subject: Aptitude Test- What Does Yours Say About You? [print this page] Hiring the wrong person is very expensive for an organisation; therefore it comes as no surprise that recruiters like to produce evidence of testing as a way of corroborating their recruitment decisions.
Does aptitude test fulfill this role? What exactly is it that recruiters are testing?
The most common Aptitude Test purposed to assess numeracy, literacy and problem solving. While being good at in their own right is a bonus, are these the key aspects that will affect the job being offered. personality career tests Could it be that by insisting all applicants undertake an aptitude test, then excluding all those who do not reach the pass mark, that organisations may be losing out on hiring many competent employees?
A further consideration should be that a number of people have the type of mind that relishes the questions posed in these tests while others, perhaps even some of those competent in the job, fail to see the point of them.
Rather than corroborate the recruiters hiring decision, they may, because of a poor showing in an aptitude test, be eliminating the very people the organisation actually needs.
Another consideration when using Aptitude Testis that people can be trained to pass them. There are many examples provided on the internet and books available on "How to pass Aptitude tests" Graduates generally get some training in this aspect of job hunting.
Consideration of these aspects is important, however even more important could be the applicants fit within the organisation. it is a fact that people are generally hired on aptitude yet fired on attitude.
A solution for some organisations has been to move from Aptitude Test to desk or real life exercises. By giving a prospective employee the outline of a real situation and asking for their ideas on how it could have been solved, may enable that person to demonstrate their competence. When this is in a task relating to the actual job, it could have more impact on the success of the person in the job role.
This also provides a more practical assessment of a person's approach to the challenge. They may not produce the ideal answer however they can be observed or questioned on the task and this could produce more meaningful information on the applicant than an aptitude test ever could.
Applicants could help the recruiter make better hiring decisions if they were to take the time to match their experience to the requirements of the actual job advertised. One reason that recruiters use Aptitude Test is to legitimize their screening out of applicants.
With numerous people chasing one job vacancy, this screening takes up inordinate amount of the recruiters' time. Anything that can save some of this time is seen to be a God send. It may save time, however it won't always improve the success of the selection process. Recruiters and applicants need to consider their methods if this situation is to have any chance of improvement.
