Our Interview Preparation series will take you through various stages of the recruitment process: Job Adverts, Interviews to Accepting a Job Offer.

Interview Assessment Methods

The current economic climate means that now, more than ever, making right hiring decisions first time is crucial. Companies cannot afford to make hiring mistakes which result in new starters undergoing one or two years of an expensive, intensive, structured training programme, only to discover a year down the line, that the candidate is not right for the organisation. This is an expensive mistake.

Generally, the three most popular interview assessment methods are:

  • Face to Face Interviews (although telephone interviews are gaining popularity as an early sifting tool);
  • Psychometrics Tests (Aptitude/Ability tests) – see further details below
  • Assessment Centres – see further details below

Psychometrics Tests

Since academic qualifications alone cannot tell you how a person will perform in a particular role, more and more companies are now turning to alternative assessment methods including psychometric testing, to complement Face to face interviews which, statistically speaking, have a lower record of predicting future job performance.

What are psychometrics tests?

Psychometrics tests (ability/aptitude tests) are tests which are designed to measure individual difference in a number of areas such as:

  • Intelligence/Ability
  • Personality
  • Motivation

When used in combination with other information sources i.e. interviews and/or assessment centres, Psychometrics tests provide an insight into why people make the decisions they make, and why they behave in the way that they do. Psychometrics also help predict a person’s future behaviour and performance. Detailed descriptions of Psychometric tests can be found under our FAQ section

Assessment Centres

Unlike Face to Face interviews where the candidate talks about their capabilities, Assessment Centres in general, consist of a series of individual and group exercises and tasks specifically designed to gauge the candidate’s actual ability to perform a job – rather than simply relying on the candidate’s word.

Assessment centres can be expensive to run and so are often used towards the end of the interview process. They are also most frequently used by large graduate employers who want to hire a relatively large number of people for a similar job role, such as graduate trainee roles.