Pre-employment testing: A complete guide
Pre-employment testing best practices
In this section, we focus on the best pre-employment testing practices to follow for excellent results. This includes the top mistakes to avoid when using pre-employment assessments as part of your recruitment methods.
We also look at nondiscrimination considerations, keeping your candidates happy through the recruitment process, and when the right time is to give your applicants a pre-employment test or assessment, as well as how much weight to give the test results.
We’ll be focusing on best practices for pre-employment skills tests here, but you can also take a look at our handy guide to the full range of recruitment best practices.
Mistakes to avoid when using pre-employment testing
The benefits of using pre-screening tests are evident. However, there are a few common mistakes that many organizations make when using pre-employment assessments that can render them useless. Here, we’ll go through the six most common pre-employment testing mistakes and how to avoid them.
1. Assigning the wrong pre-employment tests to applicants
This is a big one. When assigning screening tests to applicants, it may seem obvious which tests you should ask them to complete.
For example, if you’re hiring a data analyst, it seems fair to assume that you might assign them a Power BI test or a test that assesses their ability to work with data.
However, if you instead ask applicants to complete an email skills test, not only will you wind up with information that won’t help you make any solid hiring decisions, but you may also run into legal compliance issues.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission clearly states in its Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures that any tests used to make hiring decisions must be relevant to the job.
For the sake of saving time, it may be tempting to assign all applicants the same tests, no matter the position.
However, generic pre-employment tests provide little value when it comes to making a final hiring decision. For example, personality tests are great for getting a better idea about what makes your candidates tick, but don’t rely on these tests to make your final hiring decision.
Selecting the right candidate screening tests starts when you create the profile for each role for which you’re hiring. When writing the job description, think carefully about the skills needed for the position, and choose the most relevant tests.
2. Not considering soft skills or culture add
The ideal candidate for any role will have the right mixture of hard and soft skills, which means prescreening for both is a crucial part of your recruitment strategy.
Perhaps you already have an idea of the type of person who should fill this role. However, many organizations are moving away from the concept of culture fit toward culture add.
A culture-add mindset recognizes the benefit of hiring people who align with your organization’s standards and culture and bring something different to the table.
3. Relying on pre-employment tests alone
Seriously, don’t do this. Pre-employment screening tests help provide a clearer picture of who your top candidates are; they’re also a straightforward and streamlined way to gather data on your applicants.
Since pre-employment tests remove a lot of the heavy lifting in the applicant assessment process, it can be tempting to rely on the results of tests alone.
But although an applicant might score well across the board, they may not have the kind of personality that suits your company or team, which you can sometimes only confirm during the interview process.
Using a combination of hiring manager experience, pre-employment tests, and interviews is the best way to get the most out of tests and assessments, and ensure you choose the best candidates.
4. Neglecting the candidate experience
As we know by now, pre-employment tests are efficient and lay a lot of the necessary groundwork for making the best hiring decisions – but you must use them wisely or face turning top candidates away.
Testing can be stressful and tiring for applicants who are job hunting. Many organizations have lengthy application processes in place, which can drain applicants of time and motivation.
Pre-employment testing processes can also make companies appear “faceless” and unwelcoming when they insist on giving candidates tests before any face-to-face interaction.
The solution to this is managing the candidate screening test process in a way that enhances the candidate experience instead of detracting from it.
Your applicants’ first experience with your company has to be a positive and welcoming one, so make sure your application process is up to scratch.
Secondly, evaluate the seniority of the role and adjust the number of tests and the time it takes to complete them accordingly. You don’t want your applicants to lose interest before finishing the assessment.
Thirdly, work with your HR and marketing teams to ensure that the messaging for applicants is encouraging, and be sure to let candidates know why they’re completing a pre-employment test.
If they are rejected based on their test results, consider sharing the results with them. That way, they’ll know what they need to work on and don’t have to guess what they did wrong.
5. Not using the right technology to support pre-employment test processes
The candidate screening test market has expanded rapidly in recent years to meet the demand for objective evaluation methods while hitting recruitment metric goals such as time-to-fill. With the wide variety of options, it can be challenging to know where to start when assessing the available software.
Here’s what you should look for in any pre-employment testing software worth its salt:
Evidence-based tests: The tests the platforms offer should have a body of evidence behind them, including their ability to benchmark and compare applicants. Prescreening software should also provide tests cultivated by reputable test psychologists and statisticians.
