If you are currently interviewing for graduate jobs, you may be aware that more companies are choosing to rely on personality tests to establish a candidate's employability, rather than going on degree grade alone. Liz Lightfoot investigates this shift in the graduate recruitment market:
Blue chip companies are using psychometric personality tests to select graduate employees because they no longer trust university degrees, a report says today.
They blame grade inflation - 57 per cent of students graduated with a first or 2:1 last year - and the wide variation in standards between universities.
Some firms and public services recruiting the highest number of graduates are also introducing verbal and numerical reasoning tests.
"Degree qualifications are not a reliable indicator of this aptitude, unfortunately," one recruiter told the annual Graduate Recruitment Summer Review.
More than nine in 10 employers said they believed psychometric testing of such attributes as logical thinking, ability under pressure and "emotional intelligence" was a useful way of assessing candidates. Soft skills" such as leadership, communication and decision making are increasingly giving candidates the edge.
With an average of 29 applicants for every job, however, employers continue to use degree classifications as a way of selecting those they wish to take further.
Almost two thirds, 64.1 per cent, said they would only consider graduates with a 2:1 or above. A quarter said they required a 2:2 or above.
A third do not take the class of degree at face value but look back at what candidates achieved at A-level or its equivalent.
Carl Gilleard, the chief executive of the Association of Graduate Recruiters, which conducted the survey of 200 leading companies, said employers were becoming more accepting of 2:2 degrees, realising that the days of academic criteria "as the be-all and end-all are long gone".
"There is less faith in the ability of degree classes to accurately mirror the graduate competencies that matter.
"Research has shown that there is little consistency not only between the standard of degree awarded between universities but between subjects at the same university.''
The blanket requirement for a good class of degree was under review at some companies because it failed to distinguish between someone with a 2:2 from Oxford or Cambridge and another candidate with a first from one of the newer universities, Mr Gilleard said.
But the most significant change in recruitment policies was the use of psychometric tests to assess a candidate's ability or personality by means of questions devised by psychologists. Above all, recruiters were seeking to assess numeracy, numerical reasoning and logic followed by literacy and verbal reasoning.
Employers are also looking for "soft skills" such as communication, leadership, time management and "emotional intelligence," says the report.
Employers are looking more carefully at "the journey" towards the final degree, such as extra curricular activities and how motivated a student was at university.
"In this increasingly competitive global economy they want individuals who are going to grow within the organisation and make a difference and that is not always reflected in the class of degree," Mr Gilleard said.
What is your opinion? Have you had to take a personality test, and if so, what did you think? You can share your thoughts with our online community by leaving a comment below.
