If you’ve ever hired someone who turned out to be a poor fit for the job, you know there is more to choosing an employee than meets the eye. Resumes can’t always be trusted to tell the whole story, and a good interview doesn’t indicate if the candidate can really do the job. That’s why pre-employment testing is an excellent technique for almost any job you are hiring for.
With a pre-employment test, you can test candidates for specific skills they will need on the job, or you can make sure they have the cognitive skills needed for more analytical jobs. Test results are an objective measurement, not colored by the candidate’s charm that can make an otherwise mediocre interview seem good. Most tests can be performed through an online interface, with the results delivered quickly, so testing won’t delay the hiring process.
Both you and your potential employees will benefit from pre-employment testing.
Pre-employment testing benefits for employers
1) You will reduce the costs of employee turnover caused by hiring the wrong person. The Society for Human Resource Management figures the cost of losing an employee is equal to almost 40 percent of the employee’s annual salary, when you figure in all the expenses of losing and replacing a worker. Other studies place the cost at several times the annual salary when you include lost opportunity and customer dissatisfaction. That’s thousands of dollars for every wrong hire who ends up quitting or fired.
2) You will have a current measure of the employee’s skills and abilities. This means you can start training the employee to advance his skills to benefit your company, rather than having to train him to get up to your minimum standard.
3) You’ll improve your company’s overall performance. Hiring the wrong person can have bad repercussions, both among customers who don’t get the service they should from the employee and from other workers who either have to pick up the slack or otherwise realize the new employee isn’t performing well. Getting the right employee in the job from the start helps you to keep customers and other workers satisfied.
Pre-employment testing benefits to new hires
1) They will know they can perform at the required level, alleviating any anxiety they might feel about their ability to do the job and giving them confidence.
2) They will be able to show you their range of skills, providing data that can be used when they apply for a promotion in your company.