Psychometric testing for internships

As a qualified Psychometric Tester I’m aware of a number of myths surrounding this subject. It seems that because there are the letters
‘P S Y C H O’ in the word ‘Psychometric’ it conjures up something of the arcane; a mystical process delving into the inner reaches of the mind, some kind of alchemy, something akin to horoscopes.

A dictionary definition hopefully clarifies matters:
Psy•cho•met•rics - the branch of psychology that deals with the design, administration, and interpretation of quantitative tests for the measurement of psychological variables such as intelligence, aptitude, and personality traits.

The British Psychological Society reviews tests and sets out ‘Best Practice’ for the administration and interpretation of them. Organisations using such tests will have qualified people who are professionally trained. 92% of the employer members of the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) says they find them ‘a useful or very useful aid to the recruitment process’ and do so because they have found them to be reliable. One Manchester student who, on a feedback form, said: “Numeracy tests are useless; they test nothing” is certainly wrong.

Psychometrics falls into two distinct areas – ability tests and personality questionnaires. Whereas the first types are true tests with right and wrong answers, personality questionnaires simply differentiate between types of personality.

Personality Profiling is the subject of most misunderstanding and suspicion concerning Psychometrics. The purpose of these questionnaires is to identify candidates with personalities suitable for the job; different roles have different personality requirements for a person to be happy and successful. Employers often use these questionnaires as a confirmation of their own view established during the application and interview process.

Typically for undergraduates, ability tests will consist of one or more of the following – diagrammatic, verbal, numerical; with diagrammatic being used more for IT and engineering jobs.

When are you likely to encounter Psychometrics? Well, as we’ve seen with AGR, pretty frequently if you are applying to one of the major recruiters. Often, the pass mark is not enormously high; the test is there for you to demonstrate the required level of numeracy and literacy for the specific role. As two recruiters said:

“We’re not looking for Einsteins. We’re just checking that they perform as well as the average undergraduate.”

“Aptitude tests allow people from arts backgrounds to show that they’re numerate and people from science backgrounds to show that they’re literate.”

Many students are surprised to encounter tests when they apply for internships but, as internships are a good way for employers to decide who they would like to offer jobs to on graduation, the application process is often very similar to or the same as the process for a full time position. A successful internship can often lead to a permanent job offer without further application.

Performance on ability tests (verbal, numerical, diagrammatic) may be improved by practice. We have a wealth of information on testing on the Careers Service website including practice online tests. We also have an extensive range of practice books of tests which you can use in our Careers Resource Centre. The advantage of these is that you can check your answers and see where you are going wrong. Often, online practice tests just give you a score without pointing out the correct and incorrect answers.

Graham Keating, Careers Consultant.

Assessment centres for internships – what, why and how to do well!

If you’ve been applying for internships with big companies for the summer, and you’re lucky enough to pass the first hurdle – the application stage – you may well be asked to attend an assessment centre (or ’selection day’) at some point. You might wonder why employers would go to so much trouble (and expense!) just for an internship, but internships can often lead to offers of graduate jobs so companies are often thinking long-term when they recruit an intern and want to invest carefully.

So what are they about?

Assessment centres generally involve a series of activities which aim to give the recruiters more of a picture of what kind of person you are and how you might perform in the workplace. In addition to the ’social’ bits (e.g. meals and drinks), as well as presentations from the company, assessment days may include some or all of the following:

• Group tasks - you might be asked to work in a team to solve a hypothetical problem, e.g. choosing between different bid proposals, or to do something practical, e.g. build a bridge which meets certain requirements.
• In-Tray (or E-Tray) exercises – here you have to work through a set of admin-type tasks (usually in the form of e-mails, memos etc) and prioritise each one, saying what action you would take. Get more info and tips for in-tray exercises in our ‘In-Tray Exercise’ guide.
• Psychometric tests – more on these in a later blog post, but you can find out more about them and take practice tests in the Psychometric Testing section of our website.
• Presentations - this can vary from an initial self-introduction to the rest of the group and assessors to a formal presentation on a topic of your choice (or one given to you in advance). Sometimes you’re asked to do a presentation to report back on a case study. Download our guide to Presentation Skills.
• Interviews – see our earlier blog post about interviews.
• Case studies – this could be an individual or a group exercise. You’ll be asked to analyse a lot of information relating to a particular case in a limited amount of time and recommend a course of action.
• Role plays – these will generally relate to the area of work you’ve applied for, e.g. if the department is client-facing, you might be asked to role play dealing with a difficult customer (played by the assessor).
• Written exercises – you might be asked to write a business letter (e.g. in response to a complaint) or a short essay on a given topic.

