Feedback after Taking a Psychometric Test

According to the job specifications, psychometric tests may be employed as a part of assessment centers to establish the behavioral traits, cognitive abilities, and personalities of job candidates. Generally, these tests consist of verbal reasoning aptitude tests, personality tests, and numerical reasoning aptitude tests. Psychometric tests are usually conducted by trained human resource personnel and they have a good understanding of the impacts of these tests on manpower and the overall performance of the business. In some cases, upon successful completion of psychometric tests, the interviewers provide feedback to the candidates. The feedback may contain details of the test results and what they mean for each candidate.

Impacts of Psychometric Test Feedback

You may be asked to take part in a psychometric test for the vacant job position you have applied for to check out your competency for the job role. So, getting feedback after taking a test will help you identify your strengths and weaknesses, and foster personal growth by improving on traits that might have negative impacts on your relationships, workflow habits or decision-making skills. If feedback is not provided, you may feel down by thinking that you have a negative personality which may have cost you the job opportunity. Some candidates will also disregard the test entirely and because of that, they may fail to make any positive adjustments to their skills, behaviors, and personalities, costing them future job opportunities as well.

Should You Ask For Feedback?

It is important for you to find out your score in the psychometric test you have taken so that you may identify your mistakes and work on improving them. Some recruiting agencies may provide feedback to the candidates immediately after an interview. This can be done through an email, or face-to-face interview or telephone call. Some companies will require a clear form of prompt from the candidates before releasing the results.

Usually, the recruiters allocate sufficient time for the feedback session. This allows for an in-depth review of results for each candidate. However, some companies may not provide results after conducting psychometric tests due to their company policies, thus restricting sharing of such information. If so, you should not criticize the testing process, the company or the recruiters’ competence; as it is wise for you to maintain your professionalism throughout the recruiting process. You should conduct a thorough research on what specific information is needed from test results and why this information is meaningful. However, you should do this before asking for the test results.

Dos and Don’ts of Feedback

While receiving feedback, you should keep a positive mind and understand that everybody makes mistakes and you still have the chance to work on them. You should ask relevant questions during the review session to make sure you understand what your weaknesses and strengths are and how you can make the required adjustments. Whenever necessary, you should explain the positive sides of any weaknesses that were observed during the test to bring out how this can be beneficial for the business organization. Thus, you should take advantage of the feedback process and utilize the allocated time to the maximum. You should ensure that at the end of the review, you have properly understood what the recruiter was looking for in a potential employee.

In the event that the recruiter has not provided any feedback, a self-evaluation will be necessary for you. Self-evaluation may involve re-examining the test and the qualities under assessment and thinking constructively about the answers to each question. You should examine how much time was spent on each question and if the questions were prioritized adequately. By using reference materials, you may be able to establish how well you understood the vocabulary, diagrams, and images used in the psychometric test questions. Additionally, questions should be reviewed to gauge which ones were easily answerable and which ones needed further reading. This self-evaluation process will assist you to prepare much better for the future tests and make necessary adjustments to undesirable traits. Although a useful method, self-evaluation should be used with caution. You need to put your focus on seeking out your weaknesses rather than strengths as brought out by the psychometric tests to make the necessary improvements.  

Employers usually set different pass scores for different psychometric tests. These scores may be influenced by the job role, the business goals and the type of the tests. Percentile scoring is generally used when grading tests, as it provides an unbiased platform for employers to compare the results of different candidates who have taken the same test. Depending on the performance of other candidates in psychometric tests, the pass mark can be adjusted higher or lower. Additionally, employers generally require higher pass scores for tests that evaluate the most relevant skills for the job. It is important to note that psychometric tests do not have a universal good score or pass rate.

Finally, according to The Society for Human Resources Management, (SHRM), candidates who receive feedback after taking psychometric tests are likely to be more productive and efficient at work than those who do not. It is, therefore, crucial for employers and recruiters to take the process of providing feedback seriously. Feedback is usually provided on a person-to-person basis and so you should not spend time focusing on the performance of competitors or colleagues; rather, you seek to find ways of self-improvement.

Moreover, you should take the feedback sessions as an opportunity to set your work and life goals. In case you exhibit extreme emotional and short-tempered or irrational traits, you need to take time to practice relaxation techniques. These will help you keep calm when receiving negative feedback from the interviewers. There are several extenuating factors that may affect the outcome of a test, including your state of mind while taking the test, undue pressure or inadequate rest.