Bridging Skills and Culture: The Evolution of Job Candidate Assessment Tests

A strong team is essential to the success of a business. However, hiring top employees is not easy. According to a Korn Ferry report, there is a global talent shortage of over 85 million people, and 77% of employers say they are having difficulty finding qualified candidates.

The problem is not a lack of candidates. It is a lack of qualified candidates. Many organizations have implemented new technology and digital transformation initiatives, so they need employees with cutting-edge skills to manage and support their new infrastructures. Unfortunately, many applicants’ skills have not kept up, so they do not have the in-demand skills these employers need.

Since hiring has become so challenging, organizations are implementing job placement assessment testing solutions to identify top employees.

Why Organizations Need Job Candidate Assessment Tests

Businesses use different types of job placement assessment tests to verify that candidates have the skills and experience required for a job and are a good fit for their company culture.

• Skills Tests: Skills tests help hiring teams evaluate applicants’ ability to perform tasks related to a job. They are used to assess applicants for roles ranging from customer service and software engineering to marketing, sales, and operations.

• Cognitive Assessments: Organizations need employees who can quickly adjust to new market conditions and customer needs, so they use cognitive assessments to see how well candidates can grasp new information and learn on the job.

• Behavioral Assessments: Applicants’ skills are one piece of the hiring puzzle, but job fit is also important. Hiring teams use behavioral assessments to evaluate applicants’ behavioral traits and tendencies to determine whether their values and work style fit a job and the company’s work environment well.

How Job Placement Assessment Tests Help Companies Improve Recruiting

Hiring teams use job candidate assessment tests to simplify recruiting. Instead of spending hours reviewing resumes, they can instantly identify top applicants by reviewing assessment results. When we ask business leaders to list the key benefits of using job placement assessment tests, they cite the following advantages:

• Screen Applicants Quicker: It is not unusual for companies to receive thousands of responses for a job posting. Job placement assessment tests allow hiring teams to instantly weed out unqualified candidates so they can focus on top contenders.

• Decrease Hiring Mistakes: Hiring mistakes are expensive, negatively affect productivity and lower team morale. Job candidate assessment tests reduce the risk of hiring errors by showing which applicants are best qualified.

• Customized Job Candidate Assessment Tests: The best assessment solutions provide clients access to an assessment library with hundreds of validated job- and subject-based job placement assessment tests. HR teams can use the pre-prepared versions, modify them by adding and deleting questions, or build customized assessments by selecting questions from multiple skills tests.

• Simulations: Assessment results show candidates have the required abilities but do not show they can apply the knowledge on the job. Hiring teams include simulations in job candidate assessment tests to observe how applicants react when faced with common job situations.

Why Use Behavioral Assessments with Job Placement Assessment Tests?

Once hiring team members verify a candidate has the required skills, they use behavioral assessments to ensure the prospective employee is a good fit for the job and their corporate culture. This is important because poor job fit is the cause of 89% of hiring mistakes and one of the most common reasons people leave a job.

The cost of replacing an employee is often twice the employee’s annual salary. So, if you have 100 employees and their average salary is $50,000, your turnover and rehire costs could be as high as $2.6 million annually.

Behavioral assessments help businesses place the right people in the right jobs and create productive teams that operate smoothly and efficiently. According to the Society of Human Resources Management, leaders who use behavioral assessments increase team performance by nearly 30%.

Using Job Placement Assessment Tests Improves Hiring Outcomes

Companies in every industry use job candidate assessment tests such as skills and cognitive tests and behavioral assessments to improve quality of hire. These are some examples:

• Avon, a distributor of makeup and beauty products, used customized job placement assessment tests to improve their application process. It eliminated 50–65% of applicants during initial screening and reduced testing time from three hours to 45 minutes.

• DigiKey Electronics, a fast-growing electronic component distributor, used job placement assessment tests to evaluate candidates for sales representative positions and immediately saw a decrease in turnover.

• Encore Exchange, a medical billing service, began using job candidate assessment tests and decreased applicant screening time by 67% and time-to-hire by 33%. The company also improved the quality of recruiting organization-wide.

• SolvOne, an environmental compliance company, requires new hires to complete training. Attrition was high because many candidates could not pass the course. It used job candidate assessment tests to improve the quality of hire and increased graduation rates by 26%.

Get Started with Job Placement Assessment Tests

As a business leader, you need a team that enhances your business and meets growth goals. Job candidate assessment tests help you accomplish both of these goals.

Do you want to learn how job placement assessment tests can help you hire capable employees who are a good fit for your company culture? Contact eSkill to request a demo.