Recruiters use these to test how you tackle different tasks and they generally have a list of ‘competencies’ that they’re assessing against, so the key to doing well at assessment centres is to think about what skills and qualities the employer is look for and to perform the tasks in such a way that demonstrates these skills. However, be careful though not to try too hard – the assessors will often spot a candidate who is behaving unnaturally or ‘out of character’!

So, what skills and qualities are employers looking for? Companies often list these on their website or at on-campus presentations, and you will usually find clues in the questions they asked on their application form! But in general, the types of characteristics they tend to look for are: excellent communication skills (including listening, good questioning, summarising etc), teamwork, problem-solving and analytical skills, organisation and time-management, and creative thinking. Leadership may also be sought, depending on the organisation and type of role applied for.

More help and resources from us…

We know assessment centres can seem pretty daunting to a lot of students, so we have various resources to help you at the Careers Service:

• Our Guide to assessment centres, which you can pick up from the Careers Resource Centre or download from our website as a pdf.
• Video of a simulated assessment centre, where you can see real students performing the tasks and find out what the employers think of each candidate and what criteria they use to assess them.
• Mock assessment centres, run by employers. Check out our latest events listings.

Interview tips!

Welcome back. It’s 2009 and you have exams to look forward to!

If you are really lucky some of you may have already been contacted over the Christmas break by employers inviting you for interview in January.

Yes it’s exam period, so you are going to have to do some serious multi-tasking to make sure you are prepared for both your interviews and your exams.

• Most employers are understanding if you have an exam on the day they invite you for interview and will offer you an alternative date.
• However, this is the real world, so an employer may not be THAT flexible about when they can interview you. After all if you can’t make it, I’m sure they will find someone else who can!

Preparation tips!

You may only get 1 or 2 days notice so prepare ahead of time.

Watch the interview videos & clips on our website

Etiquette - don’t make a fool of yourself before you even speak!

• It’s all about respect and behaving in a professional manner at all times with all staff you encounter.
• Don’t arrive late – it just shouts incompetent!  If circumstances conspire against you, make sure you ring to give your apologies in good time.
• Practise shaking hands – no-one likes a limp wet handshake.
• Don’t chew gum, turn your phone off and pack your iPod away!

Research the company – you probably will get asked why you have applied to them.  So why did you? A nice fat pay packet is not necessarily the best answer!

• What makes them stand out from their competitors?
• Who are their clients – show that you understand their needs

Research the role you applied for, if it’s an internship and you are not sure what exactly you will be doing, you still need to prepare.

• Show that you understand the nature of the business and the different roles involved.  If you have a clear interest in say… marketing  or audit, make sure you know what they involve in that company.
• Show commercial awareness – what issues might the company face as a result of changes in the economy or legislation?

Competencies - yep they’re going to come up. Think about the job what do YOU think would be important skills to have to do that job?

• You can usually find more information and hints on the company website
• There are some good standard competencies – teamwork, verbal communication, written communication, negotiation, problem solving, numeracy or analytical ability, organisation, leadership etc
• Really examine your past experiences for good examples of the above.  Examples can come from: education, employment, society work, volunteering or even your personal life and hobbies.

Weird & wacky questions

• Not so common as you might think but not an urban myth either.
• What kind of biscuit are you? Who is your favourite historical figure? You can’t second guess these, there is no right or wrong – just have a good reason and be prepared to argue your case.

There is loads more advice on our website to get you up to speed.

It may be possible to practise your interview technique – we have limited availability, but if we can’t fit you in we can suggest alternatives.

Above all don’t panic, an interview is a two way process -  they need to make a good impression on you too!

Coming soon… tips for Assessment Centres & Psychometic Tests.