Practise careers test on the web

Graduates preparing for the trials of recruitment this summer can take psychometric tests for free online.

Roy Davis of SHL, the company offering the tests, said: "Employers are adopting more careful selection methods that do not simply rely on sifting through a handful of CVs and getting a number of candidates in for interview.

"By using psychometric testing, employers are able to learn more about a candidate at an early stage and identify whether they fit specific requirements."

The website will give students the chance to familiarise themselves with different types of questionnaires used by many organisations and will offer feedback on completed forms.

Most organisations employ this type of testing as the norm for recruiting to graduate training schemes. SHL research suggests that a third of graduates leave training scheme jobs within two to four years, and that up to Pounds 300 million is wasted by organisations every year as a result.

Graduates can practise typical personality profile questions, as well as verbal reasoning and numeracy tests. Each test lasts ten minutes and is marked by computer with a comparative assessment returned. The website also gives users hints on how to prepare for the tests and improve their score.

Mr Davis said that more than 445,000 university students entered the job market in 1999, many competing for 18,000 coveted graduate training scheme places within the United Kingdom's 229 leading organisations.

Details: www.shldirect.com