You're qualified. Your CV sings. You interview well. You've got this.

Then comes the psychometric test — a series of questions or statements designed to measure your personality characteristics or cognitive abilities.

"I get nervous in social situations." Ah, um, disagree?

"I prefer to have an overview than to get engrossed with the detail." Agree. No, strongly agree?

Best be honest — trying to game the test is a "silly" move, says Peter Wilson.

He's president and chair of the Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI), which represents about 20,000 HR professionals.

If you present yourself in a test "as you would like to be seen rather than as you actually are ... you'll be found out", Mr Wilson tells RN's This Working Life.

Scores to account for consistency will soon pick it up.

Mr Wilson says while tests are typically "long and complex" and "infuriating to fill out", given 20 per cent of external hires fail — each time costing companies up to two years' salary — they are also hugely useful.

He's not the only one to think so.

In the public, private and not-for-profit sector, most medium to large firms "are using some form of psychometric test", Mr Wilson says.

And while you can't game them, better understanding them could help next time you face one.

'It's like a clairvoyant'

Organisational psychologist Amantha Imber describes psychometric tests as "a scientifically validated way of assessing certain competencies and mental capabilities, and even working styles".

Dr Imber is a big fan of the tests, and there's one in particular she and her colleagues love to use.

"We joke that it's like a clairvoyant because it is so good at predicting people's behaviour," she says.

Importantly, the test doesn't replace other, more traditional recruitment processes like a face-to-face interview.

It can be tricky trying to second-guess what employers want to hear during psychometric testing. ( Getty: ONOKY - Eric Audras )

Rather, she says it is used "right at the pointy end" of the recruitment process, "when we are down to, say, a pool of three or four people from, say, an initial pool of 100 people".

"For us it's another piece of the puzzle in assembling the jigsaw that is any job applicant."

In preparation for that piece-of-the-puzzle experience, a job applicant can study up, says Thomas Chamorro-Premuzic, an author and organisational psychologist specialising in personality profiling.

"It's harder when [employers] are measuring cognitive ability or what we would call intelligence," he says.

"But even on those tests, if you practice and you familiarise yourself with the type of questions, with the assessments, studies have shown that people can improve up to 30 per cent of their scores."

Dr Chamorro-Premuzic says preparing for personality assessments is harder, "because you need to understand what the company is looking for".

'Just answer them truthfully'

Studying before a test could up your score by 30 per cent, says one expert. ( Getty: Geber86 )

Mechanical engineer Mitchell, who sat about 10 psychometric tests in applications for different graduate positions, found it "tricky" trying to second-guess what employers wanted to hear.

He says he and his peers discussed "whether we were doing ourselves any favours by trying to pre-empt the kind of answers that they wanted".

It may have been misplaced energy.

"My advice would probably be just answer them truthfully because then if you get through to the next round, the first thing that you need to do is a face-to-face interview or a Skype interview, and they're going to ask you very similar questions," he says.

Dr Chamorro-Premuzic agrees.

"When we think about the issue of either impression management or faking ... it's probably best to respond in a spontaneous and natural way," he says.

Trying to pre-empt what employers want to hear might not pay off. ( Getty: Richard Drury )

But wait — it's not that simple.

"You also need to show that you understand enough about the social etiquette so that you can portray the best version of you," Dr Chamorro-Premuzic says.

"It's a little bit like in an interview, when we are asked, 'Do you enjoy working with others?'

"Well, the honest answer would be, 'It depends who they are' — some people are quite obnoxious and we don't like working with them. But we are expected to say, yes, we are a team player.

"So, it's not necessarily the honest answer that is the correct one or the one that gets you the job. You have to be able to portray yourself in the best possible way while still being true to your values."

Tests offer 'better awareness' of ourselves

Dr Chamorro-Premuzic says things like unconscious bias, or someone with their own agenda, can influence a fair and effective recruitment process.

"This is why having an independent source of data or an assessment is a very, very powerful tool," he says.

Mr Wilson agrees, and — though he's clear tests should co-exist with multiple interviews, rigorous CV assessment and reference checking — he says psychometric tests "haven't really failed me".

"It's actually scary. It's like having a dream. You read the psychometric tests and you do see that person later," he says.

Mr Wilson also says the tests can also be useful for better understanding one's self.

"They do make you aware, perhaps for the first time, of what your personality type is," he says.

"Before you do a test, you think 'other people think and look like me', or 'we're all the same'. We're not."

The tests, he says, offer us a "better awareness of [ourselves] and then awareness of others and how better to relate to that".

"They are very, very good journeys for each person to make in their own career and life," Mr Wilson says.