Psychological tests for employment, often referred to as pre-employment psychological tests, evaluate the psychological suitability of job applicants for specific roles within an organization. These assessments help employers make informed hiring decisions by assessing various aspects of a candidate’s personality, cognitive abilities, and psychological well-being. This post covers this service and then provides a sample psychological test for employment.
Our Psychological Tests for Employment
Our services include psychological tests for employment, though we prefer to give these batteries to those offered a job. Still, the company is trying to determine through pre-employment psychological tests what responsibilities or groups to assign the new employee. We welcome inquiries from companies looking to institute this kind of process. We also work with people told to get screening before or during employment.
We also offer fitness-for-duty assessments, which are covered in another post and are specific to high-risk positions or situations where a challenge has been flagged.
Benefits of Psychological Tests for Employment
Psychological tests for employment offer many benefits for both employers and job applicants:
- Objective Evaluation: Psychological tests for employment provide an objective and standardized way to assess candidates. They are less biased and subjective than interviews and resume reviews.
- Efficiency: These can quickly screen many people for many positions, saving time and resources in decision-making. They can sometimes be given in groups, or people may be able to do them virtually for convenience.
- Cost-Effective: Putting an employee in the wrong job or group can be costly due to turnover, training expenses, and lost productivity. Psychological tests for employment can help reduce the risk of making a placement decision, ultimately saving money in the long run.
- Fairness and Equal Opportunity: Properly designed pre-employment psychological tests are generally less prone to discrimination based on age, race, gender, or disability. They can contribute to a fairer and more inclusive process. Standardized pre-employment psychological tests can help companies ensure their hiring process complies with legal and ethical guidelines, reducing the risk of discrimination claims.
- Standardization: Psychological assessments can provide a scientifically standardized way to assess skills, abilities, and personality traits, ensuring all candidates are evaluated on the same criteria.
- Personality Assessment: Assessments of personality traits can help match candidates to roles where their natural tendencies and characteristics are likely to be a good fit. This, in turn, enhances job satisfaction and performance. You can see how this might work in our sample psychological test for employment toward the end of this post.
- Development Opportunities: The results of pre-employment psychological tests can provide valuable insights for both employers and candidates. Companies can identify areas for staff development, while candidates can better understand their strengths and weaknesses.
- Reduction of Turnover: Companies can reduce turnover rates and retain employees longer by selecting candidates whose values and personalities align with the company culture and job demands.
- Feedback for Improvement: Employers can use the data from these measures to fine-tune their hiring and promotion processes, making them more effective over time. We can provide data that helps employers evaluate their decision-making.
It’s important to note that while psychological measures offer many advantages, they should be used as part of a comprehensive hiring process that includes interviews, reference checks, and other assessment methods. Additionally, the design and use of these tests should align with ethical and legal standards to protect the rights and privacy of job candidates. We always ensure that is the case in our practice.
Standard Psychological Tests for Employment
Hers are the categories of measures we use:
Personality Assessments
Personality measures, such as the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI Test) and the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI), are commonly used to assess an individual’s personality traits, values, and behaviors. These tests can help employers gauge whether a candidate’s personality aligns with the requirements of a particular job or company culture.
Adaptive Personality Assessments are a subset of these assessments that aim to identify how adaptable a candidate is to changes and challenges in the workplace. They are relevant for positions in dynamic or rapidly changing environments. You’ll see an example of this in our sample psychological test for employment below.
IQ Tests as Psychological Tests for Employment
Cognitive ability tests, including IQ tests and aptitude assessments, measure an individual’s cognitive skills and problem-solving abilities. These help companies assess candidates’ potential to learn, adapt, and perform well in specific job roles. In many cases, these measures are interpreted with the particular work responsibilities in mind. Thus, as opposed to usual types of IQ assessment, the overall score is not as crucial as scores on subtests that match the job’s demands. We often prefer not to give the entire test because hiring or promoting based on IQ is not good practice. A brief example can also be found in our sample psychological test for employment below.
