A great team always contributes to the smooth functioning of the organization and works towards fulfilling the vision of the company. On the other hand, misfit employees can lead to substantial losses for the organization. This makes it extremely critical to hire the employees that are best-suited in their roles. Pre-employment skill testing and screening is an effective methodology to hire ‘ideal’ employees for your organization. So, how exactly is pre-employment testing and screening done?
A pre-employment test is an evaluation process that enables recruiters to filter and shortlist candidates that are suitable for the job. The screening tests have questions that are customized as per the job descriptions. The results offer valuable insights and help the recruiters identify the traits and potential of the candidate. Pre-employment screening tests are a standardized and highly objective method of recruitment.
As per one study, on average, about 250 resumes are submitted on every corporate job (~Glassdoor). About 50% of the applicants do not even meet the basic criteria for the job application(~ Wall Street Journal). Add ‘resume spammers’ to the mix, and it would become extremely difficult for recruiters to review all the received applications adequately.
Pre-employment skills testing is effective as it helps recruiters to navigate the vast pool of applications that are received on every job application. The pre-employments test can be largely classified into aptitude tests, personality tests, and skill tests.
Role of Aptitude Tests in pre-employment skill testing
Aptitude tests are meant to check the problem-solving, critical & logical thinking, and information processing ability of the candidates. The aptitude tests can be divided as fluid intelligence test (logical reasoning, inductive reasoning tests, diagrammatic reasoning), and crystallized intelligence tests (verbal reasoning, spatial aptitude, and mechanical reasoning). As per a LinkedIn study, problem-solving skills (65%) and the ability to learn new information quickly (64%) are the most important qualities sought by the employers.
Personality Tests: The soft part of pre-employment skill test
Personality tests check whether an individual is suitable for a job role or not by accessing the behavioural traits in a candidate. Values such as openness, agreeableness, consciousness, extraversion and stress-tolerant are evaluated. The integrity or honesty test that evaluates honesty and trustworthiness in a candidate can also be a part of personality tests. Measuring the personality traits of the candidates enables the recruiters to determine if the candidate’s behavioural traits are in-line with the job role in question and the company culture.
Skill Tests
While the aptitude tests and personality tests help recruiters in evaluating the overall traits of the candidates, the skill test reveals the specific job-focused ability of the candidates. Recruiters can use pre-employment skills testing to evaluate the micro-skills such as coding, writing, designing, etc. Skill tests are incredibly critical for tech-based roles as traditional methods such as CV, interview, etc. do not reveal the competence of the candidate.
By making use of these tests, hiring managers can select the candidates that are best suited for the role and the organization. Pre-employment skills testing adds a layer of data-driven and objective metrics to the recruitment process.
Let us look at some of the top reasons why pre-employment testing and screening are essential in 2020:
- Eliminate 50% of the candidates initially while screening.
- Reduce 90% of the time spent on hiring elements.
- 75% of hiring managers are satisfied with the results, as observed by a study.
- Increase in productivity by reducing the time spent on unwanted activities and will lead you to focus on other important tasks.
- Hiring managers can hire high-quality candidates by using these tests that will improve the hiring results.
- Pre-employment tests focus on matching the right application to the right job, which leads to employee satisfaction, increased productivity, and low employee turnover.
As people continue to be the most valuable asset, effectiveness of pre-employment skill tests will decide how organizations build great teams and compete effectively in the marketplace.
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