Recruitment Assessment Tools: How They Work & What To Look For

What Is A Recruitment Assessment Tool?

Recruitment assessment tools are typically web applications that help improve recruitment processes. They help identify the right candidates from the talent pool and increase the quality of hires that move through the recruitment assessment process.

There are many reasons that good recruitment tools are useful to recruiters and businesses. They:

• 1. Save time: less need for in-depth reading of CVs and cover letters (just a paper sift instead)
• 2. Reduce average cost per hire: less time spent choosing relevant talents, managing candidate pool, and less likelihood of bad hires and the need to rehire.
• 3. Remove Bias: talent assessment tools help find out the job suitability, work behaviour, and skills of applicants in a non-biased way.

How Do Recruitment Assessment Tools Work?

Pre-employment hiring tools are based on psychological research. Science-based assessments give the best results in recruiting process because they are proven to be both reliable and valid.

The reliability of a pre-employment assessment test is measured by it being both consistent and precise. One of the ways this is assessed is that if a test is taken multiple times by the same candidate, the same or similar results would be found. A test cannot be valid if it is not reliable.

The reliability coefficient of the psychometric assessments is usually based on test-retest methodology as mentioned above, or what is known as split half methodology, where half the results are measured against the other half.

The validity of the test used can be measured in several ways. Construct validity is a theoretical focus and demonstrates how the test fits into what is already known through wider research. The data from the same participants provide construct validity, but it often takes complex statistical analysis to prove.

Concurrent validity proves the coefficient relationship between test scores and the job criteria - usually by testing internal candidates already in the role. Concurrent validity is the benchmark for skills tests, in particular, to make sure that they are relevant.

The most important validity test for recruiters is predictive validity. This is the extent that a test can predict a future or a desired outcome - in this case, job performance.

Predictive validity is assessed by comparing test results with criteria based on success in a job role - this tends to take time but is a good demonstration that a high score relates to great job performance.

What Are The Different Types Of Recruitment Assessment Tools?

There are 3 main types of candidate assessment tools:

• 1. Knowledge and Skill Assessment Tools
• 2. Aptitude Assessment Tools
• 3. Personality Assessment and Work Behaviour Tests

The right online assessment tools for recruitment will depend on the type of role you are recruiting for and the industry you are working in.

1. Knowledge And Skills

Testing specific job-related knowledge gives recruiters the edge when it comes to ensuring job candidates have the actual skills for the role and makes unbiased hiring decisions easier. Skills can be assessed with a skill test against an agreed standard and can be broad spectrum or more focused so it is role-specific. An example of this would be a coding assessment like Python test for candidates who have applied for a coding role.

2. Aptitude

Soft skills are not necessarily job-specific but can be good predictors of job success. Aptitude tests can assess a candidate for their cognitive abilities, reasoning, and logic skills as well as how they will learn - high scores on aptitude tests tend to correlate with good job performance.

3. Personality And Work Behaviour

Understanding the motivators and drives of job candidates can help to understand how they work, and scenario-based questions can assess the way a potential candidate will react in a given situation - giving a good idea of what that candidate's work behaviour is like. Personality tests can highlight how a candidate wants to work, the type of roles that they are most suitable for, and the company culture fit.

Recruitment Assessment Tools: What Should You Look For?

When you are looking for the best talent assessment tools and online assessment platforms, you should use the following criteria to make sure the tools you choose are the best for what you need, they are:

• 1. What Can The Tool Show You?
• 2. How Does The Tool Work?
• 3. How Does It Fit With Your Recruitment Process?
• 4. What Is The Candidate Experience Like?
• 5. What Is The Cost?

1. What Can The Tool Show You?

The results you will receive from the test are possibly the most important part of the assessment. Not only do you need to be sure that the test is measuring the specific skills, behaviors, or aptitudes that you want to know, but also the depth of the results.

Do you need a full 360 view of the assessments or are you just looking to use a percentile?

2. How Does The Tool Work?

Some assessments are simple web-based applications where a candidate receives a link and completes a multiple-choice test, while others might be more in-depth.

One of the biggest selling points of almost every recruitment assessment tool is that it removes the possibility of unconscious bias - but when tools include video submissions or anything else personal, there is a potential for bias to creep in.

3. How Does It Fit With Your Recruitment Process?

Candidate assessment tools - no matter how in-depth they are and how much feedback they can offer - are not a replacement for a full and robust recruitment process. The tools should provide meaningful data that supports and enhances rather than replaces the interview process.

The best result from assessment tools should reduce the pool of available candidates before the interview, and ensure those that are put in front of the employer have the right skills, personality, and aptitudes that are required for the role.

4. What Is The Candidate Experience Like?

Tools that are straightforward to use for the candidate are always preferable - making a good impression on potentially qualified candidates is positive. Finding a test publisher that can provide practice tests and tips, as well as being fair, engaging, and simple to use will give great candidate experience.

A space for feedback, both for the candidate on their results and how they feel about the process, makes the recruitment process and the assessment tools more interactive and clear.

5. What Is The Cost?

Free tools are few and far between, especially ones that are reliable and well-backed by science. However, the cost of the tool needs to provide a return on investment.

You can measure this return by working out the reduction of costs associated with the hiring process, especially the costs of rehiring (when a potential candidate doesn't work out, for example).

If you're looking for the best candidate screening tools, try out our pre-employment tests like job skills tests and aptitude tests with sample questions.