Okay in this video I want to go over the
various types of employment tests that
you may run into during the
job hunt or the job search process the
job application process.
So to start with what are they well
generally the tests are made to
identify good candidates for employment
or to exclude those who might have some
characteristic that's not favorable
okay. So to start with let's go over or
what we're going to do is go over the
different types of of tests that you
might run into.
So the first one is cognitive right you
don't find this very often
this is for specific fields that require
a high level of
acuity uh that type of thing so it'll be
tests
related to like the intelligence
quotient or iq test
type thing testing your cognitive
ability or how fast you react or
your ability to associate things things
like that right so it's um
either a developed or you know uh but
subconscious or innate ability
type thing that they're searching for in
that situation and that might only be
necessary in in high stakes type
scenarios where they believe
that that's going to provide some level
of necessary of
ability in order to learn how to do the
job
okay it's not related to your current
knowledge or
ability to do the job but that they
think you'll be better at it because of
this
superior cognitive function right.
Skill based
that's what can you do right uh type
skills
very common in technical fields like
computer programming and things like
that
but they just have to verify what your
ability is you know you claim you can
program in this
c plus well you got to show it right
that type of thing.
Personality test this is really common
when you're going to be dealing with
people in a specific type of scenario
particularly like sales
right are you the personality type
that's going to be one
motivated by what you're doing in the
scenario
um but two you know how are you gonna
how will you likely react to people
who have a certain um orientation um
attitude that type of thing in
situations so
trying to identify you know people or
they believe that a certain personality
type would fit better in a position so
that's what they're trying to identify
are you that personality type.
Okay related to that is emotional
intelligence
again your ability to recognize your own
emotions and recognize the
emotions of others right so you can
coordinate your conduct attitude um
responses to them accordingly because
you understand
what you're seeing there and that's
that's very common in
therapy type roles or social worker type
roles where you have to
deal with people who where emotions may
be controlling the situation.
So another one is physical ability tests
right things that require excessive
physical ability everything from
professional sports to uh police fire
um things like that that are gonna
require a lot of ability
right physical ability uh to meet the
requirements of the job
all right. English proficient proficiency
test when
there's a requirement for a certain
level of communication
uh such as you know um you know maritime
air travel things like that if you can't
communicate at a certain level then it
could be a danger or
you know that type of thing you you you
wouldn't be proficient in the job
without it okay.
Drug tests that's seeking to exclude
individuals who are using
a controlled substance when they're not
supposed to uh that type of thing
because they believe you know it will
ultimately hurt your ability to perform
the job in a certain way
and oftentimes employers define what
they what qualifies to them
as disqualifying you know what what
types of drugs or what level of
use that type of thing to the extent a
test can
can detect that okay. Background checks
that's extremely
uh common right you generally need to
give permission
for that because background check will
be very thorough it'll
include a credit check oftentimes and
for that under law you have to give
permission if somebody's going to
run a credit check on you type thing but
once again the background check is just
trying to see that you don't have any
negative marks in your past that could
uh make you
appear not to be a good candidate for
the position might uh
cause you to be viewed in a certain way
by customers other employees that type
of thing that would
make you not a good fit for the position
okay and
credit check that's generally only
relevant
when you're going to be handling monies
of some sort or you're going to be
making payments
or or something like that on behalf of
the company then lastly a polygraph or
lie detector test these are very rare
the federal law protects you against
having to take these
if unless employers can show a bona fide
need
to do so and you know things like
positions that require a security
clearance like being a contractor for
the military
where a certain level of security
clearance is required that type of thing
um working for the government itself
like is
a department of justice employee FBI CIA
something like that then a lot of
detector tests is going to be authorized
and okay and you might expect that
but for most positions that's not
something you'll run into.
Now taking these all together any of
these can be present within any position
you're applying for
but just knowing ahead of time there are
ways that you can prepare for some of
these to perform better
such as the cognitive ability skills
best skills based test
personality test you can actually gain
it if you know what's going on i'm not
recommending that you do that but
lots of employees can but oftentimes
employers are not correct
in assessing that a certain type of
personality will do better than others
so
that being said it's kind of an equal
equal playing field there.
So as long as you know what the types of
tests are and what to expect from the
employer you'll be
well versed in this regard.