One of the challenging tasks for a company is to find an employee, especially a person who could be responsible, a good decision-maker, and capable enough to benefit the organization.
However, aptitude tests have made it easy to determine a person’s eligibility by assessing his abilities and skills for various positions. This psychometric testing procedure is based on cognitive, learning, thinking, and reasoning gestures that help recruiters find the best fit for the job.
In this article, you will explore what is an aptitude test, various types of Aptitude tests, and how the recruitment criteria work in selecting a competent candidate.
What is an Aptitude Test?
An aptitude test is a type of psychometric testing that is utilized to analyze a person’s skill. More precisely, it is a standardized method of evaluating a person’s overall ability to learn and perform certain tasks. The test evaluates the person’s intelligence, knowledge, abilities, and skills in various technical, interpersonal, and managerial areas.
An aptitude test helps the employer in hiring candidates based on their skills, abilities, and personality rather than blindly following the details on their resume.
Purpose of Conducting Aptitude Tests
An aptitude test is an authentic way to determine how well a candidate performs in a specified period during the selection process. It also helps determine the level at which candidates should be placed in the organization.
The psychometric testing technique is effective for multiple purposes like selecting employees, recruiting students for higher education courses, counseling for career guidance, etc. These tests are important tools that organizations can use to choose the best candidates for various positions.
Benefits of Aptitude Test
- An aptitude test can help employers determine which job they need to fill more closely. It can also assist them in assessing what type of worker they want on their team by determining if they possess the right skill set for the job.
- This test will help in predicting a person’s future career path by giving an idea about his personality, skills, and interests.
- These tests are also helpful in determining the candidate’s deficiency in any particular area, which may affect the performance during the process.
- The psychometric aptitude test gives an insight into the person’s ability to perform in different fields and areas. It will help you understand what kind of work environment applicants like to work in and how you can utilize their skills in various settings.
Use Cases of Aptitude Test
Lateral Hiring
Lateral hiring involves two scenarios. The first involves hiring an employee from the same or the competitor organization for the senior role. The other is selecting an existing employee for multiple roles in the organization.
Employing the same candidate reduces the cost per hire and demands minimal training for the new position. The strategic hiring process involves psychometric assessment and situational judgment tests.
Campus Recruitment
Campus Recruitment covers the overall assessment of a candidate with basic logical, verbal and analytical tests. The recruiters make decisions based on the data obtained as they don’t have a sound idea of the applicant’s first-hand knowledge and experience.
Employ Evaluation
Benefitting the organization with progressive strategies is the main goal of the hiring process. The process involves the identification of a candidate’s innate ability and personality traits to form synergistic teams. Like-minded people are more likely to collaborate and perform better. Here the prerequisite tests are 16 personality factors (16PF), Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, etc.
MBA Graduates Hiring
To qualify for a job in an organization, MBA individuals must possess team-building skills with a broader management perspective. They are obliged to bring new ideas and skills as well as benefit the organization with effective decisions and expertise in specific work areas.
The prerequisite tests for them include logical reasoning, market research, decision-making skills, HR roles, financial and marketing analysis, etc.
Types Of Aptitude Tests
There are different types of aptitude tests, namely verbal reasoning tests, numerical reasoning tests, non-verbal reasoning tests, personality tests, etc. They all vary according to their purpose and area of focus. Some of these are as follows:
Numerical Reasoning Test
The Numerical Reasoning Test is a kind of numerical aptitude exam, especially conducted for bankers and accountants positions to assess the candidate’s mathematical ability. The eligibility for the test includes a good command of solving fractions, graphs, and equations and suggesting correct decisions regarding the statics.
Verbal Reasoning Test
Verbal reasoning tests involve solving problems that require analyzing and interpreting data verbally. The test evaluates your communication and comprehension skills and attentiveness to draw immediate conclusions. The questions may need you to read short paragraphs and answer the MCQs based on the information provided in the passages.
Mechanical Reasoning Test
Mechanical reasoning tests measure how well you can solve problems involving mechanical rules and principles, such as those found in engineering or science fields. The test is about judging your mechanical and engineering concepts for the jobs relevant to engineering. A candidate must be good with the technical terms to execute it in a limited duration.
Spatial Reasoning Test
Spatial reasoning refers to thinking in three dimensions, including visualizing objects and their relationships to other things. This kind of test is often used to determine your innate mental ability. Some of these tests will ask you to re-organize shapes and predict specific patterns as per the orientations without touching them.
In-Tray and E-Tray Exercises
In-tray and E-tray testing is a psychometric assessment type involving solving a cascade of business-related problems using intuition. The technique implies judging the candidate’s multi-tasking by exposing him to different tasks. This way, a recruiter estimates if a person applying for the job is good at analyzing priorities and settling conflicting demands.
Inductive Reasoning Test
These tests show employers how well they can think outside the box and play their role in solving problems creatively. The skill set refers to problem-solving ability because it helps people identify solutions for issues that do not appear commonly. The test helps to give an idea of a person’s conceptual and analytical capacity.
Logical Reasoning Test
The logical reasoning test is a general intelligence test that evaluates your reasoning abilities and judgment. This test assesses how you think logically and come up with solutions to problems that require logic, imagination, and critical thinking skills.
For example, a logical reasoning test may ask you to identify the best solution when given several choices. Either way, you would be asked to address hypothetical scenarios.
How Accurate are Aptitude Tests?
We can’t predict the complete accuracy of an aptitude test as sometimes the selected candidates are good with problem-solving theoretically but not practically. On the other hand, the candidate’s scoring minimum may have the potential to perform extraordinarily well.
Psychometric testing is more of probability than certainty. There is no denying that aptitude tests often help to derive the best decisions, but you can’t claim the nature of the process is 100% authentic.
Conclusion
Experimenting with each type of aptitude test in the recruitment process helps you get the best fit for the job. It is because psychometric testing gives you a better idea of a person’s multi-tasking skills. Following these strategic approaches, you may polish their skills for the long-term benefit of the organization.
