The pre-employment psychological and behavioral assessment market is a $1 billion industry, and best-in-class employers are using assessments now more than ever as a part of their pre-hire process.
As a leader in your organization you may think, “Where do I begin even thinking about adding assessments to my hiring process,” and “What specific qualities do I look for when selecting pre-employment assessments, vendors or consultants?”
Assessments are beneficial in many ways to every type of employer. When receiving a resume from an applicant all the general information such as education, grades, experience, skills and references is provided, but there is so much more to a candidate than what is on paper, like the candidate’s interests, abilities, values, team orientation, integrity, loyalty, learning aptitude and motivation. These underlying traits require scientific assessments to bring them to light during the pre-hire process.
Modern assessment tools improve the selection of employees because they allow the future employer to review and test for various relevant candidate qualifications. These revealed qualifications provide the employer with information necessary to make a more educated hiring decision. This analysis also gives the employer a look at the specific cognitive, personality and behavioral traits of an individual that are relevant to the job.
When selecting a vendor for your pre-hire assessments you should ask:
– What do the tests measure?
– What research and process was used to develop the tests?
– What experience or education do they have that qualifies them to develop and sell these tests?
– What evidence do they have related to the reliability of the tests?
– What evidence do they have that demonstrates the lack of bias or discrimination in their tests?
– What data do they have that will help interpret test scores for my organization?
Pre-hire assessments are changing the way companies pick the right candidate. Make sure you find the right vendor for you. Remember that no single pre-employment assessment is the end-all be-all solution for guaranteeing the perfect hire. What makes pre-hire assessments great is the thoughtfulness and planning that goes into how the assessments are selected and implemented. Decisionmakers need to carefully think about what psychological and behavioral constructs they intend to assess, the vendors they choose, the consultants they hire to implement their assessments and the criteria they will use.
If you are interested in adding pre-hire assessments to your current pre-hire arsenal contact Todd Ruano with Global HR Research at 800-790-1205 ext. 602 or via email at [email protected].
