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If you’re applying for a job at a global company, you may be asked to take an aptitude or personality test. Hearing this, you may be nervous about your test-taking or language skills. Don’t be. We spoke to several experts in global testing, and here’s what they told us.

What Companies Want to Know. Companies use tests to determine either aptitude (such as your skills as a Java programmer) or to rate personality traits (such as your ability to work within a team or under intense deadline pressure). It’s important to remember that in most cases, the company isn’t using the test to cull applicants - it’s using it to determine for which positions applicants are best suited. Employers often realize that candidates with different backgrounds may be more or less comfortable with questionnaires or tests, explains Dr. Karine Schomer, president of Alameda, Calif.-based Change Management Consulting & Training. “The company can’t assume the U.S. mindset,” says Schomer, “where people know they need to be as straightforward as possible.”

In some countries, such as India, Schomer says, applicants may focus on discerning a single correct answer. It’s important to remember that there aren’t necessarily “right” answers and “wrong” answers - just honest answers that come from your experience and background.

Archives for Job Testing

Landing the perfect job is a life-altering event, one that can improve your career, raise your socio-economic status and boost your self-esteem. But standing in the way between you and a job offer is a pre-hire test, one that may play a pivotal role in your future.

Is it possible to prepare yourself to score higher on a pre-employment test? While the answer is a resounding ‘yes’ for tests that measure subject-matter expertise, the answer becomes a little fuzzier when the question at hand is your personality itself. On the other hand, sometimes the questions asked are transparent and test-savvy applicants can mold themselves to seem more collaborative or empathetic.

Dr. Karine Schomer, president of Alameda, Calif.-based Change Management Consulting & Training, contends that pre-employment tests are not for eliminating applicants, but rather for gaining a better understanding of their skills and aptitude.

Of course, flunking an aptitude test for something like Java programming sends a message to applicants that, in those situations, they can always seek further education.

Archives for Job Testing

Globalization has expanded the opportunities of where we work and for whom we work. But how do global firms ensure that the people they hire locally are suited - from a standpoint of analytic skills, aptitude, and personality - for globally collaborative assignments?

According to hiring consultants and human-resources executives at international companies, it’s crucial for employers to hire firms that specialize in so-called psychometric testing. Only by working with those experts, who understand local cultural issues, can you devise a test that reveals an applicant’s capabilities. Maarten Van Beek, leadership and organizational effectiveness manager for international consumer-products firm Unilever in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, says, “Our competency model is used globally, but all tests are conducted locally. We need to assure that we take local or cultural differences into accordance.”

Sound simple? It’s not. Even experts disagree on the efficacy of such tests.

Archives for Job Testing

Globalization has expanded the opportunities of where we work and for whom we work. But how do global firms ensure that the people they hire locally are suited - from a standpoint of analytic skills, aptitude, and personality - for globally collaborative assignments?

According to hiring consultants and human-resources executives at international companies, it’s crucial for employers to hire firms that specialize in so-called psychometric testing. Only by working with those experts, who understand local cultural issues, can you devise a test that reveals an applicant’s capabilities. Maarten Van Beek, leadership and organizational effectiveness manager for international consumer-products firm Unilever in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, says, “Our competency model is used globally, but all tests are conducted locally. We need to assure that we take local or cultural differences into accordance.”

Sound simple? It’s not. Even experts disagree on the efficacy of such tests.

Take the commonly used Myers-Briggs personality test, which measures characteristics such as introversion vs. extroversion, or how much you rely on logic versus emotion. The Web site of the Myers & Briggs Foundation says that all types appear in “all cultures studied to date.” And Dr. Dennis Doverspike, a consultant in human resource management and a professor of psychology at the University of Akron in Ohio, concurs that it’s a valid test for measuring basic personality traits on a global basis. “As long as you’re talking about modernized countries with basic educational systems, personality characteristics, aptitudes and skills are pretty much globally consistent.”