IQ assessments can be augmented by creativity testing for certain jobs.
Emotional Intelligence (EI) Assessments
Emotional intelligence tests evaluate candidates’ ability to recognize, understand, and manage emotions. They also measure their ability to identify and influence the emotions of others. EI is particularly relevant for roles that require strong interpersonal skills and emotional regulation. Again, we try not to give tests that produce an overall score; instead, we choose ones that can directly relate to the job the individual will be doing. We encourage employers not to look at these tests as “pass/fail.” Instead, we hope they see them as ways to give people the targeted support and training they need to improve their jobs.
Interviews as Pre-Employment Psychological Tests
While not tests in the traditional sense, structured interviews and behavioral assessments are commonly used to evaluate a candidate’s responses to specific questions or scenarios. These methods help assess a candidate’s communication skills, problem-solving abilities, and how they might fit within the organization’s culture. These differ from regular employment interviews because they are given by psychologists trained to understand these skills and attributes at a deeper level and to look at “weaknesses” as challenges that can be overcome.
Less Common Psychological Tests for Employment
Some less common measures we use include:
Integrity and Honesty Pre-Employment Psychological Tests
These assess an individual’s honesty, ethics, and trustworthiness. They are often used for positions that involve handling sensitive information, finances, or high levels of responsibility. Often, these tests include the MMPI or PAI, which pull for these personality traits.
Situational Judgment Psychological Tests for Employment
Situational judgment measures present candidates with hypothetical work-related scenarios and ask them to choose the most appropriate response. These help assess a candidate’s problem-solving and decision-making skills in real-world situations. We often do not administer these. Instead, we sit in to provide a psychological assessment of the responses given. You’ll see this example in our sample psychological test for employment below.
Assessments of Stress Tolerance and Resilience
Some jobs may involve high stress levels or require resilience in challenging situations. Pre-employment psychological tests in this category evaluate a candidate’s ability to handle stress and adversity. These are important for people in high-stress jobs and can be used to design training and supervision goals.
Sample Psychological Test for Employment
This brief sample psychological test for employment demonstrates how we use these measures and what they might mean. This section is designed to show you what pre-employment psychological tests are like and the questions you might ask.
Sample Psychological Test for Employment Overview
Instructions:
Our overall instructions for this sample psychological test for employment would be to answer all questions honestly based on how you typically behave or feel in work-related situations. Aside from cognitive tests, there are often no right or wrong answers. We’d ask you to select the answer that best describes you.
Section 1: Personality Traits
This sample psychological test for employment would have you rate how much you agree using the following scale (We are not providing analyses or interpretations in this section since there is insufficient information to form empirically sound conclusions. Instead, these sections are meant to give you an idea of what it would be like to have this type of evaluation.).
- 1 = Strongly Disagree
- 2 = Disagree
- 3 = Neutral
- 4 = Agree
- 5 = Strongly Agree
- I am detail-oriented and pay attention to small mistakes.
☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5 - I enjoy working with others and collaborating on projects.
☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5 - I remain calm and composed under pressure.
☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5 - I like to take the initiative and lead others when necessary.
☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5 - I prefer routine tasks over constantly changing responsibilities.
☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5 - I feel energized and motivated when facing new challenges.
☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5 - I can easily manage multiple tasks at once.
☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5 - I like to explore creative solutions to problems.
☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5 - I find it easy to adapt to changes in the workplace.
☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5 - I am motivated to meet deadlines and finish tasks on time.
☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5
Section 2: Cognitive Abilities (Sample Questions for Reasoning)
Aptitude Test
Instructions: Choose the best answer from the options provided.
- Which word does not belong in this group?
- A) Dog
- B) Cat
- C) Bird
- D) Tree
Answer: ☐ A ☐ B ☐ C ☐ D
- If all roses are flowers and some flowers fade quickly, which of the following statements is true?
- A) Some roses fade quickly.
- B) All flowers fade quickly.
- C) No roses fade quickly.
