Select Page

Why do I need training to use a psychometric test?

Imagine in a selection scenario you employed a personality test as part of your assessment kit. After your candidate completed the test and a report is generated, a common response is: “Now I got the report, so what’s next?”. Sometimes reports generated from a test are not as straight forward as one might think. Within the report there are quite a few technical terms that should not be interpreted in everyday language. Furthermore, the result presented in the report will be in statistical terms, without formal training the meaning conveyed can be easily distorted, or one simply cannot make sense of the result. Besides, the theoretical concepts about the measured constructs have to be understood. All these lead to the conclusion that without proper training, we can not be benefit from the test, simply because we do not understand what the test tells us!

Unfortunately there exist quite a few test marketers who are not psychologists. They use the name of psychometric tests but know nothing about psychometric testing, and their tests are of course poorly designed and have no predicting power at all. Even worse is that in order to boost their sales, they mislead the public that training is not needed and that those who require you to be trained to use tests are just looking for more money! But, the fact is the total converse is true. Let us go through a few common claims that a poor test vendor may make.

First of all they may claim that they have a very well designed computer-report, so it can do all of the decision making work for you, therefore you just don’t need to be bothered about training. However the fact is tests are not perfect and you can never rely totally on them to make any decision. The best practice is to conduct a follow up session to confirm the finding of the test and in order to do so properly, training is needed.

Other times they may say the ‘Technical details are too complex, lets forget about them’. Frankly technical details can sometimes be complex, yet it is important to understand them. Just imagine if you do not know anything about the test; how can you understand what the test tells you?

Even worse is the claim that the test is so well designed and there is no need to be trained in order to use it and understand it properly. However well designed, psychometric tests are advanced tools that built on real science. The user has to understand the theoretical background as well as psychological principles in order to achieve maximum benefit from the test.

After attending a training course in psychometrics, you will gain understanding of the design of the tests, the essential concepts of psychometrics and how to interpret and use test data in HR decisions.

By equipping yourself with this knowledge, you will first be able to choose the right test that suits your needs as you understand the differences between tests with different design, and have adequate knowledge to determine the quality of the tests. Furthermore, knowing about the concepts of psychometrics enables you to interpret the result accurately as the statistical terms and technical concepts are all meaningful to you now. You will be able to understand what the reports are telling you about the candidates and you will be well informed about the meaning behind it. All in all, a proper training course in psychometrics will enable you to maximize the benefits from using psychometric tests.