As an employer, what do you look for in an employee? For one, you likely want the employee’s values to align with those of your company. Apart from that, you want them to be competent. That involves being sure that they’re not fluffing their resume to look better on paper.
However, determining the answers to the questions is a lot trickier than it seems. More so if you’re hiring remotely. While the advancement in video interviewing software is undeniable, it’s not enough to truly predict an employee’s potential. That’s where pre-employment tests and assessments come in to save the day.
Nowadays, you can use trusted software solutions, like Evalufy, to evaluate a potential hire properly. However, if such software is new to you, you may have questions about it. Well, we’re here to break down how pre-employment tests help reduce hiring risks for your company. So read on to know more!
What Are Pre-Employment Tests and Assessments?
First things first, let’s talk about what pre-employment tests and assessments are. In simple terms, these tests help predict a potential candidate’s performance. So several companies use such screening to determine whether a candidate is a right fit for their team.
The assessment is an objective way to judge a candidate’s domain knowledge, attitude, language proficiency, and emotional quotient.
Sometimes, pre-employment assessments may even involve drug testing. However, this test is exclusive to some industries.
Why Do Companies Use Pre-Employment Testing and Assessments?
The answer is simple: companies want to hire the cream of the crop. Pre-employment testing and assessment help them find that. Screening helps them eliminate unqualified candidates and identify ones best suited for the open positions.
Naturally, hiring the most suitable candidates means optimal performance on the job. However, there’s more to it than that. It also results in other company benefits, like time and cost-efficient selection processes, reduced turnover, and even higher morale.
While the screening process has a lot of benefits, some may still find it a bit complex. However, it doesn’t have to be. When you rely on software tools, identifying the best candidates becomes a piece of cake. That being said, you want to be careful when choosing testing software.
Importance of Appropriate Screening Software
Screening tests must never be discriminatory or in violation of federal or states rules. Otherwise, employers may have a potential lawsuit on their hands. A test must be legal, equitable, valid, and reliable.
For this reason, HR recruiters and employers should always keep a lookout for new hiring trends. They should also opt for only trusted software like Evalufy. Companies that opt for a tool like Evalufy enjoy the following:
- Reduced Decision Times: HR recruiters and employers can send candidates online assessments quickly. They also do not have to wait long for responses.
- Collaborative Feedback: More than one decision-maker can participate in grading and scoring. So, the hiring process can be a team effort.
- Revealing Insights: Video assessments are particularly helpful for identifying body language cues. It also allows accurate judgment of communication skills so employers can make better hiring decisions.
- Brand Promotion: The use of assessment platforms gives candidates a better impression of the company. It makes the company more modern and progressive.
- Assessment Over Various Devices: The best tool will always be user-friendly. It allows testing across mobiles, desktops, and laptops.
- Testing in Preferred Language: It takes away the language barrier in the selection process. Employers can create and send assessments in the language according to their preference or that of the candidates.
Pre-Employment Tests That Reduce Hiring Risks
There is more than one way to screen potential candidates. However, here are our top testing picks we believe every company should use. A combination of these will help you avoid making the wrong decision when choosing an employee.
- Remote Working Skills Test: A remote working skills test should include topics like work organization and planning, time management, information security, and business etiquette. Other important subjects to cover are best practices, collaborative skills, and proficiency using remote tools.
- Digital Skills Test: This assessment should deal with a candidate’s basic computer knowledge and proficiency in using browsers, email, and social media. It essentially helps employers evaluate how well a candidate functions in a technology-based workspace.
- Communication Skills Test: Video conferencing is the best method to conduct this test. HR recruiters and employers can determine how well an employee can communicate. A study of their body language will also assess their paralinguistic skills, etiquette, and ability to engage participants.
- Multitasking Skills Test: A simulation of the work environment is ideal for judging a candidate’s ability to multitask. This test is critical because employees often have to handle more than one task at the same time. It will also help employers evaluate how capable a candidate is of taking on new responsibilities.
- Personality Screening Test: This test will highlight a candidate’s values, attitudes, motivation, interests, and emotional intelligence. A personality test is crucial to determine whether someone is the right fit for your company or not. It also helps assess whether the candidate’s traits align with those required for the open position.
- Coding Skills Test: Coding tests are non-negotiable if you’re hiring a developer. These tests give employers and HR recruiters insight into a candidate’s technical and coding skills. For the selection process, coding tests can either be job-specific or gamified.
How To Create a Pre-Employment Test
At first, the thought of creating a pre-employment test may seem daunting. However, with a great tool like Evalufy, it doesn’t have to be. Here’s how quality screening software works:
- Add Questions: Employers have complete freedom to customize their tests. You can add in questions related to any topic of your choosing. Along with text, you can even add media, like images or videos, if you want.
- Choose the Question Type: Employers have the freedom to choose the medium in which they want answers. For instance, they can go for text-based answers, MCQs, or even video responses. There may be more options available as well.
- Weight Questions: Naturally, you may consider some questions on the test more important than others. So you have the option to add or subtract weight from questions when you get the scoring report.
- Question Grouping: Say you have several questions about a particular figure, table, or image. Grouping such questions together will be far more efficient and help keep the context clear for candidates.
- Other Features: Some more features may be important to employers. For instance, you may want to be able to choose between a timed or a regular test. Or, perhaps you want to set a deadline for the submission. Screening software offers these options in a user-friendly manner. Tools like Evalufy even allow you to change the test language.
Why Should You Use Pre-Employment Tests?
Are you still not sure about using pre-employment tests and assessments? If so, we’re sure that these benefits will change your mind!
- Testing gets rid of nearly 50% of unqualified candidates in the initial stages. So, it drastically reduces the chances of a bad hire.
- It eliminates 90% of the time wasted on unnecessary practices during the selection process. As a result, the process becomes a lot smoother and more cost-effective.
- Assessments potentially double the chances of successful and satisfactory hiring.
- Since you avoid unnecessary activities, you can focus on more important tasks. So, you’re likely to see a boost in productivity around the office.
- Employers are more likely to find top talents through pre-employment tests. There’s also a greater chance of finding the best candidate for the job.
- In turn, there is a boost in employee satisfaction and a drop in employee turnover.
- Pre-employment tests and assessments are the most objective way to screen candidates. It gives them a fair platform to prove their worth beyond what’s on their resume.
- Pre-hire tests eliminate a lot of hiking issues, like personal opinion and bias. So, it allows for better decision-making.
- The increased objectivity of these tests also reduces the chances of companies getting into legal hassles.
- You need not limit such tests to hiring. Employers can re-use them from time to time to evaluate employees’ performance as well.
Wrap Up
Pre-employment tests are valuable to employers in more ways than one. For one, they help you evaluate a candidate’s potential and abilities. At the same time, they bring in benefits like cost-effective and time-efficient selection processes. What’s more, these tests do not have to be more than 30 minutes long!
A tool like Evalufy can prove especially useful for finding the best candidates for the job. It will allow you to choose between different types of tests. Not to mention, it makes the process a lot more timely. Choose between pre-designed tests or get creative by customizing your own!
Anyone looking to hire employees should use pre-employment tests. Not only will this ensure you find the best candidates, but it will also eliminate administrative hassles. That’s the takeaway!