- D) Some flowers do not fade quickly.
Answer: ☐ A ☐ B ☐ C ☐ D
- A worker can assemble 5 units in 30 minutes. How many units can they assemble in 2 hours?
- A) 10
- B) 20
- C) 30
- D) 40
Answer: ☐ A ☐ B ☐ C ☐ D
- If today is Monday, what day will it be 45 days from today?
- A) Thursday
- B) Friday
- C) Saturday
- D) Sunday
Answer: ☐ A ☐ B ☐ C ☐ D
- What is the next number in the sequence: 2, 6, 12, 20, 30?
- A) 40
- B) 42
- C) 44
- D) 48
Answer: ☐ A ☐ B ☐ C ☐ D
Section 3: Situational Judgment Test (SJT)
Instructions:
Read the following scenarios and choose the option that best describes how you would respond.
- You are working on an important project, and a colleague asks for help with something unrelated. You have a tight deadline to meet. What do you do?
- A) Politely decline and explain that you have a deadline to meet.
- B) Offer to help them after you finish your project.
- C) Drop your project and help them immediately.
- D) Ignore their request and continue working.
- Your manager gives you a task that you’ve never done before and you’re unsure how to complete it. What’s your first step?
- A) Start the task immediately and figure it out as you go.
- B) Ask a colleague for advice before starting.
- C) Do some research and learn how to do the task yourself.
- D) Tell your manager you’re not comfortable and ask for different work.
- You have noticed a small error in the work of one of your teammates, but they haven’t caught it. What do you do?
- A) Fix the error without telling them.
- B) Inform them privately so they can fix it themselves.
- C) Ignore it since it’s not your responsibility.
- D) Report the error to your manager immediately.
- You’re in a team meeting where the group is deciding on the direction of a project. You have a different idea but aren’t sure how the others will respond. What do you do?
- A) Share your idea and explain your reasoning.
- B) Keep quiet since everyone else seems to agree.
- C) Talk to a colleague privately after the meeting about your idea.
- D) Go along with the group decision.
Section 4: Work Values and Motivation
Instructions:
Please rate how important each of the following work-related values is to you using the scale below:
- 1 = Not important
- 2 = Somewhat important
- 3 = Important
- 4 = Very important
- 5 = Extremely important
- Job security
☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5 - Opportunities for promotion and career growth
☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5 - Work-life balance
☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5 - Positive relationships with coworkers
☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5 - Being able to work independently
☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5 - Feeling valued and appreciated at work
☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5
Scoring and Evaluation
- Personality Traits Section: Scores in this section evaluate a candidate’s fit for the role based on the desired personality profile (e.g., high scores in detail orientation and collaboration may indicate a good fit for teamwork-heavy positions).
- Cognitive Abilities Section: This section evaluates logical reasoning and problem-solving skills, which are important for roles requiring quick thinking and decision-making.
- Situational Judgment Section: Responses are scored based on alignment with the company’s values and the role’s requirements.
- Work Values Section: This helps determine if the candidate’s values match the company culture and job expectations.
Pre-employment psychological tests help make informed hiring decisions by providing insight into candidates’ thinking patterns, behaviors, and motivations that may not be evident from interviews alone. We hope that this sample psychological test for employment helped show you what this evaluation might be like.
Our Pre-Employment Psychological Testing Services
It’s important to note that we provide psychological tests for employment that comply with legal and ethical standards, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in the United States. We also ensure that assessments are reliable, valid, and directly related to the job’s requirements. We make sure that it is clear to you what the purpose of these assessments is and how the company plans to use the results in the decision-making process. Our goal is not to provide a yes or no screening service. We hope that our pre-employment psychological tests help people be placed in positions within the company or the group that maximize their talent and give them the best chance to succeed.
If you are an employer looking for psychologists to administer pre-employment psychological tests or an individual whose work has asked them to get psychological tests for employment there, please feel free to contact us. (We’d also be happy to share what your answers might mean from the sample psychological test for employment above!)
