What Are Online Hiring Assessments and How Does a Company Use Them?

by Steve Hopper Content Writer

Until the COVID-19 outbreak happened the job market was clearly candidate-driven. With 30 million Americans now unemployed, the job market may return as employer-driven.  With either market dynamic, the company will need to identify the resources needed to find the best candidates for the position.  Organizations can rely upon Online Hiring Assessments to give them objective comparisons of candidates’ cognitive abilities, motivations and personality traits.  These Online Hiring Assessments will save your organization large amounts of time, making them cost-effective alternatives to interviews as a way of screening and comparing candidates.

Why Organizations Conduct Online Hiring Assessments

Talent assessments are also known as employment screening tests or pre-employment assessments.  They are used to help organizations identify the candidates who fit the job requirements. These assessments organize objective information about the candidate before they are interviewed.  Online Hiring Assessments give employers information about the candidates so that they can rank their overall job fit.

What are Online Hiring Assessments Used for?

Pre-employment assessments can be conducted online, saving employers countless hours.  Nowadays, many companies hand over these assessment tasks to third-party agencies or vendors. These Online Hiring Assessments, can be used to assess the candidates allowing the organization to rank the top candidates for final interviews. Most of these Online Hiring Assessments can be completed on a desktop or laptop computer, however a few have also been adapted for use on mobile phone devices.  Most organizations use Online Hiring Assessments to evaluate cognitive ability, problem-solving ability, learning speed, job knowledge, personality traits, technical skills, and/or motivations of the candidates.  The assessments need to be job related, so they can show Overall Job Fit.

How do Online Hiring Assessments work?

If your organization decides to conduct online hiring assessments, the entire process can be managed over the internet. However, the candidates first need to complete the company’s job application for the open position.  Online Hiring Assessments have costs, and some job applicants who do not meet the minimum requirements of the position should not move forward to the online assessment process.  Usually, the company or the assessment agency will send an assessment invitation link to the pre-qualified applicant showing them how they can complete the pre-employment assessment.

Benefits of Online Hiring Assessments

A pre-employment online hiring assessment allows employers to compare and rank candidates to determine who will move forward to the next step in the process.

Resumes are not the most valid way to evaluate job suitability

While resume screening is viewed as a common initial screening practice, research has indicated it is generally unreliable and less valid compared to other screening practices, such as structured interviews and talent selection assessments. Traditional hiring processes that revolve around resumes are no longer sufficient.  There is nothing inherently wrong with resumes – they highlight applicants’ past achievements and experience. But while resumes are good at showcasing formal skills, they’re not very useful for identifying cognitive ability, problem-solving ability, learning speed, job knowledge, personality traits, technical skills, and/or motivations of the candidates.  Resumes generally don’t distinguish between skills (knowing how to do something) and competencies (doing it really well and with great reliability and ease). 

For interesting research on this topic see:  Resumes Are Messing Up Hiring, Harvard Business Review, July 14, 2014, by Terence Tse, Mark Esposito, and Olaf Groth

24*7 Assessment Access

One of the biggest advantages of online hiring assessments are that candidates can complete these assessments at their convenience.  While an argument can be made for completing these online hiring assessments at a company location (e.g. identity verification), access to these assessments from any location with an internet connection opens up the Talent Funnel to a much wider pool of candidates.   

If you have questions or would like further discussion of Online Hiring Assessments contact HireSmart.  

 

HireSmart, LLC 

Website: www.hiresmart.com   

Address: 4140 E. Baseline Road    

Ste. 101, Mesa, AZ 85206   

Telephone: (480) 503-2945

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Created on May 14th 2020 10:03. Viewed 288 times.

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