5 tips for acing a selection test

The selection test is an often feared step in the recruitment process. It can be frightening because you don’t know what is coming and  unfortunately you can never fully prepare for a selection test. But don’t fear, here are some tips and tricks for acing them.

1) Train yourself!

You will never get the same selection test twice. There are dozens of them so you can’t learn them by heart. What you can do is train yourself. There are a lot of tests on the internet that you can make and remake. Like this, you’ll understand how they are drawn.Once you have experience in making these tests, it will get easier and easier to improve your performance. Ex: http://www.psychometric-success.com/ or
https://www.vdab.be/werkinzicht/testenoefenen.shtml (dutch)

2) Keep up the pace

The speed is important when making a selection test. So don’t hesitate when you have doubts, because you might lose too much time for answering the other questions.

On the other hand, most tests don’t need to be fully answered. It’s ok if you can answer a certain number of questions. But don’t forget:  Keep up the pace!

3) Stay confident

It’s possible that you are making a test while thinking: “This isn’t going very well”. The key in such a situation is: don’t panic! Because often it’s not your personal result that counts, but how you rank in comparison with a reference group. This group is composed of people with the same characteristics as you (e.g.: age, degree, gender,…). Bottom line: it’s possible that you don’t score very well on a test, but you’re still doing better than the reference group, what makes you a good candidate.

4) Bring your A game

There is no need to stress out that the selection test is a very important step in the recruitment process. Therefore it’s highly recommended that you are well rested. Avoid going out and drinking alcohol the night before because it will affect your mind. Also make sure you are on time and don’t plan other activities on the day of your selection test, because they may take longer than expected.

5) Ask feedback

It’s important to ask feedback about your test. You can learn from it and avoid mistakes in the future. You probably won’t be able to see your test, but feedback about the conclusions and your results shouldn’t be a problem. Make sure you don’t argue about the test results. This has no point and it will hurt your image.

Also view our list of starter jobs!

Selection Tests on GraduAid
Sometimes you have to travel half a day to take these tests. This is huge loss of time and energy. In the future, GraduAid will implement the possibility to make a selection test on the platform via a video connection. We’re convinced it will be a lot more efficient.

Ps: Good luck to all GraduAiders taking a selection test in the near future!

The Student.be team