13 Reasons Why You Should Look into Digital Pre-Employment Testing Right Now
Let’s be honest here. Nobody wants to spend a lot of time and effort on something only to realize shortly afterwards it was all in vain. Especially when that something is a vital part of your job and you know the success of your organization as a whole heavily depends on it. For example when you’ve put so much energy into this recent hire and the gentleman or lady in question decides it isn’t for them after all, just 5 weeks after they’ve started.
The selection and hiring of new employees typically is one of those parts within the HR function that you want to be as streamlined and flawless as possible. Not just for the good of the HR department, but for the good of the entire company. Because, like the founder of McDonald’s, Ray Kroc, once said: “You’re only as good as the people you hire.”
This brings us to the question: what can you do to make your selection and hiring process as efficient and smooth as possible? Well, among other things, you could look into using data and pre-employment testing. Here are 13 reasons why we think you should do so right now.
What is pre-employment testing?
Although there’s not one definition that overrides all others, a pre-employment assessment is probably best described by what it does: it measures your applicants’ personality, situational judgement, intelligence and skills in relation to the job they’re applying for. The most important difference between a pre-hiring assessment and a general assessment is the fact that the former predicts applicant success and (usually) complies with EEOC guidelines, whereas the latter doesn’t.
Why You Should Look into Digital Pre-Employment Testing Right Now
1. They are (highly) predictive for success
In this life, nothing is certain, but there are some risks you can either avoid or at least dramatically lower. Miss-hiring is one of them. A validated, pre-employment assessment solution is predictive for a candidate’s likelihood to succeed in a particular role. It uses data and predictive analytics (rather than human gut feeling) to get to these predictions and the more applicants flow through your assessment, the better the algorithm gets. For an in-depth read on how this all works, check out our Knowledge Base.
2. They are tailored to suit specific job requirements
Not only does a pre-hiring assessment solution measure a candidate’s personality and intelligence in relation to the role they’re applying for, it also tests if they’ve got the necessary skills for the job. TalentPitch for example, has a different module for each of these things and it’s up to the organizations using our solution to decide which modules they want to include in their custom pre-employment assessment: Think of multi-tasking, language proficiency or typing speed.
3. They save time
Pre-employment tests use data to determine from the onset who’s best suited for the job and who’s less fit for it. Based on these results, recruiters can decide which applicants they want to invite for an interview, instead of sifting through hundreds or even thousands of CV’s.
4. They give recruiters more time with qualified applicants
The time thing actually works two ways: on the one hand it saves recruiters time and on the other hand it gives them more time with qualified candidates. Thanks to the data driven applicant reports they get from the pre-hiring solution, recruiters can focus (solely) on those candidates that have a strong likelihood to succeed — competencies wise — on the job.
5. They are objective
Not to offend anyone, but we all are biased to some extent. It’s part of what makes us human beings and not robots. When it comes to selecting and hiring new employees though, it’s best to be objective. You don’t want to be impressed by that excellent university an applicant went to, or swept off your feet by a candidate’s interviewing skills. This is why a pre-employment assessment tool is of great value; software doesn’t judge or fall for charming applicants, it objectively gathers data and predicts success based on people’s actions and answers.
6. They structure the selection process
Part of this is linked to the objectivity of a pre-hiring solution we’ve just mentioned. But there’s more to it than that. Once you’ve got the assessment implemented within your process, it creates structure, both for your recruiters and hiring managers as well as your candidates. Every applicant flows through the same experience, no exceptions. Recruiters will have to take the data driven results into account and only invite those candidates that match the company benchmark for an interview.
7. They make for a great candidate experience
In an era where candidates often are a company’s customers as well, it’s crucial to think about the applicant experience. A pre-employment solution gives you a great opportunity to show candidates your organization: the office, the people, the workstations, everything. It’s also a good way of showing applicants your company culture and to let them get a taste of what the job entails.
Feedback is another hot topic in 21st century job (seeker) land. Employees want it, but so do candidates. On top of a virtual day-on-the-job, a pre-hiring assessment — like TalentPitch — gives applicants an automated, personal feedback report. In it, they get an overview of their skills and personality so they know what to improve next time.
Together, the video tour of your office and the personal feedback report are part of what makes a pre-employment solution such a pleasant event for candidates. From our own experience here at Harver, we know that 85% of applicants are super satisfied, even when they didn’t get the job.
8. They allow you to keep improving your process
To put it simply: the more candidates flow through your pre-hiring assessment, the more data the system gathers. As a result, the accuracy of the predictions for future job success gets better over time.
An example: 6 months after you’ve started hiring with the help of a pre-employment solution, it turns out that 89% of the people that scored high on multi-tasking during the assessment perform much better than average. As a consequence, you can let multi-tasking abilities weigh heavier in your preselection and hence optimize your process one step at a time.
9. They reduce unwanted turnover
A pre-employment solution uses data and predictive analytics to measure whether or not an applicant’s personality and competencies suit the job and your organization. These personality traits and skills necessary for the position, are determined based on your company’s best performing employees, your very own benchmark if you like. As such, the chances of selecting only those candidates that have a high likelihood to fit both job & organization increase significantly. This in turn lowers the risk of (culture) misfits and hence your turnover.
10. They give you a (big) competitive advantage
There are two elements to this one. The fact that you’re able to identify a star performer (with the help of a pre-hiring assessment) before any of your competitors gives you a nice head start. And if your biggest rivals still heavily rely on things like educational background and resumes for their hiring decisions, your custom solution pushes you even further ahead.
11. They allow you to hire for culture fit
Between a good fit job wise and a good fit culture wise it’s a close call which one’s more important. Culture misfit is bad for employee morale and a big reason for unwanted turnover. A custom pre-employment solution such as TalentPitch gives applicants a real taste of your company vibe and the people who work there. It also allows you to ask candidates culture-related questions to find out whether or not you’re on the same wavelength.
12. They contribute to happier employees
Less culture misfits, less turnover and a better quality of hire. These are only three effects of using a pre-hiring solution, but they have a big impact on your current workforce. New hires are more likely to be cut out for the job — and click with other employees — which boosts overall morale and hence makes for happier staff.
13. They save (a lot of) money
You don’t need us to tell you how much employee turnover costs. Or all the time recruiters and hiring managers spend on unqualified applicants. A tailor-made pre-employment assessment doesn’t just datafy (part of) your process, improve your quality of hire and save you time, it also saves you — a lot — of money.
Best of Both Worlds
Although a pre-hiring assessment is a good way to improve your selection and hiring process, it should always be something that supports you. An objective, data driven tool, that helps you in your decision making process. It’s the combination of technology and human intellect that makes for a winning formula.
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