Pre-Employment Tests: Everything You Need to Know

Talent is the fuel that drives any successful company. When the right people, with the right skills are recruited at the right time, business will thrive. Steve Jobs advised: “Go after the cream of the cream. A small team of A+ players can run circles around a giant team of B and C players.” 

So, how do you find the A+ players for your company? There are numerous things that HR leaders need to factor into talent acquisition, and each company will have different specifics, depending on industry, size and objectives. However, to guarantee a successful hiring process, some common features can be sought in new recruits across the board. 

Through this set of articles, we will discuss the benefits and challenges of the hiring process, and how data can assist in helping you find the very best talent out there. We will also talk about what pre-employment tests should look for, and how companies decide which attributes are desirable for their teams. 

Why hiring the best is worth the effort

The average company in the UK spends minimum £3000 on every employee they recruit – and that’s before the employee receives a penny of their salary. That’s called the cost per hire. When recruiting large teams, this cost can stack up. And if you recruit the wrong person, it’s money down the drain. 

That’s not all. Recruiting the wrong person can cause:

• Poorer staff morale, leading to a decline in productivity. In one survey, 39% of respondents said that poor morale was the biggest consequence of a bad hire.
• Resignations throughout a team 
• Poorer work quality, resulting in profit loss. 
• Wasted management time. Dealing with issues caused by a ‘poor performance’ employee can take up to 70% more time than a ‘high performance’ employee.

With this in mind, it’s critical that hiring goes well, every time. Every employee hired should be a ‘high performer’ in his/her role. Why? A 2017 McKinsey study of more than 600,000 professionals found that high performers are 400% more productive than average ones. Furthermore, talented employees can:

• Improve overall team morale
• Help boost profits and bottom lines
• Contribute to the company’s future 
• Build better, longer lasting client relationships
• Offer unique insights and expertise 
• And much more…

In an ideal world, this ‘star employee’ falls right into our laps and takes the job we offer them. But it’s not quite that simple…

Common problems in recruiting

During the 2016 Conference Board’s survey of global CEOs, “Failure to attract and retain top talent” was the number-one issue – even more important than economic growth and competitive intensity. This just serves to demonstrate us how important CEOs consider talent acquisition to be for business success. But the recruitment process is riddled with challenges that can hinder hiring top talent. In fact, an enormous 82% of Fortune 500 companies don’t believe they recruit highly talented people.

Common problems faced in talent acquisition are:

• An increase in the number of applications received. A 2021 survey of 250 hiring decision makers discovered that 60% were receiving more applications from people who normally worked in other sectors. This is partly due to the economic fallout from the global pandemic. Recruiters are therefore bound to spend less time viewing each application, and may miss those ‘star few’ due to the sheer volume of work to get through. 
• Fraudulent resumes. With 40% of applicants admitting to lying on their resume, from their language abilities to their employment history, it can be a minefield trying to sort fact from fiction. You can read more about fraudulent resumes here.
• Poor quality applications due to inefficient recruitment strategy. If you post jobs to a marketplace that doesn’t attract your ideal candidate, you’ll be unlikely to find them. Smart recruiting can drastically improve the quality of applicants.
• Passive applicants. It is estimated that 45% of workers are passive candidates, meaning they aren’t actively seeking a new job. This can frustrate the recruitment process, as great candidates might appear, but may not be ready to take the job if offered. 

A great way to overcome some of these challenges and sort the passive, fraudulent or inadequate applications from the superstars, is to use pre-employment tests. 

What pre-employment tests look for

You may have heard of pre-employment tests, but are wondering, how exactly does it work, and, what is the purpose of pre-employment tests?

Pre-employment testing is the process of determining who your best candidates are before they even reach the interview room. High quality testing can look for the skills, knowledge, language abilities, cognition and emotional intelligence of each candidate. 

You can then use this data derived from pre-employment testing to determine:

• Who the best candidates are
• Who is being dishonest on their resume
• Any potential training needs for each candidate
• How that candidate will fit into your company

Here’s a breakdown of some of the components of pre-employment testing. 

1. Culture Fit

The values, beliefs and behaviors of your candidate will need to align with the company ethos and existing team setup. This is known as culture fit. Culture fit is a critical consideration during recruitment, as a poorly chosen hire can disrupt teams, decrease overall productivity and may not stay in the job long. Pre-employment testing can help to identify and analyze culture fit before making any hiring decision. You can read more about culture fit here. 

2. Emotional Intelligence 

The emotional intelligence of employees refers to how they self-regulate, self-motivate, empathize and build relationships. Testing for emotional intelligence helps you to find candidates who can make sound judgements and work in teams more easily, weeding out those who are impulsive or short-tempered. Find out more about emotional intelligence here. 

3. Language

In a globalized workforce, having good language and communication skills is vital, and being multilingual has never been so sought after. Pre-employment testing can assess the language skills of each candidate using CEFR analysis, helping employers find the best communicators. You can read more about assessing languages here. 

4. Cognition 

It’s not just about what your candidate knows, but about how they think and the way they make decisions and solve problems. Cognition tests can give hiring managers a better idea of how a candidate thinks thanks to pre-employment testing. . 

5. Knowledge & Skills

In some roles, the candidate won’t be required to have pre-existing knowledge and skills, especially if you offer a comprehensive training program. In others, pre-existing knowledge and skills is vital. For example, if you’re hiring for a patient-facing healthcare role, you may require specific training and qualifications to be undertaken by candidates before applying. Customized pre-employment testing can ask individuals specific, job-based questions that assess their theoretical knowledge and make sure they are best suited for the job.

How pre-employment tests data is used

The data derived from pre-employment testing can help you shrink a pile of 200 applications down to 20 or less, thanks to the number of attributes and qualities you can accurately test for. Not only that, but you can weed out the dishonest resumes before they ever step foot inside an interview room, saving you time and money. Plus, you can seamlessly make pre-employment testing part of the candidate experience, which is now an important topic of your employer branding. 

The key to success is achieving a thorough job analysis, and, from there, selecting the right pre-employment testing for your requirements. 

We have now talked about what pre-employment testing is, why it’s important, what it can help you to assess, and how the data can be used. Now we want to tell you about Pipplet. 

Pipplet can help

Pipplet is an innovative, modern solution in order for assessing the language skills of your candidates. With more than 40 languages available to test for, you gain insight into the skills of multilingual candidates all in one place. Pipplet gives each applicant an internationally recognized CEFR score, helping you to see who your future star employees are. Whether you’re recruiting for one position, or one hundred, Pipplet can assist, in a few clicks.

Learn more about Pipplet, or click here to sign up.