Employment Testing Blog

Can individuals buy our Employment Tests? No way, no how....

Some of our comrades in the employment testing industry have decided to have their cake and eat it too.  They decided that it makes good business sense to allow individuals to purchase their tests, on their own, to prepare (or practice) before they go on a job interview. 

Well, allow us to politely disagree. We do not, will not, allow individuals that are seeking jobs to purchase tests from us.  And believe me, we get plenty of requests to do just that.  Past research has shown that many of our website visitors are in fact not hiring managers.  Instead they are job seekers looking to learn more about how our testing works in order to "ace" the pre-employment tests.  

And we certainly wish those folks well.  We too want them to succeed on the tests but we do not provide them with test samples nor do we offer to sell them "practice" tests.  And these tests are often not really practice tests--they can be the same exact pre-employment tests that are being used by hiring managers to measure job skills and knowledge.

For example, if you're selling them the practice Excel test in the morning, and then that afternoon they take an Excel test administered by the interviewer, it's highly likely that they will perform better because of these practice tests. 

We value the money our clients have invested in our testing system and don't want to minimize that by selling practice tests to individuals. Is it unethical?  Well, we wouldn't go that far but definitely questionable.  When you use our employment tests, you'll have the confidence that your applicant wasn't practicing on the same test 30 minutes ago.

Higher Unemployment, More Job Applicants

Unemployed and in Bismarck, North Dakota?  Good for you. 

You won't have trouble finding a job.  The hiring managers are under the gun.  The unemployment rate is less than 4% (remember the good ole days of 4%?).  That number means hiring managers are under pressure and and are all going after the same top candidates. The search is on to get the best and brightest and it's a competitive field out there.  In-depth, hard-nosed pre-employment testing?  Probably not so much here.  They will take what good candidates they can find.

But if you're unemployed and job hunting in the Detroit area, good luck to you (you'd better hone your employment testing skills). Unemployment numbers released this week for metro Detroit top 17%.  If you're currently hiring for a position in Detroit, then even better luck to you.  Have fun spending hours looking at the massive tsunami of resumes that is coming your way.  You might have 10-15 truly qualified candidates for your position.  Each with their own set of skills that will help drive profits for your business or division.  And of those 10-15 candidates, 5 of them will pass the inital phone screen and in person interview with flying colors.  How will you determine which applicant is the best fit for the job?  (Hint: employment skills tests would help...) 

Extreme Interview Processes? You decide...

The Wall Street Journal posted an article yesterday discussing various extreme examples of interview processes.  Read about it here.

For some of you, the assignments for the applicants, as described in the article, (unpaid work, brainstorming) might seem mild in comparison to what you already do.  For others, the article suggests some unimagineable tasks ("come dressed in fancy evening wear suitable for entertaining wealthy clients").

Makes your pre-employment testing seem mild in comparison, right?

And that's the point.  You want the selection process to give enough information about the job candidates to allow you to make an informed decision.  And often (but not always) that includes the use of employment testing.  But you have to balance your needs with the needs of the applicant.  That is, their need not to have an overbearing and obtrusive interview process ("no ma'am, you shouldn't give 15 different Microsoft Office tests to each applicant").

With so much extraordinary talent in job market today, the last thing you need is for the good applicants, your future superstars, to be scared away by your company's selection process.

The Excel Test: Does it have questions on (fill in the blank)?

Need an Excel test?  You are not alone....The most frequent reason people find our website is because they are searching for our Microsoft Excel skills testing.  Usually it's to be used pre-employment testing but it can also be used for pre-training assessments.

Visitors want to know what topics are covered in this Excel test (of course, they can always sample it here).  The 35 questions in the Standard Excel test cover these skill levels in roughly equal proportion: Beginner, Intermediate, & Advanced.  Here are a few topics that are included:

-Formatting (Borders, Alignment, AutoFit)

-Editing (Undo, Copy, Cut, Paste) 

-File Management (Save, New Template)

-Tools & Automation (Zoom, Range Name, Protect)

-Analysis (Charts, Functions, AutoFilter, Sort)

Some of these questions might be easy to anyone familiar with a Microsoft Office program.  Yet as the questions progress into Intermediate and Advanced skill levels, you understand why this Excel test is our most frequently used employment test.  Do those questions sound too easy for your situation  We also have an Advanced version, which is finely tuned for just those Power Users.  Want to see it in action or learn more?  We're proud to show it off as it is the most realistic Excel skills test on the market.

 

Employment Testing: 7.5 Ways to Insure Applicants Score Poorly

That's the goal, right?  To make sure most applicants don't do well so you can easily spot the cream of the crop, right?  Well, not exactly.  But surprisingly, Test Administrators can often make it hard on job applicants, particularly during the pre-employment testing process.  So here's our list of ways to help your applicants score poorly on pre-employment tests....

1.  Surprise them with the test.  Don't tell them beforehand that you will be giving a pre-employment test.  Don't let them mentally prepare.  Enjoy the look of horror when they realize that what they thought was a one hour interview is actually a 4 hour testing marathon.  

2.  Allow them to test in your noisy and crowded reception area.   The phones ringing and constant visitors will show if they truly have the focus and determination to succeed in the job.

3.  "Coach" the applicants you like with additional instructions and employment test answers.  Ignore questions from the applicants that you don't like.

4.  Advise the applicants to skip the test's warm up questions and tutorial.  After all, they are here to show what they know.  There's no warm up in the real world, right?

5.  Have your most inexperienced employee (the one that started last week and is lowest on the totem pole) administer the tests, particularly if testing for a managerial position.

6.  Give little thought to which tests are being administered.  Pay no attention to the test questions as they relate to the job description.  An applicant for a warehouse position should certainly take a Microsoft Excel skills test, even if the position doesn't require such skills, right?

7. Increase the applicants' test anxiety by sitting right beside them while they test.

7.5  Tell them you don't really use the scores anyway (even though you do)!

Far-fetched? Maybe.  But we've heard some of the above methods before, although they weren't used expressly with the goal of lowering scores.  Have you observed such practices (or different, yet equally effective ones)?  Email us your thoughts.

Need More Reasons to Test? Check out the 3 S's

Beyond the obvious efficiencies that a properly screened new hire will make, let's look at the other side of what could possibly happen....

1.  Safety:  your new hire has an explosive temper that wasn't evident during the interview process.  A personality test could have helped in this area.

2.   Security of information:  oops, your new manager accidentally released your  profit margin data to your email marketing list.   A computer skills test would have identified any training needs before the manager was hiried.

3.  Sales Improvement:  turn your pre-employment testing process into your competitive advantage. Think your clients don't notice when they receive sub-par service?  Think again.   Many customers will leave without saying a word.  Tell clients that you use pre-employment tests to make sure you're hiring only the best.

Remember that if you don't test your applicants, you might be hiring the employees that other companies have rejected.

Testing your Employment Tests

Slate Magazine published an article this month that presents this thought:  Hiring managers can be more biased than the "often vilified" pre-employment tests.  So these dreaded tests might be more objective than the thoughtful hiring manager?   That's something that we can agree with.  The full article is here for your review.