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What is The McQuaig Occupational Test®?
The McQuaig Occupational Test® (MOT) indicates an individual’s level of
general mental ability, the test measures several key components of
“intelligence”.
MOT test scores correlate highly with scores of intelligence. (Items
assess vocabulary, verbal reasoning skills and ability to perform simple
mathematical functions). Due to its timed nature, The MOT screens
efficiently for “bright” personnel who perform well under pressure in
business settings.
MOT scores are not influenced by age or sex. As with most other
measures of general mental ability, there is a positive relationship
between educational achievement and MOT scores; individuals with advanced
education typically achieve higher scores.
A high score on the MOT does not mean that a person will be effective
at a specific job, nor does a low score indicate that a person will be
ineffective. A person’s personality, character, attitudes, drive and
leadership ability are all of great importance in determining performance.
Often a person compensates for lack of high mental ability by other strong
characteristics.
NOTE: The MOT has been designed for English-speaking people. If English
is a second or a third language, the candidate may be distinctly
disadvantaged compared to a person for whom it is the first language. In
such a case, a lower score may be attained for an equivalent level of
intelligence. This should be taken into consideration when interpreting
the results.
Getting the best out of the MOT
To get the best use out of The MOT, test your existing employees.
Validate for various jobs in your organisation and set your own standards.
Have a sample of your best performers in any given job complete The MOT.
Compare their results to those of less effective people in the same job.
See the differences.
Caution: Setting your standards unnecessarily high would be unfair and
setting your standards unnecessarily low would be counter-productive. The
MOT is one indication only and is not meant to be used in a pass/fail
manner.
It is important to remember that a number of external factors (eg poor
health or stress) may influence a candidate’s ability to score well on
this test. For this reason, further factual evidence should be sought to
verify the indications given by The MOT result.
Calculating MOT scores
A person’s score is the number of correct answers on the test. Although
it may be interesting on occasions to note the number of questions
attempted and the type of questions missed or answered incorrectly, this
does not form part of the score for interpretation purposes.
Score interpretation
The McQuaig Occupational Test® is designed for use with job roles which
require mental agility as a key competency. Mental agility indicates the
capacity of an individual to think quickly about a variety of subjects
whilst under a time pressure.
The extent to which this competency is used in any given position is
difficult to determine without first benchmarking others in similar roles.
It is important to measure existing high performers in similar job
roles within your organisation and determine an internal benchmark against
which new candidates can be measured. It is also important to understand
that temporary ill-health, tiredness, stress, or even a distracting
environment when taking the test, can seriously impact on the results.
It is important therefore when interpreting low results to use them
only as an indication that further research is necessary to ensure that
the candidate has sufficient mental agility to function at the expected
level within the job role. This is best achieved through behavioural
questioning at interview, reference checking and examination of
qualifications.
The Rogers Group have some indicative benchmarks available against
which candidate scores may be compared and thus give a general concept of
suitability across a range of job types.
Please contact your Rogers Group consultant for further information on
how to complete benchmarking within your company and for full
interpretation of Occupational Test results for both current and
prospective staff.
How do I get more information?
If you’d like a free trial or more information about the The McQuaig Occupational Test®
or The McQuaig System™, just
fill in the
Enquiry form.
   
Australasian licensee for
The McQuaig Institute®
™/®
Trademarks/registered trademarks of The McQuaig Institute of Executive
Development Limited, Toronto, Canada
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