TESTS FOR CHOOSING CAREERS AND SCREENING EMPLOYEES
Personality Tests: its value in choosing a career path
It is a very common activity for a person to feel dissatisfaction whenever he moves from one job to another and the bar of this dissatisfaction increases when he changes his job before six months. This dissatisfaction comes in one or it happens because of the mismatch of the job with the person.
This means a person chooses or caught in the wrong job, for example an art lover get caught in a financial institution. This kind of jobs mismatch makes a person feel uncomfortable due to which one changes the jobs instantly. One thing which a person can do to avoid all of this kind of discrepancy is a personality test. Personality test is a procedure which if one practices then he will get to know that according to his personality which a suitable job is for him.
Personality test is not a test for which a person needs to go to a doctor or because one can get through with this test on his own. This personality will surely help him to get a suitable job which also matches his attitude and that is the most important thing which one should take care about prior choosing a job.
If a person likes the work he does then he becomes less stressful and is less anxious and his job becomes an enjoyment for him. If a person is doing a work which he really wants and also which suites his personality becomes more potential and performs in a better manner and also in this state the person’s learning ability increases and that too with a very high rate.
To get through with a personality test is not a big hassle these days as it was in earlier period. If a person wants to practice a personality test then he can undergoes the test as these tests are available free of charge on the internet and one can find thousands of links in just a single go.
This can not be judged that all of the personality tests which are available online are useful because there are many tests which are permissible but also there are many which are used only for fun and entertainment. Most of the tests are free but still there are people who pay for these tests because they think that they will get the appropriate result from this service and they could be right as well.
If you want to be happy in your work, you need to find a career that suits your personality, meets your needs and helps you to achieve your personal goals. This article shows you how to use psychometric tests to identify the careers that you will enjoy.
It can be very difficult to separate the careers that suit your personality and abilities from the careers that would frustrate you or make you unhappy. To be happy and successful in a job, you need to ensure that your abilities, values and personality are well aligned with those needed for your chosen career and with those of the organization you work for.
Online psychometric tests are very useful for this sort of self-assessment - they are quick to complete and give you good information on which you can base your Decision Making.
An important approach is provided by Assessment.com with the MAPP test. This asks you a series of questions based on your work preferences, and then recommends the careers that suit your preferences
A different approach is provided by Analyze My Career provides a suite of powerful psychometric tests - its different tools help you to assess your personality and fundamental skills in key areas. From these, it is able to suggest a good range of occupations that will suit you. This approach is important in that it gives you an objective assessment of whether you have the skills needed to succeed in particular careers.
One of the most widely used multiple aptitude batteries is the Differential Aptitude Tests (DAT). First published in 1947, it was designed principally for use in educational and career counseling of students in grades 8-12 and adults with more than 9 years of schooling but who may not have graduated form high school.
The DAT comprises the following 8 tests: Verbal Reasoning, Numerical Reasoning, Abstract Reasoning, Perceptual Speed and Accuracy, Mechanical Reasoning, Space Relations, Spelling, and Language Usage. There is also a special form, the Differential Aptitude Test for Personnel and Career Assessment, in which each of the eight tests has been shortened and printed in a separate booklet. With this form, particular tests may be chosen for relevance to specific occupations and used singly.
It’s common practice in the employment advisory industry to provide tests for people to determine their career paths and preferences. The scientific basis of some of these tests, however, is debatable. That is a potentially serious problem.
When choosing a career, you need reliable information, and a lot of it. That includes career tests.
The original Myers-Briggs test is the actual scientific basis of most of what you see being called career aptitude tests. The difference between Myers-Briggs and others is that the Myers-Briggs people were fully qualified to conduct the tests, and did the actual research work to verify their results.
The Myers-Briggs test is actually a personality test, much more than a career-related test. Ironically, that’s why it’s a much stronger fit for most people as a career guide, because it deals with the person’s preferences.
Some people have begun research on character-based relationships with careers, but that’s relatively recent, and there’s obviously a lot more work to be done to provide good quality information to career seekers.
Perhaps worse, many tests around seem to borrow freely from each other. If you buy a few career books, and check out the tests they provide, some are so similar that it’s beyond any possibility of coincidence.
That rather undermines the credibility of the tests, too. The net and the media are full of recycled ideas, so why would these books be any different? It’s doubtful, even dealing with the same subject, that any two genuine sources could, or would, produce identical material.
