Resumes are one of the most common ways to assess job candidates. They’re designed to boil down an applicant’s work history and accomplishments into an easily digestible page of information. At the same time, resumes can be notoriously unreliable with misleading statements. Similarly, interviews — especially unstructured ones — are subjective and can be poor predictors of job performance. In contrast, properly developed and well-validated pre-employment assessments are a reliable and objective means of gathering job-related and trait specific information on candidates. Below are five benefits of pre-employee assessments.
- Improved performance and productivity
Professionally developed and well validated pre-employment assessments can predict employee productivity across various job types and industries. These tests can objectively determine the extent to which a candidate has the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform well at any given job. At the same time, hiring managers can quickly determine a candidate’s qualities to succeed in each position and place candidates who are more likely to remain satisfied with the role. This helps your company build a solid foundation of dedicated employees resulting in higher performance and productivity.
- Higher employee retention
Assessing employees before hiring ensures that new employees have the aptitude required for the job and the appropriate temperament to feel comfortable with their roles. When you select the right candidate, there’s less chance of that person being let go for poor performance or quitting because the position isn’t right for them. Lowering your turnover rate can help improve employee morale and your company’s reputation, which helps attract better candidates. Lower turnover rates help save money as the costs associated with training, recruitment, and severance pay are reduced.
- Develop existing talent
Hiring new candidates can be tedious and costly. Add to that the Great Attrition resulting in fewer applicants and more open positions. According to the SHRM’s skills gap research, 83% of HR professionals reported difficulty obtaining suitable candidates. 75% of respondents believed that there was a shortage of qualified persons for job openings. Assessing your current talent can help identify individuals with the skill sets and experience to step into a new role, allowing you to confidently promote from within.
- Increased defensibility in the hiring process
Pre-employment assessments are governed by federal guidelines intended to ensure equitable and non-discriminatory hiring practices. Organizations that implement assessment programs per legal guidelines are, therefore, better prepared to defend in the unlikely event that a legal challenge to their hiring practices should ever arise.
- Get objective feedback
Pre-employment assessments introduce an element of objectivity into the hiring process by providing concrete results that can be standardized across all applicants. Employers can then use these data to make better-informed hiring decisions. Even the perfect person for the position may have trouble in interviews. Data from a completed assessment gives your hiring managers unbiased feedback on whether a person has what it takes to fill the role.
Conclusion
While resume screening and interviews can give insights into a candidate’s employment background and work experience, these recruiting tools cannot verify whether the candidate can perform the job. Pre-employment assessment can acclimate candidates to both the job expectations and the environment within the company. By providing reliable, objective data that predict job performance, pre-employment assessments increase the quality of hires and reduce the number of bad hires. Ultimately, this will lead to bottom-line improvements, increased workforce productivity, and reduced turnover.
