Competition can be quite high when applying for a job. In fact, employers have noticed that a majority of applicants exaggerate their skills during the application process. Obviously, this can result in a bad hire and cost companies a lot of money.
One way that companies are trying to avoid hiring a candidate without the proper experience is to administer pre-employment assessments. There is a wide variety of assessments that employers may choose to use, but after reading over this guide, you should be able to face a pre-employment assessment with greater confidence.
Types of Pre-Employment Assessments
Cognitive Aptitude
These pre-employment assessments will measure a candidate’s problem-solving, critical thinking, verbal reasoning, or mathematical abilities.
Psychometric
Psychometric assessments measure a candidate’s personality traits. These can help employers better determine if a candidate will fit into the company culture and how well they might adapt to the working conditions or current team structure. Most of the psychometric pre-employment assessments are backed by science and are widely respected.
Skill Assessment
Perhaps the most common pre-employment assessment will let candidates prove their expertise in certain skills that are required for the job position. These are particularly helpful for companies to reduce employee turnover, which of course, is beneficial to job seekers as well; no one wants to have to re-enter the job search too soon!
Emotional Quotient
Employers may decide to administer an emotional quotient assessment to see what type of emotional intelligence a candidate possesses. This pre-employment assessment will allow a company to see the soft skills of a candidate including empathy, listening ability, open expression, propensity to take initiative, flexibility, and creativity.
Video-Based
The newest type of pre-employment assessment includes a variety of questions in which candidates are to record themselves answering. This allows employers to see the type of energy, charisma, and communication style for each candidate.
How to Go Into a Pre-Employment Assessment with Confidence
Research the Job
Even two jobs with the same title are not exactly the same. If you happen to be applying to a few different jobs, it can be easy to get confused as to which company is sending out the pre-employment assessment. Take time to review in great detail the job description. Understanding the exact requirements, role responsibilities, and work experience that’s being requested will go a long way in your preparation. Be sure you can draw on anecdotal or quantitative examples that showcase your ability to excel at the job.
Be an Industry Expert
When you are immersed in your industry, you are familiar with terminology, upcoming developments, trends, certifications, conferences, etc. Before a pre-employment assessment, brush up on news and other information so that you can speak and feel like an expert in your industry.
Check System Requirements
It may seem obvious, but it is also easy to overlook; check the requirements for the assessment to be completed. You may need to have an update done on a computer, or a higher internet connection. Maybe you need to clean up your background if you’re doing a video-based pre-employment assessment. Review all the details and technological requirements so you can let your skills or cognitive abilities shine instead of being held back by technical glitches.
Be Calm
Rarely do people enjoy taking a test. Thankfully, you can often have a lot of control over your pre-employment assessment in terms of creating a comfortable and calming atmosphere. Before you begin your assessment, do whatever makes you feel calm and confident. Consider getting to bed earlier the night before, getting in some physical activity the day of, and eating well. The less stressed or anxious you are, the better you will do.
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