As a career counselor, your position is elevated to that of a teacher. In fact, even more so, if you are out there advising professionals on their career path. One of the tools that help you in this journey, is a psychometric test. Here is an article on Why Using Psychometric Test Is Important For Career Counselors .
Table of Contents
Before we can delve into how important these tests are for you as a career counselor to understand your subject, let’s see what psychometrics is. ‘Psychometrics’ is the study of gauging the abilities of the mind. It goes beyond the qualifications displayed on papers and the verbal. We formulate psychometric tests especially to understand them.
- Obvious mental capability or mental abilities
- Innate ability to deal with everyday problems
- The acquired knowledge is applied in various ways.
- Personality
- Memory
- Stress-handling ability
- And of course, intelligence.
A good career counselor’s job entails not just guiding the counsellee as per the superficial and easy. Remember that the subject would have access to umpteen resources to guide him / her career-wise. So what made him come to you? The faith that you would look beyond and help the person understand himself. Based on that, you would offer your counsel.
Why Psychometric Tests?
In order to move forward, you must take a few steps back and reflect on who you are now and determine where you want to go. This includes an In depth analysis of life history, personal barriers, personality style, value, interests, skills…ETC. It Is most important part of our counselling session it helps in analyzing your capabilities, where you have to improve, what are your loopholes that fits better with you and evaluates your interest area. After that certified counselors analyze it and guide people in career planning.
Important characteristics that need to be investigated and assessed are personality, intelligence, attitude, and beliefs. A psychometric test is a tool that can be used to assess a person’s aptitudes and interests. A psychometric test can be used to validate a conclusion. They reveal information about a person’s personal preferences and connections, as well as whether or not they are a suitable cultural fit for the career. Know more about Ideal career test .
Types Of Psychometric Tests
Broadly speaking, a psychometric test can belong to either of the two categories:
- Tests aimed at understanding the mental capacity and personality characteristics
- Tests designed for capturing the client’s aptitude through cleverly-formulated questionnaires and quizzes.
Mental And/Or Personality Tests:
- Stress-handling ability
- Behavioral patterns: that will help in understanding a person’s tendency to act or react in a certain way.
- Measuring emotional intelligence or emotional quotient
- How the person would handle inter-personal relationships
Aptitude Tests:
That would measure among other things, the critical reasoning ability, through a series of or singular tests. They are not absolute scores, rather a comparative percentile. They are different from the test, that your student client would be facing at school or college.Test-takers take an aptitude psychometric test without any prior preparation. The tests aim to gauge the subject’s potentiality to handle and succeed at a given task, without having any inkling of the same beforehand.
Tools That Are Included In A Psychometric Test
Some basic and some advanced carefully drafted questionnaires and tests help in achieving the above:
Personality And Behavior Quantifiers That More Or Less Focus On The Mental Abilities Of An Abstract Manner:
- MyersBriggs Personality Test for professionals and the
- The MurphyMeisgeier Type Indicator for Children aims to capture the same in teenagers and children. This tool has gained popularity in recent times.
- Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire: to measure the stability of emotions and patterns of behavior. Again, one of the popular personality tests.
- Riso-Hudson Enneagram Type Indicator: that aims at measuring your basic personality.
Aptitude Tests:
- Inductive reasoning, which is also known as logical reasoning.
- Verbal reasoning
- Numerical
- Cognitive: to assess memorizing ability, ability to recognize and place basic shapes and objects
- Situational tests based on the hypothesis
Importance Of A Psychometric Test For You As A Career Counsellor
After looking into the what is and why is of these tests, it becomes clearer why they are crucial for you as a Career Guide. When a student approaches you, the application of these tests would help you understand him/her beneath the obvious layer. You help a student in making a very critical career decision.
Simply looking at the qualifications and as per the interest of the candidate, your advice would be a lot like that rendered to him by the aforementioned people. He wishes for us to understand and analyze him beyond that, while looking in-depth in the direction. It is here that these psychometric tests and tools would come to your rescue.
You might end up helping the person discover a part of his personality or ability that he had hitherto been unaware of. You, as the career advisor, can also utilize the test results and apply the same, while counselling and career guidance. For example, one of the benefits of a psychometric test is that you are able to gauge what drives and motivates that person.
Armed with this knowledge, you would be able to zero in on a method of imparting your counsel, in the most effective way
Needless to say, this only makes your job so much more satisfying when the vulnerable teenager in front of you, begins to see himself in a new light or even if it simply reinforces his confidence! These aptitude and personality tests would also, especially, come in handy when the person is resistant and / or diffident. You would be able to build that bridge through to his mind and bring him around so that he accepts your career guidance.
Become Certified Psychometric Practitioner
Get access to career assessments designed for 9th class to working professionals by careerguide . You can get access to all the 12 assessments at the same price. No need to purchase a separate license for 12 different assessments. 1 license coupon can be applied to all the assessments. Learn the science behind psychometrics and use in your counseling sessions scientific data-driven career advice. Assessments designed for global standards & designed for the new world of work already used by more than 10 lakhs individuals.
FAQ's on Why Using Psychometric Test is Important for Career Counsellors
Q: What is a psychometric test?
A: A psychometric test is an assessment tool used to measure a person’s personality, abilities, and interests. These tests are designed to provide objective and standardized data to help individuals make informed decisions about their career paths.
Q: How can psychometric tests benefit career counseling?
A: Psychometric tests provide career counselors with valuable information about their clients’ abilities, personality traits, and interests. This information can help career counselors tailor their advice and guidance to meet the unique needs of each client, ultimately increasing their chances of making the right career decisions.
Q: Are psychometric tests reliable and valid?
A: Yes, psychometric tests are reliable and valid. These tests are standardized, meaning that they are administered and scored in a consistent manner. Psychometric tests also undergo rigorous validation procedures to ensure that they accurately measure what they are intended to measure.
Q: What are some common types of psychometric tests used in career counseling?
A: Some common types of psychometric tests used in career counseling include aptitude tests, personality tests, and interest inventories. Each type of test measures different aspects of a person’s abilities and interests, providing career counselors with a comprehensive view of their clients’ strengths and weaknesses.
