It seems that even the most menial of jobs require some type of pre-employment assessment. Some of them seem downright ridiculous. When my son was in high school he applied to a local restaurant for a position as a bus boy. I watched him take the on-line assessment (it included personality questions as well as cognitive reasoning questions) I really thought it was overkill. But as I thought about it more it did occur to me (it being one of our favorite restaurants) that maybe they were on to something. I can say that in the 10 years we have lived in this area we have never had a bad meal or dining experience at this restaurant. Maybe they are on to something.
I have a client who has been using the Wonderlic cognitive assessment for the last 20 years. They have also collected all the data from the last 20 years and know without a doubt that candidates who do well on that assessment are successful with their company. Hard to argue with that. They also use 2 additional personality assessments as well as an interview with a corporate Psychologist for their management positions. That’s not to say that everything is perfect and every hire they make is the right one. They have the same challenges as many other companies but perhaps not as frequently when you look at how successful they are as a company.
So, are pre-employment assessments right for your company?
According to the Talent Board’s 2016 Candidate Experience Research report, 82 percent of companies are using some form of pre-employment assessments. Two of the most popular are job simulation and cultural fit. The assessments are evolving and there are even software programs that will collect 25,000 data points from a video interview to measure things like vocabulary and empathy.
How do you ensure that the assessments improve your candidate selection but do not create a barrier in the job application process?
I think like most things it is a matter of moderation. Don’t rely completely on pre-employment assessments or take a “gut instinct” approach. Try a combination of the two. Some points to consider:
- Research the different assessments out there. There are hundreds of them
- Have your current staff take assessments you are considering. Look for any trends
- Collect the data from your assessments to review over the years
- Don’t have candidates take an assessment before they can even apply to a job (this is a barrier to the job application process)
The company I spoke about earlier? They don’t give candidates the assessment until they come in for a face to face interview. Also, they don’t always make a decision based on the assessment. Sometimes a human will over rule the assessment.
It would seem that if used correctly, assessments can contribute to a company’s hiring success