5 Myths Related to Pre-Employment Assessment Tests

Hiring a skilled workforce can be risky. The candidates may not be the perfect fit for your organization. High employee turnover brings more burdens to your account books. To avoid such circumstances, companies prefer a streamlined hiring process that carries more accuracy.

Using predictive pre-employment assessment tools, you can find the most appropriate candidate for a specific job. But, there are many myths related to test for employment conducted by the companies. Some of these myths are busted here:

Myth 1: Pre-Employment Assessment Can’t Predict Actual Performance

Very often, the recruiters come across the notion that pre-hire tests aren’t actually predictive. This isn’t true. If the tests are well-defined and relevant to the job description, they can clearly predict the actual performance of a candidate. There is no denying the fact that job performance relies on many factors. They may be individual or organizational. Also, there is always a level of inaccuracy when predicting future behaviors.

Hence, the inherent variability of prediction can’t be ruled out. But, professionally created and properly validated assessment test can accurately predict the factors like turnover, productivity, performance ratings, and behavioral aspects. Hence, it isn’t proper to have doubts about their predictability. As a matter of fact, you should find relevant and customizable testing tools that can be designed as per your individual hiring needs.

Myth 2: Pre-Employment Assessment Can Be Manipulated

Some people believe that self-report assessments related to personality can be faked by the candidates. However, this can be applicable to the interviews as well. Mostly, the candidates try to present themselves positively in front of the recruiters. It is something taken into account when designing the hiring processes. But, it is not always easy to manipulate the objective tests related to individual skills. For example, a candidate may not be able to fake the results of a computer skills test or a data entry test where the results are accurate and objective.

Myth 3: Pre-Employment Assessment is Lesser Accurate than Interviews

This can be slightly true for the poorly designed tests and impeccably planned interviews. But, if you choose well-designed and validated test for employment, there’s no scope for inefficiency. They are highly accurate. In fact, valid assessments give more substantial results when compared with unstructured interviews. While interviews may entail an element of intuition, well-designed pre-hire assessments are highly objective in their aim. Also, they are consistent and reliable.

Myth 4: Pre-Employment Assessment is Favorable for Some People

Some people may be good at taking tests while others are better at handling the interviews. It is all about individual strengths. You can’t use this argument against the reliability and effectiveness of pre-hire assessment tests. There are people who get extremely nervous and underperform when faced with stressful situations. Here, tests integrated with behavioral assessment help in determining their true potential. You should prefer testing solutions that come with easy integration options. This way, you can customize the test to suit your business requirements.

Myth 5: Pre-Employment Assessment Makes You Liable for a Lawsuit

This is the biggest myth related to pre-hiring assessment tests. These tools are well-designed to avoid any future lawsuits. In fact, the most frequently challenged selection process is the unstructured interviews. The figures say that nearly 57% of all lawsuits related to discriminatory hiring are about ill-designed interviews. Also, physical ability tests and cognitive ability test are more likely to attract legal actions. But, pre-employment skills tests are used for structured and objective hiring processes. Hence, they are acceptable in your favor if a lawsuit is filed by an employee.

These are some common myths related to reliability and effectiveness of pre-employment assessment tools used by the organizations. You should rely on the best and well-structured tests to rule them out.