisbane on 07 3535 1220 or get in touch today.

How mechanical reasoning testing is conducted

Along with an aptitude test, some positions, particularly in the mining industry, require specialist knowledge and problem solving skills, so mechanical reasoning testing is a very popular option for many companies. These tests are similar to a cognitive ability test that also tests a candidate’s problem solving skills, but are more focused and tailored towards a particular field and skill set.

It is always a good idea to include mechanical reasoning testing for technical and engineering positions, and as with the regular cognitive ability test, the level of difficulty and complexity can be tailored towards the required skills for a specific role. In essence, this type of testing requires candidates to use specific mechanical or engineering principles to identify the correct answer to a problem.

Conducting mechanical reasoning testing in your organisation

To assess a candidate’s technical and problem solving skills in Brisbane, this type of aptitude test will need to be challenging. This can be achieved by either requiring completion within a short time frame or by subsequent questions increasing in complexity.

Multi-choice questions are the norm for mechanical reasoning testing, where the candidate will need to select the correct answer from a list of possibilities. Each question will only have one correct answer and generally, each question needs to be answered in 30 seconds.

The level of complexity and difficulty of the questions depends on the role, and as the role becomes more managerial or technical, the greater the required knowledge, which is reflected in the complexity of the questions.

At Urban Psychometrics in Brisbane, we will work with you to design an aptitude test that is sufficiently challenging for your candidates and we will also design a suite of mechanical reasoning testing assessments that are tailored to specific roles within your company.

If you want to use customised psychometric testing for your next recruitment round, call Urban Psychometrics in Brisbane on 07 3535 1220 or get in touch today.

The dangers of the one-size-fits-all approach to psychometric assessment.

At Urban Psychometrics in Brisbane, we often come across organisations that use the same psychometric assessments right across the organisation. Unfortunately, this one-size-fits-all approach, may not always deliver the value a tailored assessment package can offer.

An example of using a one-size-fits-all aptitude test.

In Brisbane, ABC Mining uses a battery of skills assessments to better understand their candidate’s mechanical reasoning, applied reading and basic mathematical skills. They find that for entry level operator jobs and some trade roles, they see quite a bit of variance in the scores, which helps them to rank candidates effectively.

For staff and management roles however, they do not receive as much value from these assessments, because everyone seems to perform within the above average range, which is making it hard to draw a distinction between different levels of performance.

Why does the one-size-fits-all aptitude test not work?

There are two reasons why a one-size-fits-all aptitude test doesn’t work as effectively as a tailored psychometric assessment. First, the difficulty of the assessments has not been tailored to suit the complexities of the different role levels across the organisation. For example, while applied reading and basic mathematics will likely be relevant to the role complexities of an entry-level or operator role, this level of assessment does not reflect the requirements of a staff position and certainly not of a management role.

Second, the abilities being tested are not relevant to every role across the organisation. For example, while a mechanical reasoning assessment is likely to be highly relevant to a mechanical tradesman, it is not suitable for a staff accounting role. Thus, a one-size-fits-all aptitude test adds precious little value to the recruitment process. Unfortunately, this is an all too common scenario.

Even worse, is where the opposite occurs. Using another all too frequent example, we often see advanced level, managerial psychometric assessments administered to people applying for roles where the actual complexity and reasoning requirements are far lower.

Unfortunately, this scenario causes undue stress for the candidates and disadvantages many who may be well suited to the role actual role complexities. This is why at Urban Psychometrics in Brisbane, we work with you to understand the key position criteria and complexity of the role, before recommending any assessments.

Our tailored psychometric assessment approach

In order to get the most out of the psychometric assessment results, there are three simple steps we follow:

  1. Competency Selection
    Before any aptitude test or assessment is undertaken, we first define the knowledge, skills and abilities that are required to successfully perform in a given role. These competencies provide a clear set of dimensions against which performance can be described and measured.
  2. Relevant & Readable Reports
    In addition to selecting assessments suitable to the role, our reports can be tailored to suit the competency framework and written by a qualified psychologist. This ensures reports are easy to read and relevant to the role requirements.
  3. Feedback of Results
    At Urban Psychometrics in Brisbane, we believe that verbal feedback on psychometric assessment results is a valuable part of the process. This provides an opportunity for you to ask specific questions regarding candidate concerns, and it helps to raise further insights into candidate suitability – helping to understand how the psychometric results may play out in terms of workplace performance.

