“Recruiting the wrong people can make or break a startup. Whether it be the wrong cultural fit, lack of skills, or poor attitude, when you’re a small team it’s near impossible to make up for a bad hire.
Pre-employment testing has emerged as one tool recruiters can use to help make more informed choices by testing areas such as skill set, attitude, personality, and cognitive ability. However, these pre-employment assessment tests can be seen as inaccurate, intrusive, and biased.
GetApp spoke to Ira S. Wolfe, president, of pre-employment testing provider Success Performance Solutions for an article which explores what the pros and cons of using these assessments, as well as how to find the right pre-employment testing software for your business.
Wolfe explains that businesses can’t use any kind of pre-employment assessment tests they want without monitoring, as they are subject to compliance.
He says: ‘If it’s used to screen out and select a candidate, it’s a test and therefore must comply with EEO standards. It must be valid, reliable, and job relevant.’
Wolfe also points out that research has consistently shown that humans aren’t very good at screening out or selecting candidates.
‘With advancements in technology and science, the predictability and reliability of software driven assessments has just exploded,’ says Wolfe. ‘New studies consistently prove that software, and more accurately the algorithms that drive the software, are consistently more reliable than humans.’
For those businesses considering deploying assessments, Wolfe has several he can recommend from his years of industry experience.
He says: ‘We recommend Psymetrics Elite Assessment and PeopleClues for most associate (hourly) level positions and entry-level management and sales. For key positions such as leadership, management, sales, and finance (or even a very important person in a small business), we recommend ASSESS.'”