Available integrations with applicant tracking systems (ATSs): There are multiple benefits to integrating pre-employment testing software with your ATS, such as improving the efficiency of document and workflow completion, ensuring legal compliance, and reducing hiring bottlenecks.
A wide range of tests: No matter what industry you’re in, it’s crucial for your organization to have access to a varied range of test types. As we’ve mentioned before, it’s best practice to use a combination of screening tests to get a well-rounded view of the applicant.
A high level of customization: Of course, many organizations want to create their own tests to evaluate applicants. A good pre-employment testing tool will help make test creation a simple, straightforward process while ensuring you get the most out of your customized tests.
Ease of use: A screening tool should help make recruiting processes smarter, not harder. Look for tools that can provide you with real-time assessment results, that make inviting applicants for testing easy, and also make it simple to compare applicants side by side.
6. Only using one type of test
Based on data shared by Frank L. Schmidt, a psychology professor known for his work in personnel selection and employment testing, we recommend using multi-measure assessments (which include a mix of cognitive ability, personality, and other types of tests).
This approach has been shown to be the most effective way to predict how a candidate will perform on the job.
Nondiscrimination considerations
The pre-employment tests you use must comply with all applicable federal, state, and local nondiscrimination laws.
This means you must not design or use the tests to discriminate against applicants on the basis of a protected characteristic (race, color, religion, gender, national origin, disability, age, or another protected class).
Be consistent: All applicants for a role should be subject to exactly the same tests that have the same level of difficulty.
Use tests with accommodations for candidates with extra requirements: We recognize that candidates have different requirements to achieve the best results when taking your tests or assessments.
They may not be natively fluent in the language of the assessment or have a disability that affects their memory and cognition. For these reasons, TestGorilla offers your candidates the ability to request modifications so that they can perform their best and you can make your hiring decision without bias.
Assess impact: Pre-employment tests should be job related and consistent with business necessity. They shouldn’t disproportionately exclude applicants in a protected class.
If your selection process screens out a protected group, you should find out whether there is another test available that would be just as effective in predicting job performance without excluding the protected class.
Research pre-employment testing platforms carefully
The HR tech landscape is full of pre-employment testing software, and we realize it can be difficult to choose the right one for your specific needs.
When looking for your ideal pre-employment testing platform, you should decide what your current and possible future requirements are and then choose an option that will do everything you want it to while staying within your budget.
You also need to ensure that the software you choose complies with all laws and regulations governing pre-employment testing and follows data protection and privacy laws.
If possible, sign up for free with a platform and try out the tests yourself.
TestGorilla enables you to try several popular tests for free in an assessment so that you can get a good idea of the candidate experience and depth of the test questions themselves.
Brand your assessments
It’s always a good idea to customize pre-employment tests to align with your brand as much as possible.
You can make a positive impact on candidates by using customizable pre-employment testing software. For example, you can upload your company’s logo or use your color scheme to maintain consistency with your website and social channels.
Taking these steps not only enhances the pre-employment testing process for candidates but also gives them a deeper understanding of the company culture and the job that they’re applying for.
Administer tests at the right time
Although you can use pre-employment tests and assessments at any time, give them to candidates right at the start of the hiring process for the best results.
The only way to ensure that you don’t miss out on any great candidates is to give them a pre-employment exam before you even start screening resumes.
This will give every candidate a chance to prove their worth and ensure that you don’t make a hasty decision based on seeing their resume for a couple of seconds.
You also want to be sure the tests and assessments are long enough to be thorough but not so long that they put candidates off taking them. By limiting tests and assessments to 50 minutes or less, you can decrease the number of candidates who fail to complete the process because of time requirements.
Track engagement and completion rates
It’s also a good idea to track your testing completion rates to assess when and where candidates drop off.
This will enable you to think about what changes you could make to improve the process, like changing the order of your chosen tests or making them shorter.
When you track completion rates, you can optimize the assessment process and improve it to make your pre-employment testing even more valuable.
Decide how much weight to give test results
Use the test results for guidance only – although they are data-driven, evidence-based, and far better than resumes, they are not the magic bullet that will miraculously erase all your hiring problems.
Keep in mind that pre-employment assessment results are not meant to make your decisions for you.
To ensure you make the best hiring decision, combine your pre-employment testing with other candidate selection methods, such as interviews, portfolio viewing (when relevant), trial assignments, or trial days.