Some of the exercises provided for career seekers and job hunters are much like homework, too. These questions can only be considered useful if they’re actually providing meaningful information for the users. The value of some tests is more than a bit debatable, when some questions provide roughly the same information than you’d expect on a drivers license.
Myers-Briggs tests are the actual, accepted, acknowledged, industry standard,
They’re accepted because their results are consistent and verifiable. Some people have even used their Myers-Briggs results in their resumes and CVs, as references. It’s worth noting that everybody in the HR industry knows what a Myers-Briggs test result means.
The reason these career tests are so important is because people do need the information career tests are supposed to give them. If the tests don’t deliver, they’re either useless, or misleading, which could be worse than useless.
It’s strange, really, that the employers, trainers, colleges, and everyone else in the employment arena haven’t insisted on a compulsory, reliable, testing methodology for all students.
The single biggest decision people make in their lives is their career. They need all the help they can get to make an informed decision. They’re under a lot of pressure to make that decision. Many people would say they’re put under too much pressure, too soon, at a vulnerable stage of their lives.
What’s the point of having whole generations of people groping about blindly for a career path? The world is seriously short of trained people, and if career tests are going to be a guessing game with no rules and no responsibilities, the situation could get a lot worse.
A few points about career tests generally, so you can do some quality control.
Next time you take a test, be critical, be demanding, and have a look at the quality and relevance of the questions:
1. Did you find the conclusions of the test hard to accept?
2. If, after taking the test, do you think you’ve received answers which are relevant and useful?
3. Did you learn anything new, which you consider helpful?
4. Did you just get the same information you already had, in a different form?
5. Have you seen any of the material in those tests anywhere else?
6. Do you consider that the information gained from the test would influence your decision regarding a career?
7. What do you think the test should have asked you, regarding your preferences?
8. Did you think the test was dumbed down, or written for adults?
9. Were you confused by the test, and found it vague in its results?
10. Do you consider the overall quality of the test of a high or low standard?
Taking a test is one thing, interpreting it is another. It’s the interpretation that has to be done scientifically, and properly researched.
Not to overstate the problems, but if the interpretation’s wrong, what use is the test? The possibility for sending someone down the wrong track is too high to be considered acceptable.
All forms of testing are supposed to be done on a reliable basis, and when researched, they’re checked to make sure results are consistent. Tests are supposed to prove something.
The early aptitude tests were based on demonstrated skills and ability to reason and solve problems. Educational testing works very much the same way, throughout school and high school. In fact, just about every form of testing works entirely on that basis. Even job interviews contain very much the same elements.
Career tests aren’t supposed to be guesses. Nor should people be paying for the privilege of taking tests where even the basic methodology of the tests is dubious.
You don’t get a drivers license on the basis of saying you’d like to buy a car. Why should you do a medical degree on the basis of a test that indicates you’d probably be good at playing Doctors and Nurses?
The only good thing to be said for some tests is that they use the Myers-Briggs test as a sort of template. That, at least, if done properly, won’t be totally misleading, although it would still be nice to know if the people creating the tests are qualified.
Take the Myers-Briggs test anyway, from the Myers-Briggs people, even if it costs a few bucks. Think about the results, and read what they have to say about their tests. Myers-Briggs don’t claim omniscience, just science.
That’s how this sort of testing is supposed to be done. The people taking the tests are supposed to be better informed, not just pigeon holed.
You know how hard it is to find the right clothes that fit well. Usually they have to be tailored to you. Your preferences in style, color, comfort, and the overall look are big factors. People prefer to be able to choose according to their own ideas, too. Some people insist on their own personal style. Others feel quite insecure wearing the wrong clothes.
How hard is it likely to be to find the right career that fits you?
Screening Tests: Choosing the Right Employees for the Job
Psychological tests are commonly employed as aids in occupational decisions, including both individual counseling and institutional decisions concerning selection and classification of personnel.
Organizations in the business and industrial sectors, in the federal, state, and local levels of government, and in the different branches of the armed services use almost every type of available test in personnel decision making. Multiple aptitude batteries and special aptitude tests have often been developed for occupational purposes, as have the situational tests(the term was popularized during and following World Ward II, it shows certain basic similarities to the job-sample techniques employed in constructing occupational achievement tests and to the performance-based assessment of educational achievement. In this type of test, performance is evaluated primarily in terms of emotional, interpersonal, attitudinal, and other personality variables of the test taker(the applicant), that may be advantageous to the company, rather than in terms of abilities and knowledge.
