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Get expert insights on talent—skills-based hiring, recruitment science, HR trends, and recruitment strategies—all in one place.

The TestGorilla Library 

AI Scoring and Hiring Bias featured image


For most of hiring's history, bias was something organizations could claim they were working on. AI has made that harder. 

When an algorithm screens 4 million job applications and produces documented racial disparities (adverse impact against Black applicants in 1 in 10 roles, and against Asian applicants in 1 in 20), "we're working on it" stops being a strategy and starts being a liability. That is the central finding of a landmark study published in May 2026 by researchers at Stanford's Human

AI scoring and hiring bias: What the evidence shows, what to watch for, and how to audit your tool

featured image thumbnail for it's impossible to prevent cheating

Here’s the uncomfortable truth nobody in HR tech wants to say out loud: no assessment has ever been 100% cheat-proof. Not before AI. Not now. Proctored exams have had answer keys floating around since the 1980s. Candidates have been exaggerating on resumes for decades. The problem isn’t new. What’s new is the scale and the speed. Every candidate now has a language model in their pocket that can draft a coherent answer to almost any text-based question in under three seconds. So what do you do ab

No one wants to tell you this, but it’s impossible to prevent cheating

Paige Oja

Science series blog: The truth about fake answers

When candidates take a self-report assessment, also known as a preference test, they often want to present themselves in the best possible light. This natural tendency – which is known as socially desirable responding – occurs in many aspects of the hiring process, from resumes to interviews.  Sometimes, it’s unintentional, simply reflecting how candidates see themselves or what they believe are positive traits. Other times, it’s more deliberate. This is what we refer to as faking. Faking occurs

The truth about faking on self-report tests

Science

Portrait of a professional in a softly blurred office, illustrating the TestGorilla article "Introducing TestGorilla's Abstract Reasoning test"

Introducing our new Abstract Reasoning test. Designed to identify candidates who can recognize patterns, solve problems, and make logical decisions on the fly, this test helps you future-proof your workforce by identifying agile learners and innovative thinkers.

Introducing TestGorilla's Abstract Reasoning test

Understanding adverse impact featured image

Building a diverse and inclusive workplace starts with fair hiring practices. While policies may be created with the best intentions, they can occasionally lead to unintended bias, known as adverse impact. This is what occurs when certain groups are unintentionally disadvantaged in the hiring process.  By understanding how adverse impact happens, how it differs from intentional discrimination, and how to monitor and adjust for it, you can continuously improve fairness in your hiring process. In 

Understanding adverse impact: Examples, best practices, and FAQ

An introduction to percentile scores featured image

HR professionals often face the challenge of hiring for diverse roles, many of which they might not be intimately familiar with. In a week, you might have ongoing processes for a software engineer, a marketing coordinator, and a graphic designer. It can be difficult to know, understand, and apply criteria and standards that are a) role-specific and suited to your organization and b) broad enough to have universal relevance. That’s where TestGorilla assessments step in, helping you evaluate both 

An introduction to percentile scores: What are they, and what are the benefits?

content validity everything you need to know featured image

Skills assessments are a valuable method for evaluating candidates' skills, traits, and abilities prior to making hiring decisions. However, it's important to ensure that the tools you use are precise, accurate, and valid.  Test validity is a complex concept that encompasses different areas like criterion validity, construct validity, and content validity. Content validity is a type of validity that helps you determine whether your tests adequately cover the relevant knowledge and skills you aim

Understanding content validity: Examples and FAQ

Understanding gender Differential Item Functioning (DIF) in test analysis graphic

Gender bias is everywhere. At TestGorilla, we recognize that removing barriers for women within the labor market is vital if we want to create a fairer world. But what does that mean in the context of pre-employment testing, and what are we doing to ensure our tests don’t discriminate against gender? This blog post explores the concept of Differential Item Functioning (DIF) and its role in ensuring fairness in testing. We will also discuss the results of DIF analysis of TestGorilla tests and how

Understanding gender Differential Item Functioning (DIF) in test analysis

Talent assessment

Skills-based hiring

When it comes to finding the best candidates, IQ tests are a common topic discussed by HR professionals, recruiters, and hiring managers. However, the newest science on identifying high-potential candidates and job-relevant skills suggests there are better alternatives. These modern tools provide better insights into job-relevant qualities that truly matter for success in the workplace. Read on to find out how you can leverage these innovative methods to improve your hiring process and select th

IQ tests for employment are obsolete – here’s what to do instead

Cognitive ability tests are a great tool for identifying top candidates when used appropriately. However, while they certainly are popular and useful, tests of cognitive abilities should be used carefully. Using these tests haphazardly can potentially create unfair disadvantages or biases toward some groups, meaning you may overlook high-quality candidates or open your organization to legal risk.  This blog will walk you through some best practices, based on the latest scientific insights,  for 

