There are two main types: personality tests and aptitude tests.

They may be incorporated into one test, or you may be asked to complete the two separately, or even just one of the two. It all depends on the recruiters requirements.

Personality Tests

Personality tests explore your interests, values and motivations and attempt to analyse whether you are the right fit for the role and organisation from a personality standpoint. It is a test of your emotions, behaviours and relationships when faced with a variety of different situations.

Are they all the same?

No, there are lots of different personality tests. Companies will present you with their own version of a few different styles of testing.

Examples include:

• Occupational Personality Questionnaire (OPQ), which aims to test if your personality fits with the job.
• Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), which places you in one of 16 personality groups.

How do they work?

You will access the test via a personal link that will have been sent to you, which will either automatically login you in or prompt you to enter details you should have been assigned.

If you feel like there is a problem with the process, i.e. you haven't received the necessary information. Double, triple and quadruple check, as most of the processes are automated and it would be unlikely for there to be a mistake, but if you are sure. Don't be afraid to ask for assistance. You may need to a find a separate email as some are "no-reply" mailboxes, but reach out!

Usually, you will be presented with different statements describing various ways of acting or responding, and asked to record how much you agree on a scale. Sometimes a simple Agree or Disagree, sometimes Strongly Disagree to Strong Agree and sometimes even a 10 point scale.

There are no right or wrong answers and genrally no time limit on these tests.

How many questions are there?

There are usually between 50 and 200 questions. You are likely to take between 15 minutes and 30 minutes to complete them.

Aptitude Tests

There are 6 main features within Aptitude tests.

Numerical reasoning

These tests are designed to assess your interpretation of graphs, charts, data or statistics. These are key skills that can often be applied to most roles. At the most basic level, they investigate your ability to deal with numbers quickly and accurately.

Numerical reasoning tests may also challenge your knowledge of more general mathematic concepts. Such as your knowledge of rates, trends, ratios, percentages and currency conversions.

Verbal reasoning

This aims to test your understanding of written information, evaluation or arguments and communication of concepts. Typically, you will be reading short passages of text and answering questions that assess your comprehension.

While some tests assess your spelling and grammar, most are more concered with your ability to think constructively and use written information to construct accurate conclusions.

Error echecking

Common for clerical and data input vacancies, error checking tests measure how quickly and accurately you can detect errors made my systems or in writing.

Abstract reasoning

Abstract reasoning typically comes in the form of series of pictures, each of which is slightly different. Your task is to complete the series with another picture from a number of options. The idea behind this is testing your ability to identify a set of rules and apply them to a new situation. Judging how well you follow information and spot patterns.

These types of tests are particularly common in IT, science and engineering roles but can be found elsewhere.

Situational judgement

As it says on the tin, you will be given a situation and asked to provide a judgement. You may be prompted to choose the most and least effective response, rate the responses in order of effectiveness or choose only the most effective course of action, so make sure you read all of the instructions carefully.

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