The productivity of an enterprise depends largely on the quality of the employees. If an enterprise wants to improve productivity, reduce employee turnover, and give other enterprises a tough competition in the market, the enterprise should first focus on hiring talented and eligible employees.
When the employees are capable and skilled, they can handle the various situations that arise in the market. From making better products to thinking and implementing innovative advertising strategies, it is the employees who are responsible for the success or failure of an enterprise.
Over the years, the recruiting processes have changed. They have been streamlined, computerized, and make flexible so that every enterprise can use a method that helps them pick the best employees. One such process that is fast gaining attention is known as Pre Employment Assessment Test. Many companies in today’s market have specialized in creating near-perfect assessment tools that help enterprises in filtering the most eligible candidates from the large pool of candidates who apply for the job.
Pre-employment assessments are conducted online. The tests can be customized to any extent, depending on the requirements of the enterprise. With different types of tests available, enterprises are free to conduct individual tests or mix them up and create a test form covering all aspects.
In simple terms, pre-employment assessments are tests conducted to measure the intelligence, skills, knowledge, and abilities of candidates. Personality traits, behavioral patterns, and other unquantifiable aspects can also be assessed using these tests. Before an enterprise selects an assessment, it has to consider the following factors.
- What are the vision and mission of the enterprise?
- What are the essential skills, qualities, and traits a candidate should possess for that particular job?
- How are they going to fix the parameters for assessing the tests?
- Do the enterprises have the required material to create a new test form? Can they use the existing forms provided by the company?
- Are they looking for candidates who need no further training or are they willing to provide the required training to the selected candidates?
- How important is it for the enterprise to select candidates who can work in their existing environment?
- At what stage of the recruiting process will the assessments be conducted?
- Do enterprises want to use different types of assessments at different stages of recruiting?
Types of Pre employment Screening Test
Let us now take a look at the different pre employment tests to see how each of them can be used by the enterprise to comprehensively measure and assess candidates based on various factors.
- Knowledge-based Tests
- Integrity Tests
- Personality Tests
- Cognitive Ability Tests
- Emotional Intelligence Tests
- Skill-based Tests
1. Knowledge-based Tests
Knowledge-based Pre Employment Assessment Test measures the technical and theoretical expertise of a candidate. These tests are aimed to assess the special knowledge a job requires. For high-level jobs that demand special knowledge of a particular subject or topic, this test is most useful, though it can be used for entry-level jobs as well. For example, an accountant would be asked questions about basic accounting principles and such.
2. Integrity Tests
We can say that pre-employment tests in a way began with integrity tests. Enterprises wanted to know if the candidates they were hiring would be loyal and honest. These tests are divided into two sub-types. Overt integrity tests have direct questions about ethics, discipline, and honesty. Covert tests use indirect and leading questions and are linked to personality tests and behavioral assessments.
3. Personality Tests
Personality tests provide enterprises with insights into the traits of the candidates. These tests can show if a candidate will be able to use his/ her characteristic traits to become successful in the job. The big five model is a famous personality test. Understanding the personality of a candidate will make it easier to decide if the person is suitable for the job or not.
4. Cognitive Ability Tests
Cognitive ability tests or aptitude tests measure the mental skills of a candidate. The ability to comprehend things, make rational decisions, solve problems, handle crisis situations, etc. are some elements that are focused upon. Logical, verbal, and numerical reasoning make up for most of the cognitive tests.
5. Emotional Intelligence Tests
Emotional Intelligence (EI) or Emotional Quotient (EQ) has become popular over the decade. The other side (emotional) of the candidates is measured using this test. The ability of a candidate to understand the feelings of a colleague, the ability to empathize with them, build productive inter-personal relationships to create a healthy working environment, etc. are assessed.
6. Skill-based Tests
Similar to knowledge-based tests, skill-based tests measure the actual skills of the candidate. Both soft skills and hard skills are assessed. Data typing, writing skills, presentation skills, etc. are some examples.
From start-up businesses to global organizations, any enterprise can conduct pre-employment assessments. The tests have helped many enterprises save around 60% of their time and money spent on the recruiting process.