One of the most enduring typological classifications was devised by Jung (1921/1971) and has served as the foundation for the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). Two of the most fundamental premises used in interpreting the results of the MBTI (as mentioned earlier, it can also be used for screening applicants as it is valuable to the applicants in choosing a career) are (a) that all types are valuable and necessary and have special strengths and vulnerabilities and (b) that all individuals are more skilled within their preferred functions, processes, and attitudes. These characteristics have contributed to the popularity of the MBTI and to its application for a variety of purposes, including career guidance, counseling, and team selection and development.
Validation of Employment Tests
From the standpoint of both employee and employer, it is obviously of prime importance that individuals be placed in jobs for which they have appropriate qualifications. Effective placement also implies that traits irrelevant to the requirements of the particular job should not affect selection decisions, either favorably or unfavorably. If a mechanical ability test requires a much higher level of reading comprehension than does the job, its use would not lead to the most effective utilization of the personnel for that job. The simple psychometric fact that test validity must be ascertained for particular uses of the test has long been familiar. It has acquired new urgency because of the widespread concern about job placement of culturally and educationally disadvantaged minorities. An invalid test or one that includes elements not related to the job under consideration may unfairly exclude minority group members who could perform the job satisfactorily.
One approach to personnel selection uses assessment procedures that resemble the job situation as closely as possible. This resemblance, however, can never be complete. A probationary appointment comes closest to being a true replica of the job. But even in this case, the shortness of the period and the knowledge that the appointment is probationary may influence worker behavior in a number of ways. Job samples represent another attempt to approximate actual job performance. Here, the task is actually a part of the work to be performed on the job, but the task and working conditions are uniform for all applicants.
Some tests employ simulation to reproduce the functions performed on the job. Simulations merge imperceptibly with job samples. Another method is the assessment center techniques, which have been used largely in evaluating managerial or administrative personnel. A distinctive feature of this approach is the inclusion of situational test, such as the in-basket, a technique adapted for testing executives in many contexts. Simulating the familiar “in-basket” found on the administrator’s desk, this test provides a carefully prepared set of incoming letters, memoranda, reports, papers to be signed, and similar items. Before taking the test, the examinee has the opportunity to study background materials for orientation and information regarding the hypothetical job. During the test proper, the task is to handle all the matters in the in-basket as the examinee would do on the job. Other assessment center techniques may employ roleplaying, group problem-solving, and business games. A common feature is the use of multiple assessors and peer ratings.
Job Analysis and the Job Element Method
Content validation of personnel selection tests depends on a thorough and systematic job analysis. To be effective, a job analysis must identify the requirements that differentiate a particular job from other jobs. It should also concentrate on those aspects of performance that differentiate most sharply between the better and the poorer workers.
The Prediction of Job Performance
Also, many organizations require forecasts of future job performance in order to make personnel selection and placement decisions. For these purposes, the techniques of synthetic validation and validity generalization increasingly have become the alternatives of choice.
Synthetic Validation
The concept of synthetic validation is based on the job element method premise that it is possible to identify skills, knowledge, and other performance requirements common to many different jobs. Synthetic validity has been defined as “the inferring of validity in a specific situation from a systematic analysis of job elements, and a combination elemental validities into a whole.
Validity Generalization
Originally developed by Schmidt and Hunter (1977), this approach permits the application of prior validity findings to a new situation through meta-analytic techniques.
The Criterion of Job Performance
Within each validation studies, a single convenient measure of job performance typically has been used to represent “the’ criterion, regardless of the purpose of the prediction process. One new model of job performance which promises to play an important heuristic role is the multiple factor theory that John P. Campbell and his coworkers have been developing in conjunction with the U.S. Army Selection and Classification Project. Initially, it makes some fundamental distinctions between those aspects of work evaluation that are under the control of the worker (i.e. the behaviors involved in job performance itself—and those that are not—for example, the consequence of job performance(effectiveness), its relative costs(productivity), and the value placed on each of these aspects by the organization(utility). With regard to job performance itself, any job entails multiple performance components (tasks) and that the determinants of each component consist of various combinations of knowledge, skill, and motivational elements within the worker.
Reference:
http://www.fadvassessments.com
http://www.assessment.com
http://www.qksrv.net
http://www.aboutcareereducation.com
ANASTASI, A., & URBINA, S. (1997). Psychological testing. (7th ed., pp. 288, 449, 490-509). Philippines: Simon & Schuster Asia Pte Ltd.
