For businesses to thrive in today’s economy, finding and recruiting the best employees possible is critical. To improve hiring success, top-performing companies worldwide are turning to pre-employment screening tests. The use of hiring assessment tests reduces turnover, which has a negative impact on employee morale, productivity, and company revenue.
A study by the Center for American Progress estimated that the cost to replace an employee was between sixteen and twenty percent for positions earning up to $50,000 annually and up to 213% for executive level positions.
For businesses, this can add up to significant costs that can potentially be avoided by implementing hiring assessment tests during the recruiting process.
Here are five types of pre-employment screening tests that when used correctly, will increase your employee retention rate and the overall profitability of your organization:
Job knowledge is the foundation of successful job performance. A job knowledge test or job-based test assesses just that, candidates’ knowledge of a particular profession or expertise. Unlike cognitive ability tests that measure candidates ability to learn information, eSkill’s job-based tests assess the information candidates must possess prior to being hired.
These tests are constructed by analyzing the requirements of specific positions. For example, eSkill’s “Android Developer” job-based test is used to measure candidates’ ability to design and implement Android-based applications, including Java Enterprise Edition 6, and Database Concepts. This test was designed to evaluate the performance of candidates for Android Software Engineer positions based on the requirements of the position.
When hiring or promoting from a pool of candidates, an employer should implement job-based assessments to acquire quantitative data regarding job-based knowledge. The data can then be used to select the applicant that has the highest level of knowledge needed to excel in a position. eSkill is an industry-leader in job-based testing with over 1,000 standard job-based and subject-based tests available.
Cognitive ability tests assess applicants’ learning potential. These assessments are designed to measure the ability to reason, problem solve, organize, think abstractly, learn quickly, and grasp the nature of complex problems. Cognitive ability tests have various labels and are also called IQ tests, intelligence tests, ability tests, aptitude tests, and problem-solving assessments.
Today, employers throughout the world commonly utilize cognitive ability tests to assist in the hiring process. eSkill has a variety of cognitive ability tests that are both valid and reliable. For example, eSkill’s “Logical Thinking” ability test covers deductive logic, series completion, visual logic, analogies, and more. Administering these hiring assessment tests will allow you to vet potential candidates based on their ability to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills needed to excel in a position. This is quite advantageous given the historically low unemployment rate. Applicants you may have glossed over in the past, due to a lack of relevant work history, may now be considered for a position after scoring well on aptitude tests.
Skills tests do not focus on a broad scope of job-based knowledge, cognitive ability, or abstract personality traits. Rather, these pre-employment screening tests measure the skills needed to complete particular tasks. eSkill has developed hundreds of simulation and multiple choice skills assessments—from MS Office Simulation to Typing 10-Key Data Entry, Intuit QuickBooks Pro, C++, Oracle Administration, Adobe Illustrator, and Pharmaceutical Terminology. Whatever industry you are hiring for, eSkill has the skill assessments needed to make successful hiring decisions, reducing the amount of time needed to vet candidates, and increasing employee retention.
It is vital to ensure that candidates possess all of the required characteristics to succeed in a particular role. eSkill offers a wide variety of assessments that measure applicants’ emotional intelligence. Examining potential hires personality traits provides a deeper understanding of their pattern of thinking, feeling, and behaving. eSkill incorporates personality assessments into relevant job-based tests. For instance, the “Hospitality Manager” job-based test includes questions and simulations to measure a candidates’ ability to communicate and their customer service skills. It is critical to ensure that potential employees have the necessary characteristics to realize a profitable return on investment.
Just about everyone is familiar with the interview process, most of us have sat in front of a prospective employer and answered a line of questions. In today’s world, remote positions on the rise. According to a 2016 Gallup survey, United States’ employees who worked remotely at least sometimes increased from 39% in 2012 to 43% in 2016. This trend is expected to continue, as the landscape of businesses continues to shift towards technology. More and more companies are now using virtual interviews in a streamlined approach to the time-honored interview process. eSkill’s video interviewing service works independently or in conjunction with job-based and skill-based assessments, requiring candidates to record video or voice responses to interview questions. This is a much more efficient way to review candidates’ answers to interview questions than the standard face-to-face interview.
When determining the type of pre-employment screening tests that work best for your business, it is critical to ensure that any tests given to candidates are reliable and valid, and yield consistent results that prognosticate success on the job to avoid claims of discrimination. Creating these tests in a way that will ward off future litigation is an arduous task when done without the assistance of expert pre-employment test developers. eSkill has completed this expensive and time-consuming test development process for over 1,000 pre-employment assessments. All of eSkill’s tests follow the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures of 1978, which outline standards the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) holds employers accountable for when using employment tests. eSkill has a nearly 20-year EEOC compliance record without any litigation.
Pre-employment screening tests need to be selected and monitored carefully to reliably and validly find the employees best suited for a position. eSkill’s dedicated, US-based assessment experts will guide you through the implementation of pre-employment screening tests. eSkill’s front-end screening assessments will increase your organization’s hiring success, lower employee acquisition costs, and increase the overall employee retention rate.
Learn more about the benefits of using eSkill’s pre-employment assessments to find qualified candidates quickly.
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