Monday, October 14, 2013

Find out what your strenghts and weakness are before you start looking for a new job

Psychometric testing, in conjunction with mock interviews, will identify your professional strengths and weaknesses.

IDENTIFYING your job strengths can be done with a pencil and paper, but, if you are contemplating a change of career, and are uncertain of what area you would like to work in, it might be time to consult a career counsellor.

Recruitment consultants routinely deal with clients who want to change jobs, or their work practices, and, in certain cases, will recommend a professional, such as a career counsellor, or occupational psychologist.

By using psychometric testing, career counsellors and occupational psychologists help people to identify what they like, and what they are good at. There are a number of psychometric tests and questionnaires on the market. The type of tests a person should sit are decided by the career counsellor, or by a staff member of his/her company’s human resources department.

“Psychometric testing is widely used in recruitment. It can let a company know a lot about the personality and particular skills of a job applicant,” says occupational psychologist, Jona Walter. Ms Walter says psychometric testing is undertaken in conjunction with an interview to assess skill levels, and takes between 20 minutes and an hour to complete.

Tony Spencer, MD of Careers Transition Services (CTS), says psychometric tests are designed to show inconsistencies in the subject’s answers: if someone lies in a test, it will be spotted. “It’s easy enough to go for the answer which you think an employer will want you to go for, rather than choosing the answer which first pops into your head,” Mr Spencer says. “But if you do that, you will generally be caught out, either in the test itself, or later, at interview stage.”

For example, if an applicant for a demanding sales job seems to be an extrovert according to the psychometric test results, this will be exposed or verified in an interview. Good interviewers should be able to spot inconsistencies in answers, says Mr Spencer, whose company uses four psychometric tests.

The Myers Briggs Type Indicator is not often used in recruitment, but is commonly used by career counsellors assessing personality types and leadership skills. CTS also uses the Occupational Personality Questionnaire, which is an extensive set of questions designed to examine working traits.

The questionnaire gives a potential employer, or the career counsellor, an indication of the type of management system best suited to the applicant. CTS also use the Career Path Finder test, to gauge the interests of the applicant. This test is used regularly by human resources departments. “If you are going for a job as a finance director, then it would be important to have good numerical reasoning skills. But you’ll find some accountants aren’t strong in this area,” says Mr Spencer.

Helping people discover what they are good at is easier with psychometric testing, says Mr Spencer, and you should undergo it if you are contemplating a change of career. Mr Spencer works, daily, with people who want to change careers. He identifies three questions which must be answered honestly if a client is to move in the right direction. “What do I like doing? What do I want to do? What are my needs? Once these questions are answered in an honest way, decisions about career will be a lot easier,” he says.

Answering these questions can take time, depending on the individual. Mr Spencer gives an example of someone working in management, with a background in engineering, who is dissatisfied with his/her job. One of the first questions to be answered is what she/he likes. From this point, it will be easier to find out what the person wants to do.

“The person may have been promoted into a managerial role years ago, and it just creeps up on them that they really don’t like dealing with people that much and don’t like their job. It may take a bit of time, but he or she could discover that the best solution is to go back to working as an engineer, even if it requires a drop in salary,” says Mr Spencer. Mr Spencer cites the example of a scientist who wants to become a journalism. It may take years to become established as a science correspondent, but it has to start with a few small steps in the right direction.

“At least he knows what he wants, and it may take years to achieve it, but once he makes a decision to pursue it he can start moving in the right direction towards his goal,” says Mr Spencer.

Because many people are uncertain of the career they want, a career counsellor is of benefit. Sitting a psychometric test, and answering a lengthy set of questions in as short a time as possible, is off-putting to many job candidates, who may fear the outcome of the test.

This fear is unwarranted.as their personality will be obvious in an interview. If applicants have lied in the psychometric tests, a good interviewer will notice inconsistencies in the answers. Otherwise, the wrong person may be hired.

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