To explore using a psychometric assessment in your next recruitment campaign, call Urban Psychometrics in Brisbane on 07 38 or 03 6147 or get in touch today.

5 Reasons why Perth businesses are embracing psychometric assessments

In Perth, we have noticed that more and more businesses and large corporations include a psychometric assessment within their recruitment process. These assessments usually involve both an aptitude ability test and a cognitive ability test, ensuring that the businesses hire the most suitable candidates for their company.

This investment in psychometrics by Perth businesses is likely due to the recognition that mistakes can be costly and long lasting. If your business is preparing for a recruitment campaign and you are unsure whether a psychometric assessment would be of value to your company, here are 5 reasons why you can’t afford not to embed some form of aptitude ability test and cognitive ability test into your selection process.

  1. Easier ad writing: If you know the type of personality that is best suited to the role, you can write the ads to attract this type of candidate. Psychometrics helps you to identify the personalities that will suit the role and those that would be quite unsuitable, before you write the ad.
  2. Saves time: Interviewing lots of people, when most of them are unsuitable for the role is a waste of your valuable time. Psychometrics helps you to decline unsuitable candidates, before you even reach the interview stage.
  3. Increased employee satisfaction: When an employee is happy in their work and they are appreciated by their employers, the quality of their work and their output can improve. Happy and proficient employees are a huge benefit to businesses in Perth and psychometrics is paving the way for their continued success.
  4. Increased staff retention: Recruitment campaigns, retraining and upskilling are all costly endeavours for a business, which is why including an aptitude ability test and cognitive ability test in the recruitment process, helps businesses to hire long term employees who are happy in their role.
  5. Reduces interviewer bias: When only the most suitable candidates get through to the interview stage, interviewer bias is negated to a large degree. This means that poor candidates are not employed over more suitable candidates (due to interviewer bias), because the psychometric assessment has eliminated the unsuitable candidates prior to the interview stage.

If you want to include a psychometric assessment in your next recruitment campaign, call Urban Psychometrics in Perth on 07 38 or 03 6147 or get in touch today.

Why is candidate briefing prior to psychometric assessment so important?

New technology has seen the rise of some exciting advances in psychometric assessment, moving from paper-based testing to online administration and remote testing, and now into the realms of gamification. At Urban Psychometrics in Brisbane however, we have noticed that some of these technological advances present new challenges to employers and candidates.

Specifically, the popularity of smart phones used to complete a psychometric assessment or an aptitude test in Brisbane is causing some ongoing issues.

Why are smart phones a problem with psychometrics?

With mobile phones being our ‘go-to device’, more and more people are substituting their PC’s for their smart phone. Convenient, accessible and living in your back pocket, mobile phones are more a part of our daily lives than ever before.

It is easy to understand that when you manage your banking and payments, work appointments and scheduling on your smart phone, why wouldn’t you jump on your smart phone to complete the psychometric assessment or aptitude test your prospective employer has sent you?

What’s the problem with completing assessments on a mobile phone?

Unfortunately, what candidates don’t realise is that completing their online psychometric assessment or aptitude test on their mobile phone, may disadvantage them in the selection process. This is because, many of these assessments have not been designed to be compatible with mobile phones, presenting a whole host of issues that are likely to have a negative effect on a candidate’s results and deem the data invalid.

The solution is a phone call away!

Recognising that this has become a common problem in Brisbane, Urban Psychometrics ensures that each and every candidate is called before completing a remote, online assessment. These calls accomplish two goals. First, they establish a rapport with the candidate, and gives us an opportunity to explain the choice of the psychometric assessment and how it relates to the position.

