A lot of companies use pre employment test these days so that they can screen the job applicants by seeing what their working skills, cognitive abilities, motor abilities, emotional intelligence, and integrity and language proficiency are. These tests are conducted so that one can choose the candidates who are most likely to succeed on the job they are given after getting it.
These tests are conducted by the recruiters because by doing that they can easily identify the right candidates who can really perform well at the job if they are hired. Thus pre employment tests are conducted only to benefit the hiring companies because it can not only save time but also the cost of the selection process.
This decreases the turnover and improves the morale as well.
There can be some dramatic benefits gained from using this testing process and there are some potential issues that companies also need to be clear about before they start this testing process for hiring. Here, the first issue that one has to be concerned about is the validity of this process. Does the test measure some specific criteria that it is supposed to measure and do they predict future performances and job? If yes, then one can use these tests in order to employ people.
Also, these tests are considered more effective and more objective as compared to the forms of assessment. They are definitely more accurate in finding the right candidate rather than finding one by doing some unstructured interviews and pre interview calls. This is because here, the hiring managers mostly judge the candidates based on a subjective manner rather than any kind of job related criteria.
But these tests work totally in a different manner. When these tests are well designed then it helps the hirers to draw conclusions which are more objective. The well designed tests are not only reliable and they are very valid.
The pre employment tests are mostly same for everyone. They are much better than unstructured interviews because those interviews can be unfair as the interviewers ask different questions to different candidates and so it is not possible to evaluate them on the same basis. Tests are not only administered but they have been standardized in a same way for all the applicants.
Here are some major positive things to know why one must implement pre employment tests:
- They can save a lot of time on the interviews. Assessing varieties of traits of the candidates in a face to face interview can be very long and exhausting process and this can be easily replaced by a pre employment test. This test can evaluate certain skill of the candidates just at one go like the written communication, the typing speed and how do they solve problems in a crisis situation.
- These tests can help the hirer to rely on a quantifiable insight. One cannot hire candidates on the basis of gut feeling and this is not a very accurate thing to do. This can often lead one to the wrong conclusions and this is kind of discriminatory process because many go for the unconscious bias while hiring. Tests are structured process and this can help one to take proper hiring decisions.
- These tests are absolutely job related and so one can only answer questions that are related to job. This never happens in case of an unstructured interview. There, the interviewer can often deviate from the job related topics and it affects the hiring decisions. These tests have a section called the personality test where one can gauge the general characteristic of a candidate.
These are the major things that one can get if they use pre employment tests in the hiring process. But at the same time, these tests are not hundred percent perfect. Here are some negative sides of it as well which one needs to be clear about before they start using this as an employment process.
- Just like any other tests, this one also measures a few handful traits of the applicants. They sometimes fail to assess the important things as well. These tests try and find out how an applicant can be good and suited for the job profile but they often fail to assert that how much the candidate is ready to learn or improve once they are hired for the job. In order to assert these traits one needs to do multiple tests along with pre employment tests to get the clear picture of a candidate.
- Sometimes these testing processes can be discriminatory as well. There are some physical ability and personality tests which can also break the anti-discrimination laws. For example if the test wants to assert certain traits in a candidate which is totally unrelated to the job then it can never be a good idea.
The best thing that one can do is to just select a short duration (may be 30 minutes test) for all the shortlisted candidates and then take it ahead from there. Various kinds of testing and assessment processes are a good idea but it can lead to a lengthy recruitment process as well. But a general testing process always helps in improving the quality of hiring.
One must check that the entire test that is implemented by the company has to be legal. Otherwise, it can severely damage the reputation of the companies. Also the tests have to be strictly job related so that one can analyze whether the applicant is suitable for the job or not. Also the tests must not be used for any kind of unrelated positions.
These are the few important things that any company or job organization must keep in mind before they think about implementing any kind of pre employment testing for the hiring process. Also they must get help from professionals when they are designing the test. This is because if the tests are not accurate then there is no point in implementing them as it can never assess the candidates rightly.