5 science-backed best practices for cognitive ability testing

Construct validity is the extent to which a test accurately measures the abstract concept it is designed to evaluate. It ensures that assessment results genuinely reflect the trait being measured, such as cognitive ability or leadership, making test scores meaningful for hiring decisions. Skills tests are an excellent way to measure candidates’ skills and traits before hiring them. However, you need to ensure that the tools you use are accurate. Construct validity is one type of validity that he

Understanding construct validity: Examples and FAQ 

Hiring & recruiting

Without effective cutoff testing, hiring managers often struggle to filter candidates. As a result, you might recruit unqualified applicants or overlook top talent, which wastes time and resources. Whether you are looking for a business operation manager, DevOps engineer, or marketing specialist, skills tests with appropriate cutoff scores can significantly improve the quality of your hires. Let’s see what a cutoff score is and what factors you should consider before setting one when recruiting 

What is a cutoff score in skill testing, and how do you set it correctly?

One of the most frequent questions our Science team gets is about setting cut-off scores: What they are, how they are set, and their benefits and risks.  In this introductory guide, we’ll explain why TestGorilla does not recommend cut-off scores to our customers and take a look into the intricacies of setting cut-off scores for pre-employment tests. We’ll discuss the importance of considering their legal defensibility and fairness in hiring. We’ll also offer insights into common misconceptions a

An introduction to: Cut-off scores

Today, making accurate predictions about job candidates’ potential success is the cornerstone of an HR professional’s work – but such predictions are difficult to make.  Psychometric psychology is a field of study that can help you quantify the knowledge, abilities, personality characteristics, and attitudes of job applicants. In this article, we explain psychometric psychology and how you can use psychometric assessments to strengthen and simplify your hiring process. We also look at what psych

Psychometric psychology in recruitment: Everything you need to know 

How to interpret test fact sheets: validity

At TestGorilla, we are committed to providing assessments that are not only reliable but also valid, ensuring that they are practical, relevant, and impactful tools for talent assessment.  In the first installment of our series on how to interpret test fact sheets, we delved into the complexities of reliability, shedding light on how it underscores the consistency and dependability of our assessments. Building on that foundation, Part 2 of this series ventures into another cornerstone of psychom

How to interpret test fact sheets, Part 2: Validity

Understanding test timing cognitive load theory and talent assessment

Have you ever wondered why our Culture Add test is 10 minutes long? Or why our Coding: Data Structures – Arrays test is 35?  There’s more behind test timing than you might think: This seemingly simple aspect of talent assessment plays a crucial role in maintaining the balance between assessing candidate abilities and ensuring an efficient recruitment process.  But why is this the case, and how do we maintain a balance? In this science series blog, we’ll explore cognitive load theory (CLT) and it

Understanding test timing: Cognitive load theory and talent assessment

Establishing the reliability and validity of assessments is a complex process, involving the meticulous and ongoing examination of various pieces of evidence. Several psychometric measures contribute to this evidence, including reliability, content validity, construct validity, and criterion validity.  Since our goal is to provide you with reliable and valid assessments, we've developed Test Fact Sheets (find examples here of Test Fact Sheets for our Communication test, English B1 test, and Atte

How to interpret test fact sheets, Part 1: Reliability

Revisiting the validity of different hiring tools: New insights into what works bet

Science series materials are brought to you by TestGorilla’s Assessment Team: A group of IO psychology, data science, psychometric experts and assessment development specialists with a deep understanding of the science behind skills-based hiring. 
Predicting the future is a difficult task, usually done only by skilled oracles, recruiters, and hiring managers. You read that right. Employers looking to hire top candidates are aiming to predict the future success of a candidate in their role. While

Revisiting the validity of different hiring tools: New insights into what works best - Part 2

Science series materials are brought to you by TestGorilla’s team of assessment experts: A group of IO psychology, data science, psychometricians, and IP development specialists with a deep understanding of the science behind skills-based hiring. In the dynamic world of hiring, finding the right candidate isn't just a stroke of luck – it's a science.  While landing a top performer can feel magical, there is nothing elusive or mystical about the selection process that can help you consistently hi

What is predictor-criterion congruence and how can it help me hire successfully?

