"Prevue" psychometric test - any tips?

kmoon

I've to undertake a psychometric test called the "Prevue Assessment" for a postition that I have applied for in a semi-state agency. Has anyone ever taken this test and can give some advice or tips? Failing that, any advice at all on psychometric testing in general would be helpful, it's a long time since I've done one. I guess honesty is the best policy but no I imagine there's do's and don'ts at the same time.

Thanks in advance folks

pauldiv

I passed a couple of these tests recently and they are a doddle if you answer the questions honestly.

Some tests consist of about 60 questions in a multiple choice type format.
They look simple enough but they are so cleverly designed by the shrinks that create them that you would not think they could glean any useful enough information to tell whether a person is right for a particular job.

The questions are designed to get a good idea of your overall character and they might focus on a few character traits such as ability to fit in, originality of ideas, if you are extrtovert or introvert and can you handle pressure and so on. All the usual bull really.

The reason why it's best to be honest is that you are asked the same questions repeatedly but they are disguised with different words or phrases.

Remember all the answers you give from the off because you might get to question 9 and think "WTF - I just had that question a few minutes ago".

Tell them what they want to hear and dont sweat it.

board om

as pauldiv said, keep it honest. if you try and cheat these tests they will know. basically the tests are written in such a way that if you try and over analyze the answers the results will show up as inconclusive, so bsaically they will know you werent entirely honest with your answers. the whole idea is to get a picture of how you think and work so the best preperation you can do is have a good nights sleep and go in with a nice clear head, and just answer the questions as straight up as possible.

good luck with it.

Eoin

If it's the same type of test I did (similar to Myers Briggs), then it's not actually that useful in an interview situation. With a little practise, it's really not that hard to match your answers with what an interviewer is looking for.

board om

eoin_s wrote: »

If it's the same type of test I did (similar to Myers Briggs), then it's not actually that useful in an interview situation. With a little practise, it's really not that hard to match your answers with what an interviewer is looking for.

but its quite obvious when someone is trying to do this. if you try and aim the answers in a certain direction you can end up shooting yourself in the foot. at the end of the day there are no right or wrong answers to the questions, the idea is the answers you give will build up a profile of your personality and the way you work. so if you go in there and just do the test honestly then the results will be correct, but if you go in there and try to BS the answers then it will be very obvious becuase the answers wont add up and the test will show up as inconclusive.

when i used to do recruitment some companies used to do these tests before interviewing candidates. and it was always the smart feckers who came out of the test telling you that they 'tricked' the test that never got called for an interview. they spent so much time trying to give what they considered to be the correct answers that they missed the whole point of the test.

as i said, the best preperation you can do for thse types of test is a good nights sleep and a clear open mind.

Eoin

board om wrote: »

but its quite obvious when someone is trying to do this. if you try and aim the answers in a certain direction you can end up shooting yourself in the foot. at the end of the day there are no right or wrong answers to the questions, the idea is the answers you give will build up a profile of your personality and the way you work. so if you go in there and just do the test honestly then the results will be correct, but if you go in there and try to BS the answers then it will be very obvious becuase the answers wont add up and the test will show up as inconclusive.

when i used to do recruitment some companies used to do these tests before interviewing candidates. and it was always the smart feckers who came out of the test telling you that they 'tricked' the test that never got called for an interview. they spent so much time trying to give what they considered to be the correct answers that they missed the whole point of the test.

as i said, the best preperation you can do for thse types of test is a good nights sleep and a clear open mind.

I could be thinking of a different test - I did the Myers-Briggs test - but the person who conducted it (and is fully trained in it) told us that it wasn't not a particularly relevant interview tool as it is possible to bias your answers based on what you may think the interviewer is looking for with a bit of practise.

pauldiv

Since people seem to like the thread I thought I'd add to what I said earlier.
Hopefully it makes good reading for people who are going for these tests.

As board said there are always people who go into transmit after taking these personalty tests and then try to convince us they are more clever than the people who designed the tests.

I would not listen to people like that too much because they are denying the fact that the test left them feeling uncomfortable and rattled.
It is just bravado and I am sure that they see things differently when they are alone with their thoughts.

The tests make you really think about who you are and what your true personality is. It does not matter how you answer the questions as long as you are consistent with your answers.

They call it "Targeted Selection" and it was dreamed up by someone in the states.

Answer the questions to suit the job you are going for.
If you answer the questions truthfully and you get the job you have recourse to the test results if ever you are getting any **** from your future boss.

It also depends on what positions they are looking to fill.
If you come across as introverted they might give you a job as a lab technician and if you come across as a bully they might give you a job a team leader.

I applied for a job at Cisco and took an online shrink test.
The questions were mainly about handling pressure, your liking for analytical thinking, how much you talk, do you take control or are you a wallflower etc.

The Cisco test started the alarm bells early because most of the questions seemed to want to know how I handled pressure - I don't do pressure anymore because pressure is caused by the insecurity and greed of modern day management.

I decided there and then I would never work for Cisco but I went for the interview anyway because I dont get out of Sligo much and a trip to Galway is always nice. Or so I thought..

Two very technical interviews an hour each - one right after the other.

The first interview was held in a light room with lots of sunlight and two really nice interviewers asked me lots of technical stuff and I did myself proud.

The second interview was held in a very clamy and dark room with no windows and the two interviewers were very unfriendly.

There were trays with coffee pots and half eaten biscuits sitting right under my nose and then they started asking me to write down flowcharts to stupid programming questions.

One was a young woman and the other was senior management - a yankie fellow that looked like the psycho in Dirty Harry. There was something very unsettling about him and I - knowing that I was never going to be in a position where this fecker had power over me - took him full on and wiped the floor with him and his stupid questions.

After the interview I felt angry and when I got home and told the wife about the experience she described it as psychological rape.

And what do I think?

I couldnt care less and I stick to what I said earlier - you just cant find a good manager these days. Five years ago I reckon I would have pulled the fecker out of his chair and had a nice little word in his shell.