When hiring new employees, most employers begin by reviewing their applicants’ resumes. Most are solely concerned with the candidate’s education, background, and experience. However, this isn’t a good practice for hiring better employees.

The problem with this approach is that some of your applications may appear impressive on paper. But in reality, they lack the skills, traits, and attitude required for the job and to thrive in the company culture. After all, applicants can control and manipulate resumes so they can be as impressive as possible.

A successfully performing candidate is measured based on personality, not particular skills. This is why incorporating pre-employment assessment testing is essential during the hiring process. With this, you’ll be able to hire the right applicant. You may check out this guide to pre-employment assessment testing to learn more.

However, if you already have pre-employment testing in place and still don’t achieve the desired results, you might need to tweak your strategies. If you’re unsure how to go about it, this article should come in handy. 

Below are the ways that’ll help you improve your pre-employment assessment methods accordingly.

• Use Pre-Employment Testing Software

Companies, particularly human resources (HR) departments, use pre-employment assessment testing software to evaluate candidates objectively. These solutions provide tests that analyze candidates based on aptitude, personality, skills, etc. Furthermore, they offer assessments to assess soft skills, like organization, motivation, problem-solving, etc.

When choosing the right pre-employment assessment testing software, make sure to look for the solution with the following features, such as:

• Built-In Tests And Skill Challenges

HR can use these methods to evaluate candidates if they have the right set of skills necessary for the position they applied for.

• Integrations

Testing solutions should be able to integrate with other software applications for faster and better results. Also, integrations help automate certain processes, such as background screening, emailing, etc.

• Customizable Test Templates

This feature allows you to customize different test templates based on the skills and knowledge you’re looking for in a specific candidate.

• Analytics

This feature provides performance reports, advanced filtration, and comparative reports to evaluate and rank each candidate objectively using the data collected.

These are the minimum features you should look for in an effective pre-employment assessment testing software. If you have no idea which company to reach out to, you may consider checking Vervoe’s list of pre-employment assessment software companies as your starting line. Then, see if they have the features that suit your needs.

• Select The Right Assessment Test

Selecting the right assessment tests won’t only help you improve your methods but also allow you to learn more about your potential employees. The first thing you should do is tap into the wealth of information that exists within your office. Then, develop job profiles based on the characteristics of your best employees.

Here are some of the most common tests used in pre-employment assessments:

• Personality Tests

These tests assess the traits that candidates should have in order to thrive in the company culture and perform well on the job. Introversion-extroversion tests and psychopathology fall into this category.

• Soft Skill Tests

These tests measure the candidate for their work ethics, adaptability, communication skills, problem-solving skills, and more.

• Integrity Tests

If you value honesty more than anything else, then these tests should be on your roster. These tests are often used in financial and retail services, where employees are usually left unsupervised with money and other important valuable objects.

• Skill Tests

These tests measure the skills needed to perform the job well, such as math skills, role-specific, verbal, etc.

• Aptitude Tests

These tests measure the candidate’s ability, including problem-solving, attention to detail, critical thinking, and information processing. Also, these tests determine how they’ll perform in the position offered.

Using the correct type of test is essential. But it’ll be useless if you don’t ask questions relevant to the position you’re offering. Remember, the right questions will give you the correct answers.

• Test Applicants For A Fair Approach

Testing candidates early in the process provides a more standardized and fair approach. This offers an objective view and reliable data about every applicant. Significantly, a data-driven method reduces the chances of biased opinions, increasing the likelihood of hiring the right employee.

Of course, hiring applicants who have reliable qualities and hobbies would be easy. However, they might not be suitable for the position. Consequently, hiring them because of your biased opinions can put your entire operations at risk. Hence, this may result in unwanted costs and other expenses.

On top of that, testing your applicants helps avoid discrimination during the hiring process. This will allow all candidates to advance to the next round of interviews. And this will help you prevent singling out every applicant based on race, color, religion, disability, country of origin, and age.

• Make Sure The Hiring Team Is Well-Informed

Before starting the hiring process, ensure your team is knowledgeable and well-informed about the pre-employment assessments. You’ll never be able to achieve the results you need, even if you have the best solutions in place if your team doesn’t know what they’re doing. 

Pre-employment testing can significantly help your company. However, this is only possible if the HR department, particularly the hiring managers, follows and understands the procedures for each candidate.

• Monitor The Success Of Your Testing Methods

Eventually, your business will evolve, and your company culture will develop further. Therefore, the best way to determine if your qualifications are still relevant is to check the job descriptions and profiles for every job opening. In this way, you can be sure that your methods will still be effective at this point.

 Use The Tests Developed By Experts

You can create and develop your assessment tests and questions if you want. However, mistakes can often be costly and time-consuming. Therefore, it’d be best to consider using the tests developed by professionals for better results and efficiency. With these questions, you’ll be able to understand your applicants better and find the right one for the job position.

Final Words

Pre-employment assessment testing methods help the HR department evaluate each candidate objectively based on their skills, personality, integrity, and aptitude. 

These methods allow you to analyze each applicant without biased opinions and discrimination due to race, color, nationality, disability, and age. Following these strategies can help you identify the best method for your company’s needs regarding pre-employment assessment. 

Antoninus Dee is a professional business management consultant with 20 years of experience. He shares his knowledge by writing blogs and guest posts and enjoys his free time cooking, gardening, and performing workouts.