6 Types of Pre-employment Assessment Testing for HR Managers

Recruitment and screening processes have rapidly evolved in the past decade as the job market has become increasingly candidate-driven. Employees looking to onboard the best talent in the market need a faster and easier recruitment and onboarding process. Online pre-employment assessment testing for HR helps evaluate several candidate profiles within a short duration of time.

Traditional recruitment was carried out through newspaper job postings and sections of candidates were done via personal interviews. The hiring decision is taken by the HR manager based on the performance in the interview. Conventional recruitment methods are biased and flawed and do not guarantee the onboarding of candidates who would have a long-standing association with the organization. The efficiency of recruitment can be greatly improved by adopting technological interventions.

What is Pre-Employment Testing?

The current market scenario requires HR to hire not just for current requirements, but for the future as well. The hiring team needs to focus on candidates who exhibit the capability of performing confidently in more complex future roles. It is not enough if the technical capabilities alone are evaluated during hiring, the HR team needs to evaluate the personality and behavioral traits, communication (verbal and written), and cultural fit of the candidates. This is where pre-employment screening tools are useful for the HR team.

Recruitment is not just about finding the right fit for the role, but creating a talent pool, attracting and engaging top talent, improving the quality of hires, ensuring the right fit for the company’s culture, and streamlining the hiring process. The dynamic market conditions require HR to up their game by employing efficient and intuitive means of screening candidates.

Pre-employment testing is a standardized approach towards gathering complete information about the job applicants and cross-checking the match between gathered information and their hands-on skills. The results of a pre-employment assessment help the recruitment team arrive at an informed hiring decision.

Pre-employment HR skills assessment tests are scientifically built and validated to evaluate various aspects of the prospect such as workplace behavior, cognitive ability, aptitude for completing a task, and subject knowledge. Online pre-employment assessment tools also provide valuable insights into candidates’ on-job performance, strengths, and areas of improvement, which help hiring managers arrive at the right hiring decision.

Pre-employment tests offer several assessments that organizations can use in their hiring process. These tools provide credible, reliable, and comprehensive results that improve the information flow of top talent and minimize the discrepancies between job requirements and hiring decisions.

Purpose of Pre-Employment Tests

The main purpose of a pre-employment assessment test is to evaluate the workplace-relevant behavior, domain knowledge and skills, and personality traits of the prospective hire. These tests not only help in finding the right talent but also candidates who stay with the organization on a long-term basis.

Pre-employment screening has proved effective in psychometric, cognitive, and technical screening of candidates. Here are the main reasons why companies use pre-employment tests:

Improve the quality of hiring: Pre-employment tests lay the foundation for a better match between job requirements and candidate skills. The cognitive, personality, and technical aspects that are objectively analyzed through pre-employment assessments reduce attrition rates and improve job satisfaction. These tests aid the HR team in making informed decisions and better decision-making.
Streamline recruitment process: Improving the efficiency and effectiveness of hiring so that a large pool of prospects is reached is the main purpose of pre-employment assessment tests. The HR team is bogged down by the hassle of evaluating candidates and scheduling interviews, which in turn affects the health of the recruitment cycle. Using online pre-employment assessment tools brings objectivity into the hiring process.
Enable data-driven hiring decisions: Pre-employment assessment tests bring data analysis into the recruitment process. Important hiring data like the number of candidates attempting the assessment and section-wise performance is provided as reports by these tools.
Reduce attrition rate: High attrition rates affect business outcomes adversely. Recruitment via pre-employment screening has shown a significant reduction in attrition rate owing to the better matching of candidate interests against the job requirements.

6 Different Types of Pre-Employment Tests

Several types of pre-employment assessment HR tests are chosen based on the job requirement. These tests help streamline the recruitment and selection process so that only the top talent is hired. The different types of pre-employment tests are listed below.

1. Personality Tests:

HR professionals look to maximize employee potential while hiring candidates. Personality tests help in evaluating human personality to arrive at the right hiring decisions. These tests help identify patterns in human workplace behavior and gauge how they respond to workplace situations. Personality tests are of two types: positive personality tests and dark personality tests.

2. Behavioral Assessment:

These tests evaluate the behavioral competencies of the candidate in a simulated workplace environment. Candidates are made to handle activities related to work mimicking actual organizational situations, and their behavior competencies are gauged. Behavioral tests can be customized for all use cases and job levels.

3. Cognitive Ability Test:

The candidate’s abilities like critical thinking, numerical ability, verbal reasoning, and problem-solving are gauged through cognitive ability tests.

4. Technical Assessments:

The questions in a technical assessment are targeted at evaluating the technical skills of the candidate. Coding tests, role-based tests, and language proficiency assessments are the types of technical assessments.

5. Background Checks:

Employers depend on reference and background checks for securing information about potential hires from sources other than the applicants themselves. Any records of a criminal conviction, poor credit history, motor vehicle violations, misinterpretation of education, and employment history, are looked into during background checks.

6. Physical Ability Test:

This test determines if the physical capabilities of the candidate match the job requirements.

There are several pre-employment assessment tests in the pre-employment testing software market. Pre-employment assessment tests facilitate speedy and effective screening of candidates with varied skill sets. SkillRobo is an online pre-employment assessment test for HR that can skillfully sift through hundreds of profiles to narrow down on the right profile. You can create customized tests as per the unique requirements of your business. A wide range of skills can be tested with SkillRobo.

Conclusion

As per the Pre-employment testing software market report by Research and Markets, the pre-employment testing software market was valued at 97.4 million USD in the year 2018. Owing to the increasing demand for analytics for measuring candidate skills, the market is expected to grow to 173.4 million by the end of 2025. With strong traction in the pre-employment testing software market, several organizations are adopting online pre-employment assessment tests for HR to simplify and streamline their hiring process.

SkillRobo is an online pre-employment skills assessment test that creates customized tests that are engaging and interactive. The HR team can derive deep insights into candidates’ performance through reports and analytics from SkillRobo. Progressive organizations looking to improve their quality of hires and hire the best talent are choosing online pre-employment assessment tests like SkillRobo.