Classical test theory (CTT) is a psychometric framework based on the idea that any test score is the sum of a person's true ability and some degree of measurement error. It provides methods for estimating test reliability and improving test design, and remains the foundation of how most pre-employment assessments are developed and evaluated. If you've ever sat for an exam, at school, during a job application, or for a professional certification, you've encountered the principles of test design f

A brief introduction to classical test theory

The science of structured interviews featured image

Science series materials are brought to you by TestGorilla’s team of assessment experts: A group of IO psychology, data science, psychometricians, and IP development specialists with a deep understanding of the science behind skills-based hiring. In the fast-paced world of talent acquisition, staying ahead of the curve is essential for hiring managers and recruiters alike. To identify the right candidates and make informed decisions, understanding the science of structured interviews and Frame o

Mastering the art of structured interviews: The science behind frame of reference training

Science series materials are brought to you by TestGorilla’s team of assessment experts: A group of IO psychology, data science, psychometricians, and IP development specialists with a deep understanding of the science behind skills-based hiring. At TestGorilla, we take a deeply scientific and rigorous approach to the development, monitoring, and improvement of the tests in our test library. There’s a bunch of assessment science-related jargon related to these processes, so we’ve put together th

Science glossary

Science series materials are brought to you by TestGorilla’s team of assessment experts: A group of IO psychology, data science, psychometricians, and IP development specialists with a deep understanding of the science behind skills-based hiring. If you read our previous blog post about selection error, you’ll remember that we defined exactly what it is and explained that you can make better hiring decisions by reducing it.  Here, we’re taking it one step further. In this post, we’ll expand on t

How can valid, reliable employee selection tests minimize selection errors and increase selection hits?

Best practices for setting up asynchronous video interviews FI

Science series materials are brought to you by TestGorilla’s team of assessment experts: A group of IO psychology, data science, psychometricians, and IP development specialists with a deep understanding of the science behind skills-based hiring. Over the years, organizations have introduced various technologies to their recruitment and personnel selection processes in an effort to enhance efficiency, reduce costs, and improve the likelihood of a successful hire.  As one of the most widely utili

Best practices for setting up asynchronous video interviews

How to select tests for an assessment and avoid a skill overlap

Science series materials are brought to you by TestGorilla’s team of assessment experts: A group of IO psychology, data science, psychometricians, and IP development specialists with a deep understanding of the science behind skills-based hiring. If you’re using TestGorilla to create an assessment and you’re seeking guidance in selecting tests, then this is the blog post for you. Read on for concise recommendations from our Assessment Team regarding how to select tests for an assessment – and ho

How to select tests for an assessment (and avoid a skill overlap)

Revisiting the validity of different hiring tools featured image

Science series materials are brought to you by TestGorilla’s team of assessment experts: A group of IO psychology, data science, psychometricians, and IP development specialists with a deep understanding of the science behind skills-based hiring. Employers are in the prediction business: They have to predict whether a candidate will be successful in a job based on limited information about their capabilities. To improve the accuracy of these predictions, it helps to prioritize hiring tools (e.g.

Revisiting the validity of different hiring tools: New insights into what works best

Legal defensibility and skills-based hiring

Science series materials are brought to you by TestGorilla’s team of assessment experts: A group of IO psychology, data science, psychometricians, and IP development specialists with a deep understanding of the science behind skills-based hiring. In order to maintain legal compliance, avoid potential legal challenges, and participate ethically and responsibly in assessment practices, organizations must ensure that their assessment practices are legally defensible.  If assessment practices are co

Legal risk and skills-based hiring: The legal defensibility of TestGorilla’s assessments 

What is selection error and how do you minimize it during hiring?

Science series materials are brought to you by TestGorilla’s team of assessment experts: A group of IO psychology, data science, psychometricians, and IP development specialists with a deep understanding of the science behind skills-based hiring. When making selection decisions about applicants, organizations aim to maximize selection hits (a correct hiring decision) and minimize selection misses (an incorrect hiring decision). Hiring a candidate who will perform well, or declining to hire a can

How to prepare for a criterion-related validation study

Criterion-related validity is the degree to which test scores relate to work-relevant outcomes, such as job performance ratings or employee turnover.

Criterion-related validity is essential to ensuring that pre-employment tests are predictive of an employee's job performance. Criterion-related validation studies help to scientifically evaluate and confirm what we typically assume in the selection context: That candidates who perform well on the assessment will perform well on the job if selecte

A brief introduction to test validation - Featured image

Science series materials are brought to you by TestGorilla’s team of assessment experts: A group of IO psychology, data science, psychometricians, and IP development specialists with a deep understanding of the science behind skills-based hiring. At TestGorilla, we’re always working to improve the accuracy and reliability of our pre-hiring assessments to ensure a fair and bias-free screening experience for both candidates and employers. In this science series article, we’ll take a look at why te

A brief introduction to: Test validation

A brief introduction to behavioral competencies - featured image

Science series materials are brought to you by TestGorilla’s team of assessment experts: A group of IO psychology, data science, psychometricians, and IP development specialists with a deep understanding of the science behind skills-based hiring. Over the past months, we have been hard at work experimenting with the best way to integrate comprehensive behavioral competencies into our talent assessment software.  Read on to find out why we embarked on this initiative, what exciting offerings we h

