Assessments Aid in Employee Selection
Employment tests or assessments have been used over the years by many employers to aid the process of selecting qualified employees. Common examples of such tests may include a skill test such as a typing or keyboard test, aptitude test to measure a candidates capacity to perform a job task, numerical tests to check math or measurement skills, and various sorts of personality tests to measure suitability for employment.
Upon implementing a testing procedure, one major national retailer found that improved employee selection resulted a revenue increase of $10 per hour per employee. Another employer found that its candidate testing procedures helped to reduce employment turnover by better identifying candidates less likely to change jobs quickly.
Many larger employers have traditionally used candidate assessments involving a paper and pencil type test coupled with an interview conducted by an industrial psychologist to evaluate candidates for management level jobs.
Various hiring managers have candidly admitted that they like to use an employment test as a selection aid because they are not confident in their ability to select qualified workers on the basis of an interview alone.
A study reported by the Society of Human Resource Management suggested that many companies misuse personality tests or rely on the wrong inventories to assess job candidates. Such practices can cause in poor candidate selection or result in legal claims.
One of the most notable cases involved a power company that instituted a testing procedure that adversely affected minority employees by screening them out at a greater rate than other workers. This practice lead to an employment discrimination claim that ultimately reached the U.S. Supreme Court resulting in a holding that test and selection criteria must be related to the job requirements.
Over the past several years, candidates and employers alike are increasingly turning to the Internet to conduct job and applicant searches. Likewise, use of Internet screening and assessment tools now aids the employer in quickly conducting an evaluation of a candidate.
According to testing specialists, the use of assessment tools is growing, over the traditional testing procedures. Traditional employment tests often used scoring process with a cut-off score to screen out candidates. An assessment tool, on the other hand, produces a score that is benchmarked to a scoring range for various performance factors or behavioral traits deemed suitable for a particular job or category of jobs.
With such a system, an employer can select an assessment tool appropriate for the job, instruct candidates to take the on-line assessment through the Internet, evaluate results, and select candidates more confidently based on objective assessment information in addition to interviews, reference checks and other selection processes.
While there are various assessment tools commercially available, common measurement can include mental aptitudes such as mental acuity or judgment, knowledge of business terms, memory recall, vocabulary, numerical perception and mechanical interest. Common personality or behavioral dimensions measured may include energy, flexibility, organization, communication, assertiveness, and motivation.
While there is a cost to conduct the testing or assessment process, the real payoff occurs in the selection of better more motivated candidates who are more productive and less likely to leave through turnover.
William S. Hubbartt is a human resources and privacy consultant St. Charles, IL. www.Hubbartt.com. He is the author of "The HIPAA Security Rule - A Guide for Employers and Health Care Providers,"a 200+ page book in CD format.
