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Finding the right candidate for your organization can be a challenging and time-consuming process. Hiring needs to be both effective and efficient—what can your team do to streamline procedures while still selecting the best candidates?
One effective strategy that has gained popularity in recent years is pre-employment tests. These tests are designed to assess a candidate’s work-related attributes before making a hiring decision. Whether you’re looking to expedite your hiring process or assess an applicant’s skills with ease, pre-employment tests may be exactly what your department needs.
What is Pre-Employment Testing?
Pre-employment testing uses standardized assessments to evaluate potential employees’ skills, knowledge, personality traits, and cognitive abilities. These tests provide valuable insights into a candidate’s suitability for a role, helping employers make more informed and confident choices. Hiring teams typically use test rentals from trusted experts to set up these evaluations.
It’s not easy to get the full picture of someone just from their resume, or even after an interview. A pre-employment test dives deeper and helps uncover a candidate’s true potential. While a resume might tell you where someone worked and what they did, and an interview might give you a sense of their personality, pre-employment tests provide hard data on how they might actually perform on the job.
Why Use Pre-Employment Tests in Hiring?
Pre-employment tests can be a game-changer for bringing in the candidates best suited for your roles. These are some of the primary benefits.
Expediting the Hiring Process
One of the biggest advantages of pre-employment testing is how it can speed up the hiring process. By using these tests to screen candidates early on, you can quickly narrow down the applicant pool to those who meet your criteria. This means less time spent reviewing resumes and conducting initial interviews, allowing you to focus on candidates who are truly promising. This also means you can respect the time of your applicants, too.
Testing an Applicant’s Skills
Pre-employment tests are also excellent tools for assessing both hard and soft skills. Sometimes it’s hard to know how to effectively assess soft skills during recruitment since it’s difficult to measure skills like communication and adaptability. Tests like this, however, help bridge this gap by offering tools and data designed specifically to evaluate these attributes.
Whether you’re looking to evaluate technical abilities, problem-solving skills, or interpersonal capabilities, these tests provide a clear picture of what a candidate can bring to the table. This is particularly useful for roles that require specific expertise or leadership positions.
Increasing the Quality of Interviews
By providing objective data on candidates, pre-employment tests can improve the quality of your interviews—and help you stay objective. Instead of starting from scratch, you can use test results to guide your questions and focus on areas that need further exploration. This makes interviews more productive and ensures you get a comprehensive understanding of each candidate’s strengths and weaknesses.
7 Types of Pre-Employment Tests
There are various types of pre-employment tests, each designed to evaluate different aspects of a candidate’s suitability for a role. Let’s explore seven common types and how they can benefit your organization.
1. Job Knowledge Tests
Job knowledge tests assess a candidate’s understanding of the duties and responsibilities specific to a role. These tests are particularly useful for positions that require specialized knowledge or technical expertise.
For example, if you need someone with a strong foundation in industry-specific regulations and practices, you can test for that knowledge. A financial analyst position might require a job knowledge test covering financial regulations, accounting principles, and market analysis techniques.
Limitations of Job Knowledge Tests
Of course, it’s difficult to test everything a candidate knows. While these tests can identify candidates with the necessary knowledge, they may not fully capture a candidate’s ability to apply their knowledge practically. Plus, they might overlook soft skills and other non-technical attributes that are important for the role.
2. Integrity Tests
Integrity tests measure a candidate’s honesty, reliability, and moral behavior. These assessments can help predict whether an individual is likely to engage in unethical or counterproductive work behaviors.
They are most commonly used during screening for positions that require a high level of trust and integrity, such as security personnel or financial roles. Generally, though, by using integrity tests, organizations can reduce the risk of workplace theft, fraud, and other dishonest behaviors.
Limitations of Integrity Tests
It’s wise to note that candidates may attempt to manipulate their responses to appear more favorable. Some tests might not account for cultural differences in the perception of integrity and ethical behavior, either, so it’s important to keep those considerations in mind.
3. Cognitive Ability Tests
Cognitive-focused tests evaluate a candidate’s reasoning, memory, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills. These tests are strong predictors of job performance, particularly for complex and intellectually demanding roles.
HR finds these beneficial for assessing candidates for roles that require high levels of analytical thinking and problem-solving, such as strategic planning or leadership positions. For example, a management consultant might undergo cognitive ability testing to assess their strategic thinking and data analysis.
Limitations of Cognitive Ability Tests
Despite their advantages, cognitive ability tests may disadvantage candidates with different learning styles or those who experience test anxiety. It’s also difficult to fully capture a candidate’s practical abilities and hands-on skills.
4. Personality Tests
Personality tests assess various traits that can influence how a candidate interacts with others and fits within a team or organizational culture.
These tests are useful for identifying candidates whose personality traits align with the company’s values and culture, and for predicting how well an individual will collaborate with team members and handle interpersonal relationships. For instance, a customer service role might benefit from candidates who score high in empathy and agreeableness on a personality test.
Types of Personality Tests
Commonly used tests for personality include:
- Caliper Profile: Measures personality traits and how they relate to job performance.
- Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI): Assesses personality types based on preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions.
- SHL Occupational Personality Questionnaire: Evaluates work behavior and potential based on personality traits.
- Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI): Focuses on normal personality characteristics that impact job performance.
- DiSC Behavioral Inventory: Analyzes behavioral traits and how they influence workplace interactions.
Limitations of Personality Tests
Results can be influenced by the candidate’s current mood or situation, potentially leading to inconsistent outcomes. It’s also important to note that these tests may oversimplify complex personality traits and behaviors.
5. Emotional Intelligence Tests
Emotional intelligence (EI) tests measure a candidate’s ability to recognize, understand, and manage their own emotions, as well as those of others. High EI is especially associated with better teamwork, leadership, adaptability, and empathy.
- Teamwork: Having a strong sense of emotional intelligence helps individuals understand and manage group dynamics, fostering better collaboration and conflict resolution.
- Leadership: Effective leaders often exhibit high EI—it enables them to inspire and motivate their teams, manage stress, and make thoughtful decisions.
- Adaptability: Individuals with EI are often more adaptable since they can manage their emotions and remain composed in changing or stressful situations.
- Empathy: High emotional intelligence includes the ability to empathize with others, which is crucial for building strong relationships and understanding team members’ perspectives.
These tests are valuable for evaluating candidates for roles that require strong interpersonal skills, such as management or customer service positions. If you’re hiring a head of sales role, for example, you likely want your candidate to be highly emotionally intelligent, both to help them support their team and connect with potential clients.
Limitations of Emotional Intelligence Tests
Keep in mind that EI tests can be subjective and may not always accurately reflect a candidate’s emotional capabilities. They might not capture the full range of emotional skills necessary for specific roles.
6. Skills Assessment Tests
Skills assessment tests evaluate specific abilities required for a job, such as typing speed, software proficiency, or technical skills. These tests help measure a candidate’s practical capabilities, helping HR decide if the candidate possesses the necessary skills for technical or hands-on roles. For instance, a graphic designer might take a skills assessment test that evaluates their proficiency in design software like Adobe Creative Suite.
Limitations of Skill Assessment Tests
Skills assessments might not capture a candidate’s potential for growth and learning, so it’s important to keep their ability to learn in mind. Certain tests may also be too narrow, meaning they can overlook other valuable qualities or skills.
7. Physical Ability Tests
There are also physical ability tests, which evaluate things like a candidate’s strength or stamina. These tests are essential for roles that require manual labor, physical endurance, or specific physical capabilities. For example, screening candidates for physically demanding jobs, such as construction or firefighting can reduce the risk of workplace injuries since you know candidates can meet the physical demands of the role.
Limitations of Physical Ability Tests
One pitfall of misused physical tests is the potential for discrimination, even if it’s unintentional. HR specialists must be careful to make sure their tests don’t discriminate against individuals with disabilities or those who are physically less fit but otherwise capable.
How CPS HR Can Help with Pre-Employment Testing
For all kinds of hiring needs, pre-employment tests can be a powerful resource. However, some tests do have limitations—and to implement any test effectively, it’s best to have experts with the right tools help. This is where CPS HR Consulting fits into the equation.
By partnering with CPS HR, you gain access to a suite of services designed to streamline and optimize your hiring process. For example, our tailored assessment center services simulate job tasks to evaluate candidates’ competencies in real-world scenarios. CPS HR offers a variety of employment testing options, too, including cognitive ability tests, skills assessments, and personality tests, which can be rented and administered as needed.
Our test administration services handle the logistical challenges, so all assessments are conducted professionally and consistently, providing reliable results that you can trust.
Let CPS HR Consulting help you recruit and select the right candidates for your organization. Contact us to learn more about our Testing & Selection Services and take the first step towards hiring excellence with CPS HR Consulting.
Frequently Asked Questions about Pre-Employment Tests
What is the most popular pre-employment test given?
The most common pre-employment tests are aptitude or cognitive ability tests. They are widely used because they help hiring specialists gauge a candidate’s reasoning, problem-solving, and critical-thinking skills. These are all strong predictors of job performance—in a huge range of both industries and roles.
What are the cons of a pre-employment test?
Pre-employment tests can help support HR in their pursuit of efficient, ethical hiring practices, but there are drawbacks like the potential for bias and even discrimination. For example, adverse impact, where certain groups of candidates may be unfairly disadvantaged by the tests, can occur from poorly implementing pre-employment tests.
It’s important that hiring managers and other HR professionals use tests as a tool and a source of data, not necessarily the end-all-be-all. You don’t want to become over-reliant on tests and overlook other important factors, like the candidate’s experience or cultural fit. This intentionality and awareness not only help you hire the best fit but also help you steer clear of discriminatory hiring practices.
How can pre-employment tests be integrated into the hiring process?
There isn’t only one way to add pre-employment tests into your hiring practices, but here are the basic steps:
First, it’s important to identify the key competencies and skills required for the job. Once these are defined, select appropriate tests that can accurately measure these attributes.
Next, determine the best point in the hiring process to administer the tests, whether it’s before the initial interview or after a shortlist of candidates has been created. This may change depending on the type of test you are using or what your interview process looks like. It’s also crucial to ensure that all candidates are given the same tests under similar conditions to keep everything consistent and fair.
Finally, use the test results alongside other evaluation methods, such as interviews and reference checks, to make a well-rounded hiring decision.
