What are aptitude tests?
An Aptitude test is any type of assessment that evaluates the ability or potential to perform a certain task and react to a range of different situations, with no prior knowledge or training.
The most common types of Aptitude test are:
Numerical reasoning – are designed to test your ability to deal with numbers quickly and accurately. These tests contain questions that assess your knowledge of ratios, percentages, number sequences, data interpretation and financial analysis.
Verbal Reasoning – are designed to test your understanding and comprehension skills. Normally you will be presented with a short passage of text which you’ll be required to interpret before answering specific questions. These are typically in the ‘True, False, and Cannot Say’ multiple choice formats.
In-tray Exercises – are designed to test your ability to prioritise and order data. You will be given a organisational role and be presented with specific data (some information will be crucial, others more trivial). You will be asked to work through it within a time limit; this might include drafting replies, delegating tasks, and recommending actions.
Diagrammatic tests – are designed to test your logical reasoning normally under strict time constraints. You will be asked to analyse a sequence of shapes, patterns and sometimes numbers to assess your ability to identify the rules that apply to sequences and then use them to pick an appropriate answer. The questions are usually multiple choice.
Cognitive Ability Tests – are designed to test your problem solving ability, and assessments of general mental ability. (They are often called IQ tests) They are considered among the most accurate, reliable, and valid) of all psychological tests and assessments. They test your memory, ability to learn new information, and your understanding of written material.
Why do companies use Aptitude Tests?
They give employers an opportunity to make more informed decisions on who to hire when they have a number of people who fit their brief. With more than one applicant applying for a position, it is importance to make comparisons between candidates. The tests can assess many factors important in terms of choosing the right candidate.
It is imperative that the tests used need to be designed with the actual vacancy in mind. It makes no sense if the skills and knowledge being tested are irrelevant to the position on offer.
Future Resume successfully helps HR managers and business owners hire the employees that are right for the job role. With detailed insights into a candidate that aren't available from traditional job applications, Future Resume helps businesses make logical hiring decisions.Future Resume
Other types of Aptitude Test
An Aptitude Test is a competency-based testing method in which questions pertaining to verbal, numerical and logical reasoning are included. Aptitude tests are specifically designed to test a candidate’s ability to perform challenging tasks and react to different work-related situations. In most cases there is a right and wrong answer, and normally they have a strict time to take the test.
Even though they are often put under the same heading Personality Assessments are different in that there is no right or wrong answer. Also, personality tests are not time-bound. The candidates have enough time to deliberate and select the most appropriate answers to the questions asked.
A Personality Assessment consists of a self-report questionnaire in which carefully constructed questions are used to judge the aspects of the candidate’s personality that are relevant to the workplace. Each question is one that does not outwardly reveal what it measures. Once completed the information gathered on the candidate is collated into a personality profile.
The responses given by the candidates in the personality test help potential employers in predicting the candidates’ future performance in the organisation.
What are the issues with Ability Tests and Personality Assessments?
Ability tests and Personality tests are designed to differentiate candidates so that decisions can be made on their suitability for the position being recruited for.
However often with such tests the question that is often overlooked is whether the employer is actually using the correct tests for the position they are hiring for. Often employers use the same tests for all candidates for all jobs and end up with ‘more of the same’.
Their use also begs the question in terms of their interest (or not) in Diversity. And also creates Bias when it might not be appropriate.
It is also true to say that many candidates ‘practice’ certain tests to ensure their scores are high, and also practice personality assessment to overcome their actual or perceived weaknesses.
How they link to Future Resume
Future Resume also helps recruiters to make decisions in the hiring process but comes from a different approach. We are interested in giving a true authentic picture of the person.
We are also interested in not what they already have in terms of skills but what their true talents are. We are also interested in getting a sense of a persons values… and even more important what their aspirations are for heir future.
Even though our questionnaire is not a ‘Test’ and neither is it an ‘Assessment’ where the results are being compared with norm groups, we believe it is taking a different approach to finding that right person.
We are trying to disrupt the way recruitment is conducted, and also realise that because of the huge investment in assessment and testing by companies alongside an even bigger investment in what we consider to be the out-dated addiction to CV’s that our approach is indeed an upward struggle!
Find out more about how Future Resume works.