Pre-assessment tests gain currency

The past few years have seen pre-assessments or pre-interview testing being increasingly adopted by companies as a means of improving the quality of talent being processed by them and to increase objectivity in their screening and filtering of candidates. Although initially used by large-sized organisations to simplify their volume hiring, pre-assessments are now being used by companies irrespective of size. Ajay Kolla, Founder & CEO, Wisdomjobs.com, said, “Pre-assessments are useful in making selection decisions by objectively analysing candidates’ decision-making and problem-solving abilities, not only for hiring at the fresher level but also in executive hiring. A key advantage they bring is their ability to prevent hiring decision-makers from being influenced by the candidate’s personality or background.” Another factor is that from being mere filtering tools, they have now evolved into a reliable means of gauging candidates’ skills, behaviours, motivation, attitudes etc.

A recent survey by Wisdom Jobs looked at  reasons why companies use pre-assessments in their hiring process and  areas where they are efficacious in assessing job applicants. The survey  revealed the following information about the role of pre-assessments in companies’ hiring processes:

More than 60 per cent of companies said that avoiding a bad hire is the biggest reason for using pre-assessments, while 30 per cent cited an increase in retention, and 10 per cent felt it increased productivity.

20 per cent of the companies have seen an increase in the average tenure of their hires after implementing pre-assessments.

45 per cent recruiters and companies use pre-assessments to measure core skills, aptitude and communication skills of candidates.

Pre-assessments are used by nearly 40 per cent of them for entry-level roles; by 25 per cent of them for mid-level roles, and around 15 per cent for senior level roles.

25 per cent of companies said that they do not specifically evaluate the ROI of pre-assessment-based hiring while nearly 40 per cent said are yet to conduct such evaluations. — Agencies