Psychometric tests- what are they?

In the last 20 years there has been a massive explosion in the use psychometric tests in organisations, but what are they and why do people have to do them? The words broken down mean psycho is the Greek word for mind and metric- is the Latin word for measure, therefore the word psychometric is a way to measure the ability of an individuals mind. Psychometric tests have been used increasingly in the  They have  twentieth century, from career counselling  to military selection and it is said that over 100,000 of such tests are used in the west everyday.

So what's the is the purpose of them? These tests give organisations an additional way to distinguish between normal candidates and exceptional candidates, also they are supposed to be (when used in combination with other methods) the best prediction of job performance. They are divided into 3 groups, tests of ability ( general mental ability/ intelligence) Interest (career development/ career choice) and Personality assessments (trying to distinguish personality traits and behaviour).

They are a big business and immensely popular, soon trainee teachers will be doing them as part of PGCE assessments soon, most graduate jobs use them to differentiate between candidates. However, they aren't without problems, they have been criticised for being culturally and racially biased in terms of "intelligence tests" (Read about Hernstein and Murry's book the bell curve). Also Some personality assessments have been criticised for being "fake-able". However I cannot deny these are extremely common place in many organisations and my advice to you is to get savvy, and practice, practice,  practice.

Here are some links to some information and practice sites:
http://www.psychometricadvantage.co.uk/
http://www.psychometric-success.com/
Prospects

The King's Speech

The film which has won a string of Golden Globe awards, tells us of the debilitating stammer,  which affected King George VI, (the current Queen of England's father). Second in line to the throne, the prince was was not focused on to take the helm and lead the country. This all changed when his older brother Edward VII, abdicated the throne, after he had to make a choice between being a King or marrying an American divorcee (something that isn't allowed in the Anglican Church).

I went to see the King's Speech a couple of days ago, apart from being a historical film, it's a  film about over coming problems and being courageous and strong. The leading actors were exquisitely chosen and captured the attitudes and behaviours of the Queen mother and the King. I like how the speech therapist is depicted as a renegade, radical using techniques such as shouting swear words, singing, and using singing as a distraction technique.

Most of all I would urge people to see it, you'll learn something.

Sleeping Beauty Syndrome

What would you do if one day you slept for 8 hours a day, then suddenly you felt so tired you sleep for 10 days straight, missing important activities such as work, weddings, birthdays and exams. This is the fate of people who suffer from Kleine-Levin Syndrome an extremely rare sleep disorder where sufferers sleep for weeks at a time, at random, from 16-22 hours, woken only by friends or family  to eat and go to the toilet. At these times, sufferers may be irritable, react rudely, binge eat, and feeling in a dream like state.

The cause is not known, but it is thought to have a genetic base, and no medications are proven to have an effect. Additionally this disorder  can often get misdiagnosed with other sleep disorders. So the next time you wish you could go to sleep for about 2 weeks, spare a thought for those who actually do and miss crucial parts of their lives. For more information please use this link.

Examination nightmare!!!

So the exam season of January is upon us, here are a few tips for those who are sitting them at what not to do it your exams to wind up the invigilators.

• Listen to the invigilators, or they will get annoyed and write things down next to your student ID. 
• Don't try and get rude either, they will get annoyed and write things about you. 
• Don't be late
• Don't try and cheat, even if you don't get found out, you will feel guilty and that you are living a horrible hideous lie. 
• Try not to look suspicious 
• Always answer the question, even if you have no idea what the answer is, the marker may take pity on your useless answer.  
• Try and keep calm. 
• If you feel sick, don't vom everywhere... 

If you follow these guidelines then you'll probably be ok.

New Years, Smew Years

So New year was like sooo last week. How many of you have broken your new years resolutions already? Some people's resolutions will centre around may be getting a new job for the new year. If you want a new job because you are unemployed, over qualified or just thinking about a change, here are some simple pointers to help you on your way.

1. What industry do you want to move into, which are you qualified for? If you aren't qualified, what could you do to get qualified?It is important for you to be specific in your job search as you may coast through life aimlessly, moving from job to job. 
2. How will you know that you have succeeded? In short write down what you want to do and measures of success that you can follow, e.g. when I earn this amount, when I receive x years of experience, when I gain this professional qualification. 
3. Are you career aims to be a millionnaire as Delboy always said? Do you want to be a pilot but are scared of heights, do you want to be a doctor but hate science? Well make sure you career aims are actually achievable and realistic, other wise you will fail, simples. 
4. Make sure you have a time limit on all of your plans other wise like point 2, they will probably never get done. So for example, next year I want to put my self forward for promotion, or in the next 6 months I will do a time management course. 
5. Networking works, tap into it, find out what openings are at your friends companies, enquire, email and attend events. You never know who you may meet. 
6. Research properly on the industry and the job that you want, there's nothing worse then being ill prepared or ill informed. 
7. You may not be in the financial position to totally move to a new industry, but possibly volunteer within the area you want to move into. Yes I mean work potentially for free, this really opens doors. 
8. Never give up- as cheesy as that sounds it's true, you can get there if you want it.  

Finally these pointers are not step by step guides but just something to open you up to other possibilities. Life's too short to be stuck in a rubbish job.

The real meaning of christmas....

It is not my intention to go all puritanical on you or anything, but i just thought I'd let you know a few things about the festivities that we are experiencing. Have you ever wondered why people put trees in their houses this time of year, and decorate them with lights and tinsel? Why people exchange gifts on Jesus' birthday? (surely he is the one who should be getting gifts, its his birthday).

Ok so the long and short of it is, that Jesus was not actually born on 25th December, historians mainly put the date of Jesus' birth as occurring most likely in October or September about 6 months after passover. The celebration of this holiday is not biblical, but came into prominence after Roman Emperor Constantine in the 4th century BC when Christianity was not so vogue, and most people were Pagans. So Emperor Constantine decided to merge some pagan festivities, with some biblical things and out came Christmas.

The original 25th of December was the birth date of Nimrod, a Babylonian king and the 25th December was his birthday. After his death, his mother  claimed that an ever green tree grew over night and the spirit of her dead son would visit her every year  and leave gifts upon it. This shows the origin of the Christmas tree. So people, this is just a short summary of what Christmas is actually about.

You can think I am a weirdo, a freak or a kill joy, and i am far from telling any one what or what not to do, however, the symbolism of this once pagan festival has been hidden and swamped in commercialism and a frenzy of present and gourmet food buying. However, it does bring families and long lost friends together and remember that a man called Jesus did indeed live...

Happy holidays people

Measuring happiness? Thanks Cam!

Right, so DC (David Cameron, UK, PM) announced a couple of weeks ago that he wanted to measure the level of people in the UK's happiness levels. Some people have stated that can we actually measure happiness at all? Psychologist, sociologists have developed questionnaires which measure this and have been for years, one measurement that I have used in the past, is the general well being questionnaire. My problem with the process is that the office of national statistics is devising the questions. I think that PSYCHOLOGISTS should be devising them, as a group of people who make a living out of studying and trying to make sense of human behaviour, its probably quite logical that they should do it? Secondly although this is an important aspect of life, trying to measure happiness is a very abstract and difficult task. It seems slightly as though the government are trying to distract us from the doom and gloom austerity cuts they have announced, but measuring how badly people feel, will this actually help?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11756049