Second, during each phone call we can also explain the importance of completing the assessment on a PC. When a candidate understands that using their PC will ensure that they are given the best chance to win the position and that the employer is given the most accurate results on which to base their decision, there is no problem with compliance.

Before you assess your next candidate, make sure that your psychometric assessment or aptitude test provider has briefed your candidate on the assessment process and the necessity of completing the assessment on a PC.

For more information on psychometric assessment in Brisbane, call us on 07 38 or 03 6147 or get in touch today.

Recruiters are looking nationally for the right staff

Over the last few years, more and more recruiters have needed to look farther afield to find the best candidates for their client’s high level jobs. At Urban Psychometrics, in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, this is a trend we have seen happening on a fairly constant basis.

This is one of the reasons why we offer a range of tests to our clients, so that they can streamline their recruitment processes and find the best candidates for their company fairly quickly. One of the tests that we offer is an aptitude test. In Sydney this has become very popular with our corporate clients in particular.

After all, as an employer, when you have to think outside the box to find the right candidates for one or more high-level roles in your company, you want to make sure that you have selected the best person for the job. This is where an aptitude test, also known as a cognitive ability test, is a very powerful addition to your recruitment processes, giving both employers and recruiters alike, the ability to identify the right person for the role.

Using an aptitude test in the recruitment process

In general, an aptitude test is a way to measure how an individual thinks and how they perceive, conceptualise and solve problems. At a managerial level, these are essential traits that are crucial to the success of your company. If the wrong person is selected for the role however, the results can have damaging and long term effects on your company’s reputation.

This is why we offer a range of psychometrics tests in Melbourne and Sydney, so that our clients can have full access to the best possible recruitment strategies for their business. We offer both online and face-to-face psychometric tests, making it much easier for recruiters to assess national or even international candidates for their suitability.

When you need to locate a candidate for a complex role in your organisation, an aptitude test is the perfect vehicle. You can test a candidate’s verbal, numeric, abstract, mechanical and spatial reasoning, customising your recruitment process and finding the ideal candidate for the role.

For more information on how an aptitude test in Sydney or Melbourne can assist your company to locate the best candidates for high level roles, call us at Urban Psychometrics on 07 3535 1220 or get in touch today.

What is the difference between a cognitive abilities test and personality test?

At Urban Psychometrics in Brisbane, we are often asked about the difference between a cognitive ability test and a personality test. For employers, both of these tests are important, but they do have different fundamental rationales underpinning them and so are used for different reasons.

Let’s take a look at each of these tests in turn, so as an employer, you know which test is best for your recruitment process.

Why use a personality test?

A personality test measures different aspects of a candidate’s personality to determine whether or not their behavioural traits lend themselves to performing a particular role and fitting into an established workforce. These traits include whether they appear to be conscientious in their work, how well they interact with other people, how well they deal with stress, their emotional stability and their level of optimism.

The problem with these tests are that many of them are not related specifically to their potential role and also that the candidates can give answers, which they believe are the ‘right’ answers. Nevertheless, at Urban Psychometrics in Brisbane, we find that there is still a place for a personality test within the recruitment process, however relying on this test alone can be fraught with difficulties.

Why use a cognitive ability test?

A cognitive ability test is typically used to measure how people respond to situations, how they think and whether they are quick to learn new tasks. In essence, it gives you a measure of a candidate’s cognitive reasoning, which is vital to success in their new role.

Problem solving plays a big part in a cognitive ability test, particularly for more complex roles, a trait that is not well tested in a personality test. As you can imagine, there may be times when you only need to use a personality test and other instances, when a cognitive ability test is far more appropriate.

Urban Psychometrics in Brisbane offers a range of different tests to employers, giving them the ability to streamline their recruitment process, and giving them the flexibility to customise these tests, specific to their needs.

To find out how you can streamline your recruitment process by using a cognitive ability test in your Brisbane business, get in touch today or contact us on 07 3535 1220.