Shopping for a Pre-Employment Test? Five Things to Consider

The number and variety of pre-employment testing options can be overwhelming—there are thousands of possible solutions, including those offered by I/O psychologists, SaaS vendors and HR consultants.

But there are key questions that can help you focus on what’s most important for your company as do your due diligence. In the next few days I’ll talk about the five questions to ask about each vendor’s offering.

1. Does it have a good scientific foundation?

Ask any vendor you’re considering how the assessment will be validated in your company. A good solution starts by creating a benchmark profile which establishes a data-based picture of your ideal candidate, based on high performers already working for your company.

Also find out how predictive the assessment is. Does it show a positive relationship between performance on the test and performance on the job? There should be data to show that people who perform well on the test are more likely to perform well on the job.

How reliable is the test? Does it consistently measure candidate characteristics? If a candidate takes the test more than once, it should show similar results.

Does the vendor’s solution include online reference checking (ORC)? Accuracy of a pre-employment assessment is improved when it’s combined with ORC. Applied early in the recruiting process, ORC helps companies focus their time and attention on candidates whose references have already indicated they’ve performed well in previous positions.

Using the two tools together, your vendor should be able to generate accurate information and reliably predict how well a candidate will perform.

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