Amtico Thomas Assessment Practice

About Amtico's use of Thomas

Amtico is a UK luxury vinyl flooring manufacturer, based in Coventry. Thomas International publishes a case study naming Amtico as a user of four instruments plus 360 degree feedback: the Behaviour assessment (PPA), the Personality assessment (HPTI), the Emotional Intelligence assessment (TEIQue) and the Aptitude assessment (GIA).

The framing matters. The case study describes development and succession planning rather than applicant sifting, which is a different kind of assessment experience. Nobody is screening you out, the output is a conversation about your strengths and where you might go next, and three of the four instruments have no marks at all.

The four instruments

• Behaviour assessment (PPA). Twenty-four sets of four adjectives, most and least like you. Untimed, under eight minutes, any device. Reports three DISC graphs and no score. Thomas says directly there is no correct behavioural style.
• Personality assessment (HPTI). Seventy-eight statements on a 1 to 7 scale across Conscientiousness, Adjustment, Curiosity, Risk Approach, Ambiguity Acceptance and Competitiveness. Untimed. Thomas reads high scores as potential derailers as well as strengths.
• Emotional Intelligence assessment (TEIQue). A long trait emotional intelligence questionnaire rated 1 to 7, feeding 15 facets and four factors. Thomas says it should be administered by an accredited expert who can interpret the results, which is why you usually meet it in a development context rather than a sift.
• Aptitude assessment (GIA). The only one with right answers. Five short timed tasks measuring processing speed and accuracy. Desktop and mouse only.

Thomas renamed all four and kept the acronyms in candidate-facing material, so an invitation may use either name. If you see both on the same page, they are the same test.

The GIA is the one worth drilling

Five tasks in a fixed order, each with its own rules, eight practice items and its own clock: Reasoning, Perceptual Speed, Number Speed and Accuracy, Word Meaning, and Spatial Visualisation. Three things make it unlike most aptitude tests.

• No fixed question count. You answer as many items as each clock allows. Nobody finishes, so do not set out to.
• Wrong answers are penalised at a different rate per task. A full mark on Reasoning, a quarter on Perceptual Speed, half on the other three. Blanks cost nothing, so a blind guess nets zero on average. Guess only once you have eliminated an option.
• The five tasks reward different things. Reasoning rewards getting through more items; Perceptual Speed rewards accuracy at a speed nearly everyone reaches anyway. Practising them as one block never tells you which of yours is weak.

Approaching a development assessment

Honesty is not just ethical here, it is useful

In a development context the output goes into a conversation about your career with someone who already works with you. A flattering profile buys nothing and makes that conversation less useful. On the HPTI in particular, Thomas frames maximum scores as derailers, so a profile with every dial turned up reads as implausible rather than impressive.

Use the whole of a seven-point scale

The HPTI and TEIQue both run 1 to 7. Answering 4 to everything produces a flat profile with nothing to discuss, which on a development instrument is the worst possible outcome because it wastes the exercise entirely.

Practise the GIA format, not its content

Familiarity with the five task types and their pacing is most of the available gain on a speed test. Knowing what a Perceptual Speed item looks like means the first ten seconds go on answering rather than on understanding.

Amtico role families

Operations and manufacturing

• Production and machine operation
• Engineering and maintenance
• Quality and technical
• Supply chain and logistics

Commercial and corporate

• Sales and specification
• Design and product development
• Marketing
• Finance, HR and IT

Practise the exact tests

Our Thomas practice hub covers all four instruments, with the GIA split into its five tasks plus a full battery. GIA Perceptual Speed is free.