Types of Psychometric Tests

Broadly speaking, there are two types of Psychometric Tests: aptitude or ability tests, and personality or affinity tests.

Aptitude Tests aim to measure the level of competence or ability a person has in one or more specific areas. The most common tests of this type are those that measure verbal aptitude and those that measure intelligence. There is, however, a wide variety of different aptitude tests, depending on the position being evaluated. For example, to evaluate software development professionals, specific tests can be used to measure the applicant’s ability to solve algorithms and other kinds of problems through programming. Most aptitude tests are usually timed, since speed of response is generally an important factor. Unlike personality tests, in aptitude tests there are clearly correct or incorrect answers, and it is possible to use them to objectively determine which candidates have the highest levels of the competence or skill sought. For example, identifying the candidates with the greatest reading comprehension ability. These tests make it possible not only to “rank” candidates, but also to understand what the result obtained by a candidate means. For example, if intelligence is being evaluated, the test should be able to tell whether the candidate has a high, low, or medium level of intelligence. These tests are ideal for pre-filtering candidates, since they are objective and have great predictive capacity for future performance, but they cannot be used as the sole factor in hiring decisions.

On the other hand, Personality or affinity Tests do not seek to establish a ranking or determine whether a person is good or bad at something, but to discover attributes of their personality, behavior, and preferences. In general, there are no good or bad answers in this type of test, and one result is no better than another. However, some profiles fit better than others for particular jobs. For example, an extremely creative person who always likes to do new things might be a good candidate for research and development, but perhaps not for a purely operational and routine job. Likewise, a team made up exclusively of very introverted people would probably not be ideal. Another important use for this type of test is precisely to ensure a healthy level of diversity, so as to have teams where different kinds of opinions and ideas are voiced. We said earlier that a very creative person might not be the best fit for an operational job, but perhaps if we need a team of 10 people to carry out operational tasks, it could be interesting to have one creative person who could help with new ideas on how to do the work better.

The most common approach is to use psychometric aptitude tests to pre-filter, and personality tests to get to know the candidate better and make sure they are a good fit for the position, the team, and the organization’s culture.