A brief introduction to: Behavioral competencies

Science series materials are brought to you by TestGorilla’s team of assessment experts: A group of IO psychology, data science, psychometricians, and IP development specialists with a deep understanding of the science behind skills-based hiring. TestGorilla takes a deeply scientific and multi-layered approach to creating tests for skills-based hiring. This series of brief introductions aims to conjure transparency when it comes to how we build our tests and how we advise they are used. In this 

A brief introduction to: Test order

Science series materials are brought to you by TestGorilla’s team of assessment experts: A group of IO psychology, data science, psychometricians, and IP development specialists with a deep understanding of the science behind skills-based hiring. TestGorilla takes a deeply scientific and multi-layered approach to creating tests for skills-based hiring. This series of brief introductions aims to conjure transparency when it comes to how we build our tests and how we advise they are used.  In this

A brief introduction to: Candidate satisfaction

Do you need a way to determine whether your skills assessments have the right validity? Are you looking for methods to confirm the reliability of your candidates’ or workers’ skills? Validity studies offer several advantages when it comes to assessing your applicants and employees. In this article, we’ve covered a few essential points about validity studies. First, we’ll explain what a validity study is. Then we’ll go over the four main advantages of using validity studies in the workplace. Let’

What are the key benefits of validity studies in the workplace?

estee chaikin

Estee looks after the TestGorilla brand and has spent over a decade covering social & environment impact and how these trends shape how talent is empowered.

Psychometric testing for hiring teams: test types, what actually predicts job performance, AI faking risk, and how to check a test before you buy.

Not all psychometric tests are equal. Some predict job performance well. Some barely do. And if you're evaluating whether to add them to your hiring process — or defending the ones you already use — that difference matters more than the label. This guide covers what psychometric testing is, which test types are worth using for which roles, what the evidence actually says about performance prediction, how to check whether a test is valid, and how to use it fairly now that AI can answer a personal

Psychometric testing in hiring: types, accuracy, and how to choose a test

Human resources

Percentages and percentiles are important metrics that play a key role in helping you understand your shortlisting test results and what they mean for hiring the best candidate. Percentages are relatively easy to understand, as they are generally used to calculate a range of numbers in everyday life, while percentiles can seem more intimidating to people who are not mathematically inclined.
 Find out why knowing the difference is important for understanding recruitment tests and how to distingui

The difference between percentages vs. percentiles (and why it matters)

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This handbook provides actionable insights, use cases, data, and tools to help you implement skills-based hiring for optimal success

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The skills-based hiring handbook

A comprehensive guide packed with detailed strategies, timelines, and best practices — to help you build a seamless onboarding plan.

How to elevate employee onboarding

A comprehensive guide with in-depth comparisons, key features, and pricing details to help you choose the best talent assessment platform.

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Top talent assessment platforms: A detailed guide

This in-depth guide includes tools, metrics, and a step-by-step plan for tracking and boosting your recruitment ROI.

The blueprint for boosting your recruitment ROI cover image

The blueprint for boosting your recruitment ROI

A step-by-step blueprint that will help you maximize the benefits of skills-based hiring from faster time-to-hire to improved employee retention.

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Download checklist

The skills-based hiring checklist

With our onboarding email templates, you'll reduce first-day jitters, boost confidence, and create a seamless experience for your new hires.

Download templates

Essential onboarding email templates

 Get all the essentials of HR in one place! This cheat sheet covers KPIs, roles, talent acquisition, compliance, performance management, and more to boost your HR expertise.

Download cheat sheet

The HR cheat sheet

Onboarding employees can be a challenge. This checklist provides detailed best practices broken down by days, weeks, and months after joining.

Employee onboarding checklist

Track all the critical calculations that contribute to your recruitment process and find out how to optimize them with this cheat sheet.

Key hiring metrics cheat sheet cover image

Key hiring metrics cheat sheet

In a hiring world where bots screen bots, this one-pager shows how to refocus AI on surfacing real, job-ready people. Learn how to blend skills data, human insight, and smart automation to build a fairer, faster hiring process.

Download one-pager

Ending the AI arms race in hiring

Understand why hiring can sometimes feel like a matchmaking dilemma and learn how skills-based hiring can help you find "the one" for lasting hires.

Watch now

It's not you, it's your hiring process

Discover the science behind building high-performing teams by learning how to identify candidates who truly fit your company.

The dream job equation

Join us for an in-depth walkthrough of the 2024 Skills-Based Hiring Report. Our experts unpacked key trends, surprising insights, and why skills-based hiring is here and here to stay

 The State of Skills-Based Hiring 2024

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TestGorilla’s tests are created by subject matter experts. We assess potential subject-matter experts based on their knowledge, ability, and reputation.

Before being published, each test is peer-reviewed by another expert, then calibrated using hundreds of test takers with relevant experience in the subject. 

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TestGorilla is a talent discovery platform that helps teams find best-fit candidates through skills-based sourcing, AI-powered assessment tools.

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