Avoid the Costs of Bad Hires by Using Pre-Employment Skill Testing

If you are like most HR managers, you dream of finding perfect candidates to fill all your job openings. However, this is challenging for two reasons. First, there is a lack of applicants with the skills you need today. This problem has been growing for the past decade, and companies are noticing that more and more candidates lack in-demand skills.

The second problem is that you cannot rely on the information candidates provide on their resumes. Over 85% of candidates admit to lying on their resumes and during job interviews. This means a candidate who sounds ideal could end up being your worst nightmare.

Why Hiring Mistakes Hurt Productivity

You and your team strive to avoid hiring mistakes because they are expensive, hurt team morale, and have a negative impact on productivity. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, a bad hire can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, including recruiting expenses, incomplete projects, staff disruption, loss of customer goodwill, and potential litigation costs.

This is why organizations worldwide implement pre-employment skill testing solutions to take the guesswork out of hiring.

How Pre-Employment Skills Tests Lower the Risk of Hiring Mistakes

Do you remember the last time you posted a job? You probably received hundreds or maybe even thousands of applications. Think of how much time you and your team spent reviewing them to find the best candidates.

Pre-employment skill testing allows you to evaluate applicants quickly and accurately so you can identify the top contenders. When you review and rank results, you can instantly see which applicants have the required skills and experience you need and move them to the next stage of the hiring process. A process that normally takes hours or even days takes only minutes.

How Pre-Employment Skill Testing Works

Many HR teams choose the eSkill Talent Assessment Platform^TM because it offers the flexibility they need. They can access the eSkill Assessment Library, which contains hundreds of validated job- and subject-based pre-employment skills tests.

With eSkill, you can use standardized pre-employment skills tests as-is or build custom assessments using questions from multiple assessments. For example, if you are hiring an administrative assistant for a hospital or medical group, you can choose questions from the MS Word® and MS Excel® skills tests and add questions from the Medical Terminology, HIPAA – Health Insurance Coverage, and HIPAA – Privacy and Security assessments to build a pre-employment skills test.

You can also add your own questions. For instance, if you want to assess employees’ or applicants’ knowledge of safety regulations unique to your company or need to create pre-employment skills test content in several languages, you can easily upload your questions.

Using Pre-Employment Skills Tests to Improve Hiring Outcomes

Pre-employment skills tests show you which candidates have the skills to perform a job. However, they do not always provide all the information you need to make good hiring decisions. So, many eSkill clients leverage these features to get a complete view of candidates.

• Behavioral Assessments: An applicant may have the right skills for a job but be a poor fit for your corporate culture. When you use behavioral assessments in conjunction with pre-employment skills tests you can evaluate a candidate’s cultural compatibility along with skills, knowledge, and experience.

• Simulations: Simulation questions mimic your company environment and let you evaluate applicants while they perform job-related tasks. This helps you quickly determine which candidates are best qualified. For example, if you work for a retail company and are hiring customer service representatives, you could include the Chat and Multitasking simulations in your pre-employment skills test to confirm that applicants will respond to customers quickly and handle transactions accurately.

• Video Response Questions: Evaluating some abilities using a written assessment is difficult. Two examples are verbal communication and foreign language skills. In these instances, recruiters can use video response questions to evaluate these abilities accurately.

• Team Scoring: Team Scoring lets you set up group interviews that include subject matter experts from across your enterprise. The members “blindly” grade candidates’ responses using criteria you designate and assign point levels for each question. There is no direct contact with candidates, which virtually eliminates the possibility of unconscious bias influencing their feedback.

Get Started with Pre-Employment Skill Testing

Organizations worldwide are minimizing the risk of hiring mistakes by implementing pre-employment skill testing. Most reduce hiring expenses and are able to hire top employees more quickly. Some eSkill clients have reduced hiring costs by up to 70% and decreased time-to-hire by around 60%.

Are you ready to learn how pre-employment skill testing can help you minimize hiring mistakes? Contact us to request a demo.