Tag: Pymetrics video interview

Categories
Interview Prep Tips

What is a Pymetrics interview?

What is a Pymetrics interview?
What is a Pymetrics interview?

What is a Pymetrics interview?

Simply put, a Pymetrics interview is a relatively novel method that companies use to screen job applicants quickly. Pymetrics has two types of interviews. One of them is a series of games, which we won’t cover in this article. We’ll focus on their one-way interview where you will record yourself answering questions. You can complete a Pymetrics interview at any time as long as it is before the interview’s deadline. Regular interview conventions still apply! Ensure you are prepared for your Pymetrics interview (use a free service like Voomer), research the company you are applying for, and dress as if you are headed to a regular, one-on-one interview.

What questions will be asked in a Pymetrics interview?

Questions asked in a Pymetrics interview fall into two major categories:

  • Motivational questions: These will ask why you want to work at the organization you’ve applied to, why you are interested in that role, etc
  • Behavioral questions: These questions will probe your competencies and need to be answered using concrete examples

You can check out some Pymetrics questions in this article. Depending on the role you are applying to, you might be asked technical questions, but that is an exception and we rarely see questions that are not motivational or behavioral.

What can I expect from the interview?

A Pymetrics interview will always follow these steps:

  1. You’ll receive an email from the organization you applied to with a unique link. Do not share it with anyone!
  2. Click the link and head to the Pymetrics website to begin your interview
  3. You’ll get a chance to test your camera and microphone. Make sure they are working
  4. Next, the first interview question will be displayed. Typically this is as a short video, but sometimes the questions are displayed as text
  5. A timer will begin counting down. That is the time you have to prepare your answer. This timer will typically last 30 seconds. You can skip this timer if you like. The question will remain on screen while the count-down timer is running. You are NOT being recorded at this stage.
  6. Once you’ve skipped the answer prep timer (or let it count down to zero), Pymetrics will start recording you – this is your cue to answer the question. Another timer will start counting down, this is the time you have to answer the questions. Typically it is 120 seconds long (two minutes)
  7. After you are done answering the question and the timer has not reached zero yet, you can click on the “submit answer” button to stop the recording
  8. The next question will then be displayed and the above steps repeat themselves until there are no more questions

On occasion, you’ll also have to answer some multiple-choice or written questions. However, those questions are usually very simple, such as “do you have a valid driver’s license”. The video questions are the tricky ones, not the multiple-choice/written questions!

How do I ace the Pymetrics interview?

Simple – practice! You might know what a Pymetrics interview is – but it is a completely different thing to be looking at your computer and have to answer a question live. Head over to Voomer where you can practice on Pymetrics style questions and use their AI-powered tools to quickly improve and land that dream job!

Categories
Interview Prep Tips

7 common Pymetrics questions

Introduction

Pymetrics is a company that specializes in helping organizations hire better and hire faster. Knowing what to expect when faced with Pymetrics questions will give you an edge over the competition.

Pymetrics started out by making job applicants go through “brain game” tests – essentially puzzles that would test your ability to understand instructions, prioritize, think on the fly, improvise, weigh risks, and much more.  

Recently they’ve expanded what they offer organizations and now provide asynchronous interviews (sometimes called virtual or one way interviews). Now these interviews can be surprisingly stressful – you’re alone, awkwardly talking to a screen while being recorded and you don’t get any feedback on your answers.  It’s a very strange experience.

Fortunately, Pymetrics uses questions that follow a pattern.  Most of the questions you’ll be asked are behavioral questions, and I wrote a blog post about them here.

In this post, the team at Voomer – experts at Pymetrics prep – break down 7 common Pymetrics questions.  We hope this helps you land your dream job!

pymetrics logo
Check out these Pymetrics questions to get ahead of your competition!

While we don’t yet have a blog post that breaks down the “brain games” Pymetrics uses – we’re working on one now! So stay tuned for this as well as the ability to practice for those games on Voomer in the near future!

Question 1: Tell me about yourself

This is a classic warm-up Pymetrics question, designed to break the ice. 

However, the person viewing your video also actually wants to hear about you in your own words!

The best way to answer this is to not read off your CV! Many people make that mistake, and if you don’t, you are already ahead of quite a few applicants.

Make sure your answer is an executive summary of yourself and your career.   It doesn’t have to go into details of each job or assignment you had or move in chronological order.  

As long as the interviewer can place your overall career, aspirations, and style quickly, you will have accomplished your goal for this question.

Question 2: What’s the toughest challenge you’ve faced?

This is the first question of many where we need to challenge the face value of the question.

What’s actually being asked here is “how well do you prioritize?”.

Tough challenges usually involve large, complex, interconnected problems that need to be broken down and solved one at a time – in a particular order!

Do you now see how the question is actually about prioritization?  So when answering, talk about precisely that.  Explain what tough problem you faced, break it down into its main parts, and walk through how you solved the first few steps!

Question 3: Tell me about a time you had to deliver disappointing news

This is another question where we need to take a second look at the question.

The actual question here is “are you proactive?”.

Think about it – what happens when you tell your boss that something bad happened?  Assuming you have or had a good boss, their reply is usually “well, how do we fix it?” or even “great, have you fixed it already?”.

That is the answer that your interviewer is looking for.

So when answering this question make sure to explain how you delivered the bad news but also explain how you were one step ahead and already thought up of a plan to turn things around.

Question 4: Tell me about a time you faced conflict in a team

This Pymetrics question asks about your people skills.  Essentially, how good are you at empathizing with people, identifying potential problems, and bringing them to a resolution.

A classic mistake here where answering this question jumps to something like “I just fired that person”.

While that may be true and necessary, jumping straight to that conclusion won’t get you far with your Pymetrics. Explain the process that you went through until you reached that point.

Question 5: Tell me about a time you had to explain something complex

This question tests your ability to summarize a complex issue into a simple but powerful message.

If you start answering this question and run out of time because you are still explaining a complex issue using complex language and imagery extensively – guess what!  You are doing it wrong!

Start the answer with the absolute toplines of the problem and how you were able to break the message down to make it easily digestible by your audience.

Question 6: Tell us something that is not on your CV

Applicants should be really happy when this question comes up since there are so many ways that this can be answered that benefit the applicant if they know what they are doing.

The point of this Pymetrics question is twofold.  First, give the candidate the opportunity to talk about something where they feel they have a particularly interesting strength but where none of the preceding questions seemed appropriate.

The second point is to tease out something about the applicant that makes them unique.  There are only so many applications you can go through before they all become a blur, so letting applicants add a little personal color to their Pymetrics helps to make them more memorable and therefore more likely to be hired.

Question 7: Why do you want this job?

Many people chafe at this question due to its perceived cynicism. While I won’t get into the merits of the question, I will tell you where to direct your energy!

If you can’t think on the spot of a good reason to want this job, think of things about the job, career, or company that appeal to you and would make you “a happy camper”.

This could be customer interaction, fast-paced days, the possibility of travel for work, etc.  

Get more questions!

Your question bank sample is on the way! You can practice live now at https://tryvoomer.com!
We’ve not been able to send you a Question Bank, but at Voomer you can start practicing with these questions now.

Conclusion and parting tips

These seemin gly simple questions have many layers, and now you know how to peel them back!

Pymetrics interviews can be intimidating and stressful, especially when your dream job rides on acing it.  Therefore, it makes a lot of sense to practice for your Pymetrics on a tool like Voomer.  You can browse our question database with company-specific questions and practice for them in an environment that is extremely similar to Pymetrics.  You can also get AI-powered feedback on your answers to help you land that dream job!