All too often our experts hear teenagers saying that they wish to follow a certain career or study a certain university course because they like the look or location of the university and have mates there, or they choose a subject interest as a course, without reflection on where this will lead in terms of future career. Recent university application support work with teenagers has confirmed that working with them to evaluate their personality attributes, strengths and weaknesses through psychometric testing, as well as reviewing their interests and achievements, facilitates much more effective evaluation of potential careers that will appeal to them as an individual and consequently choosing the right course of university study.
Psychometric tests are designed to help you work out what your strengths are, what makes you tick, in what environments you thrive and ultimately what kind of careers and work-style you’re suited to.
What does psychometric mean?
Taking its root from both Greek and Latin, the word psychometric means mind measurement. Psychometrics includes the measurement of knowledge, abilities, aptitudes, and personality traits.
How can you benefit from taking psychometric tests?
If you are unsure of the career direction that might suit you, taking a reliable psychometric assessment for career choice can help you identify and focus on the areas that will be most important for you to consider as an individual.
It will also help you to become aware of your highest aptitude and where that can be best applied. This will be the one that you find easiest and which, even on a bad day, you can still do better than the other aptitudes. Choosing a job which matches both your attributes and interests should allow both job satisfaction and success. Psychometric tests aim to give you the personal insight that will help you make a positive and successful career choice.
What is a personality test?
Personality profiling or Personality Assessment is the most prolific of all the tests and assessments available.
These measure our behavioural traits and characteristics against what is accredited as normal behaviour. Tests measure anything from 5 to 50 personality traits predicting behavioural characteristics under various circumstances. These can assist teenagers to gain a far greater understanding of themselves and how their individual combination of personality traits affects their performance and contribution to their sixth form studies. Understanding these, can lead to renewed motivation and enthusiasm, through greater understanding of strengths and weaknesses and how they like to learn.
Personality profiling is particularly valuable in career choice as it is used to measure traits which will determine where your personality characteristics could be an asset e.g. are you organised, would you like to work with a small group of people or in a large open office, if you are even tempered, eager to please, and a host of other traits which will assist you to find the right type of work, as well as the right type of environment that would be best suited to your personality, allowing you to thrive.
Identification of the above can lead to more in-depth review of potential university courses of study to identify those which will match the strengths of the individual and how they like to learn.
Choosing a career pathway is a staged process that takes place over several years. Psychometric testing is the start point to identify attributes and strengths and then planning of subject choice and university can be made in full awareness of what is most likely to appeal in terms of future career. Pursuing a job which fits one's attributes and personality, as well as interests, is far more likely to lead to enjoyment and consequently success.
Our university application support
Our education consultants can work with your teenager to help them find the right university and course for them. Get in touch with our team today to find out more about our university application support.