Pre-Employment Testing Software

Finding good employees in an overcrowded market is a daunting task. In fact, according to research by Career builder, 74% of employers admit to hiring the wrong employees. Bad hires are not only expensive, but can also adversely affect cultural dynamics in the workforce. This is where pre-employment assessment software shows its value.

Pre-employment testing tools help companies create effective assessments, thus saving valuable resources, improving candidate experience & quality hire, and reducing hiring bias.  But, finding pre-employment testing software that can help you reap these benefits can be difficult, especially because of the explosion of software solutions in the market.  If you are lost on which tools will help you develop and deliver your own pre-employment assessments, this guide is for you.

First things first: you need to understand the basics of pre-employment tests.

What is a pre-employment test?

A pre-employment test refers to an examination given to job seekers before hiring. The main reasons for administering these tests include determining important candidate metrics such as cognitive abilities, job experience, and personality traits.  The popularity of pre-employment tests has sky-rocketed in the past years. This is because of their ability to help companies manage large banks of candidate applications.  This helps increase quality hires by providing access to a diversified network of professionals while eliminating roadblocks such as ‘Resume Spammers’.  

Types of pre-employment tests

There are different types of pre-employment assessments. Each of them achieves a different goal in the hiring process. The major types of pre-employment assessments include:

Personality tests: Despite rapidly finding their way into HR, these types of pre-employment tests are widely misunderstood. Personality tests answer questions in the social spectrum.  One of the main goals of these tests is to quantify the success of certain candidates based on behavioral traits. 

Aptitude tests: Unlike personality tests or emotional intelligence tests which tend to lie on the social spectrum, aptitude tests measure problem-solving, critical thinking, and agility.  These types of tests are popular because can predict job performance than any other type because they can tap into areas that cannot be found in resumes or job interviews. 

Skills Testing: The kinds of tests can be considered a measure of job experience; ranging from high-end skills to low-end skills such as typing or Microsoft excel. Skill tests can either measure specific skills such as communication or measure generalized skills such as numeracy. 

Emotional Intelligence tests: These kinds of assessments are a new concept but are becoming important in the HR industry. With strong Emotional Intelligence (EI) being associated with benefits such as improved workplace productivity and good leadership, many companies are investing heavily in developing these kinds of tests.  Despite being able to be administered to any candidates, it is recommended they be set aside for people seeking leadership positions, or those expected to work in social contexts. 

Risk tests: As the name suggests, these types of tests help companies reduce risks. Risk assessments offer assurance to employers that their workers will commit to established work ethics and not involve themselves in any activities that may cause harm to themselves or the organization.  There are different types of risk tests. Safety tests, which are popular in contexts such as construction, measure the likelihood of the candidates engaging in activities that can cause them harm. Other common types of risk tests include Integrity tests.

Pre-employment testing software: The Benefits

Now that you have a good understanding of what pre-employment tests are, let’s discuss the benefits of integrating pre-employment assessment software into your hiring process. Here are some of the benefits:

Saves Valuable resources

Unlike the lengthy and costly traditional hiring processes, pre-employment assessment software helps companies increase their ROI by eliminating HR snugs such as face-to-face interactions or geographical restrictions. Pre-employment testing tools can also reduce the amount of time it takes to make good hires while reducing the risks of facing the financial consequences of a bad hire. 

Supports Data-Driven Hiring Decisions

Data runs the modern world, and hiring is no different. You are better off letting complex algorithms crunch the numbers and help you decide which talent is a fit, as opposed to hiring based on a hunch. 

Pre-employment assessment software helps you analyze assessments and generate reports/visualizations to help you choose the right candidates from a large talent pool. 

Improving candidate experience 

Candidate experience is an important aspect of a company’s growth, especially considering the fact that 69% of candidates admitting not to apply for a job in a company after having a negative experience. Good candidate experience means you get access to the best talent in the world. 

Elimination of Human Bias

Traditional hiring processes are based on instinct. They are not effective since it’s easy for candidates to provide false information on their resumes and cover letters. 

But, the use of pre-employment assessment software has helped in eliminating this hurdle. The tools have leveled the playing ground, and only the best candidates are considered for a position. 

Need some help deciding how you can reap the mentioned benefits of pre-employment assessment software? Click the button below to get help.

What To Consider When Choosing pre-employment assessment software

Now that you have a clear idea of what pre-employment tests are and the benefits of integrating pre-employment assessment software into your hiring process, let’s see how you can find the right tools. 

Here are the most important things to consider when choosing the right pre-employment testing software for your organization.

Ease-of-use

The candidates should be your top priority when you are sourcing pre-employment assessment software. This is because the ease of use directly co-relates with good candidate experience. Good software should have simple navigation modules and easy comprehension. 

Here is a checklist to help you decide if a pre-employment assessment software is easy to use;

• Are the results easy to interpret?
• What is the UI/UX like?
• What ways does it use to automate tasks such as applicant management?
• Does it have good documentation and an active community?

Tests Delivery (Remote proctoring)

Good online assessment software should feature good online proctoring functionalities. This is because most remote jobs accept applications from all over the world. It is therefore advisable to choose a pre-employment testing software that has secure remote proctoring capabilities. Here are some things you should look for on remote proctoring;

• Does the platform support security processes such as IP-based authentication, lockdown browser, and AI-flagging?
• What types of online proctoring does the software offer? Live real-time, AI review, or record and review?
• Does it let you bring your own proctor?
• Does it offer test analytics?

Test & data security, and compliance

Defensibility is what defines test security. There are several layers of security associated with pre-employment test security. When evaluating this aspect, you should consider what pre-employment testing software does to achieve the highest level of security. This is because data breaches are wildly expensive. 

The first layer of security is the test itself. The software should support security technologies and frameworks such as lockdown browser, IP-flagging, and IP-based authentication. If you are interested in knowing how to secure your assessments, learn more about it here.

The other layer of security is on the candidate’s side. As an employer, you will have access to the candidate’s private information. How can you ensure that your candidate’s data is secure? That is reason enough to evaluate the software’s data protection and compliance guidelines.

A good pre-employment testing software should be compliant with certifications such as GDRP. The software should also be flexible to adapt to compliance guidelines from different parts of the world. 

Questions you need to ask;

• What mechanisms does the software employ to eliminate infidelity?
• Is their remote proctoring function reliable and secure?
• Are they compliant with security compliance guidelines including ISO, SSO, or GDPR?
• How does the software protect user data?

User experience

A good user experience is a must-have when you are sourcing any enterprise software. A new age pre-employment testing software should create user experience maps with both the candidates and employer in mind. Some ways you can tell if a software offers a seamless user experience includes;

• User-friendly interface
• Simple and easy to interact with
• Easy to create and manage item banks
• Clean dashboard with advanced analytics and visualizations

Customizing your user-experience maps to fit candidates’ expectations attracts high-quality talent.