What is pre-employment screening?

Pre-employment testing allows you to assess how candidates perform in the job before you offer the job. The process is similar to auditioning for a job. Pre-employment testing reduces the chance of bad hiring decisions and is much cheaper than testing candidates for the job during a probation period.

Pre-employment testing, depending on the type, can measure job-critical skills, such as selling or coding. It can also measure soft skills like communication and the potential of the candidate to fit in with the company’s culture. Pre-employment assessments can be conducted at any stage of the recruitment process. Depending on the requirements and circumstances of your organization, the answer to this question will vary.

Pre-employment testing is better than resume screening

Pre-employment testing can be a more effective option to resume screening. Employers can use pre-employment testing to provide real and quantifiable data to aid hiring decisions.

During the recruitment process, testing

Pre-employment testing can be conducted at any stage of the recruitment process. Depending on the requirements and circumstances of your organization, the answer to this question will vary.

Pre-employment testing can be a faster and more accurate way to screen applicants for entry-level positions in a high-volume hiring environment. Instead of having a list of the top ten resumes, you’ll have a list of the top-scoring candidates that can advanced to the next stage.

It may be more beneficial to first speak with the candidate and then invite them to take a skills assessment to verify their skills. These types of candidates should sought after.

It is not possible to screen automated resumes.

Resume screening can also be automated. There are many providers that offer smart resume-scanning software, which searches for pre-set keywords. However, Automated resume screening is not without risks.

• Software that screens resumes cannot read unusual formats.
• Sometimes, excellent candidates might rejected unfairly or incorrectly.
• Software that screens resumes do not detect when someone is lying to it.
• Algorithms evaluate academic credentials and work experience, neither of these factors can guarantee success.

Different types of pre-employment testing

A variety of pre-employment screening methods are available, such as personality tests and skill assessments. Although pre-employment screening methods can be very different, they all have the same goal: to predict success on the job.

What are the most common pre-employment tests?

• Skills assessments
• Job knowledge test
• Personality tests
• Integrity testing
• Emotional intelligence tests
• Cognitive ability testing
• Tests of physical ability

1. Skills assessments

Skills tests or assessments can used to determine how candidates will perform specific tasks for your company before you hire them. The following skills can be useful in predicting hiring success:

• Technical skills include coding, accounting, and content writing.
• Soft skills include communication, teamwork, and leadership.

More companies are realizing that even the best coders won’t make good hires if they can’t work well with others, lack empathy, or have other soft skills.

Individuals should be assessed according to their skills.

Skills assessments should not be generic and applied to every employee in the company.

Although, Tests that well-constructed ask candidates questions in a variety of formats (open-ended, multiple-choice) and offer immersive experiences like coding challenges.

2. Employment Knowledge Tests

To assess a candidate’s knowledge of their field, job knowledge tests are used.

What is the difference between job knowledge tests and skills assessments? However, Skills assessments focus on applying the knowledge gained from job knowledge tests. Job knowledge tests test theory and general knowledge.

“A job knowledge test might ask a social media manager to explain the elements of a great social post. This could include choosing the right platform, knowing your audience, and using visuals. The optimal word count. Also, The candidate will required to write the social media post in a skills assessment.

Although job knowledge tests are useful in measuring candidates’ knowledge and experience in a particular field, they don’t provide a reliable predictor of their actual performance on the job.

This means that the person who knows most about the job may not be the best at doing the job.

3. Personality tests

However, Personality testing is not intended to predict job performance but can be very useful in determining whether someone will be a good fit for the team or how they would behave in certain situations. Personality tests assess attributes such as flexibility, work ethic, and ambition.

To weed out applicants with inflexibility or narcissism, some companies use personality tests. These personality tests can be used by other employers to determine the type of personalities they are looking for (e.g., more extroverts or fewer introverts). A personality test can give new hires valuable information that will help them to decide how they want to manage their staff.

Questions that could be asked to candidates include:

• Are you more comfortable working alone or with a team? Why?
• What is your comfort level in noisy social situations like a party?
• Also, What would you do if your client changes the brief 24 hours prior to the deadline?
• What would you change about yourself if you could?

It is possible for personality tests to share many of the same questions as the soft-skills section of a skill assessment.

Personality tests can cause problems

Although personality tests are fun and entertaining, psychologists have discredited many of them. The most well-known personality test, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator – which has proven to have as much validity as a horoscope – is still being used by millions of people around the globe. Critics also warn that personality labels can lead to dangerous and limiting beliefs.

These concerns aside, personality testing is a $2B industry with many test methods on the market.

4. Integrity tests

While integrity tests are applicable to any job, they are especially useful for those who have to hire for trust positions. Integrity tests required for all people working with money, sensitive data, health workers, and others who may exposed to fraud.

There are two types of integrity test questions.

• Questions about integrity: Would you report a colleague for stealing food from the pantry at work because of financial difficulties?
• Questions about covert integrity: Do you think most employers are taking advantage of their employees’ abilities?

While integrity tests can reduce the chance of hiring the wrong person for a trust position, they cannot be used to prevent theft, fraud, or other dangerous behavior. Integrity testing should not used alone. It should used with other screening procedures, such as a criminal record check and policies and procedures at work, including audits.

5. Emotional Intelligence Tests

Emotional Intelligence testing (EQ) is a pre-employment screening method that measures a candidate’s awareness and management skills in relation to their emotions.

Employers can assess how adaptable a candidate will be to the emotions of others by testing self-awareness. These skills are essential for working in a team and when dealing with customers in emotionally charged situations, such as negotiation.

Emotional intelligence can measured by asking candidates about their past experiences or presenting hypothetical scenarios.

• How can you calm down when you are upset?
• Describe a time in your life when you were forced to be confrontational in order to get a result.
• Please describe a time you were able to help resolve a conflict between two colleagues.
• Describe a time you forced to work with someone you didn’t like.

6. Cognitive Ability Tests

Employers don’t usually use IQ tests for assessing intelligence. They use cognitive aptitude or cognitive ability tests to evaluate mental ability. This is the candidate’s ability to problem-solve and acquire new knowledge.

These assessments include spatial awareness, numerical, verbal, and abstract reasoning, problem-solving, mathematical ability, memory tests, and more. Candidates will required to answer questions that test their vocabulary and ability to rearrange shapes or complete number sequences.

However, does assessing the mental abilities of a candidate help to predict their job performance? While it may be a great way to hire smart people, without actually assessing the job-related tasks, it can be very difficult to establish a connection between cognitive ability and the performance of a candidate for the job.

7. Physical Ability Tests

For physically demanding jobs that require strength, endurance, and balance, physical ability tests can be used. For example, the military screens potential recruits by conducting a physical fitness assessment.

If you want to get more detail about pre-employment physical testing then contact PCP Works.