Pre-employment tests tend to fall into the following categories.
1.) Aptitude Testing
2.) Attainment Testing
3.) Personality Testing
4.) Practical Exercises
About Aptitude based Pre-Employment Tests
Aptitude and ability based pre-employment tests are designed to assess a person’s logical reasoning or thinking performance. They tend to be composed of multiple choice questions and are administered under set conditions. They are timed and a typical pre-employment test might allow 30 minutes for 30 or so questions. The test result will be compared to that of a control group. Some tests are available off-the-shelf and some will be custom built using a product that allows the business to create online tests.
About Skill and Attainment based Pre-Employment Tests
Attainment based Pre-employment tests assess a particular individual’s knowledge in an area and are especially useful in technical roles but they can be used in almost any discipline. For example, if you are recruiting a programmer and you wish to test their understanding of a particular programming language, such as C#, you can get them to take a pre-employment test which assesses their theoretical knowledge of C#. These can be designed in-house by your own technical people but this is not recommended as there are plenty of high quality tests available off-the-shelf at very affordable prices on the internet. If you want to create your own questions, use a test making software that enables you to write your own questions or import them from a library.
About Personality based Pre-Employment Testing
Personality Tests are used in recruitment to predict how an employee might react in work situations. For example, they can give indications about a person’s honesty, inventiveness, punctuality, interpersonal style or ability to deal with customers, handle stress, or work in a team.
Tread with caution, personality based pre-employment tests can be a contentious area and have come under criticism. Two key criticisms of personality testing are that the tests don’t predict job performance; and the tests are easily faked. Some of this criticism is deserved because there are many bad tests on the market, which means they don’t predict job performance. Another criticism is that candidates become familiar with the standard tests and learn how to manipulate them. To avoid this, the order and type of questions should be varied periodically. It makes sense to use a online testing product which allows you to edit the questions or quiz at any time.
The best way to choose a pre-employment test with the appropriate psychometric qualities is to ask an expert in Occupational Psychology with a certification in psychological testing that has been approved by your national psychological society.
Practical Exercises as Pre-Employment tests
Practical exercises (sometimes referred to as in-tray exercises) involve candidates completing an exercise which reflects the reality of the job that they are applying for the.
It is a very effective way to gain valuable insight and foresight in to how an applicant may perform in the job.
Final Words
Businesses can greatly improve their chances of hiring high-quality employees by making use of pre-employment tests to assess and select the most suitable person for the job. If used correctly, pre-employment tests can help businesses save time and cost during recruitment, reduce staff turnover, raise productivity, and increase employee engagement.
