Posted by EmployTest - on Wed, May 06, 2009 @ 01:34 PM
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.
Posted by EmployTest - on Wed, Apr 22, 2009 @ 01:53 PM
Microsoft Excel, the most collectively frustrating software program in the world. Millions are challenged by it daily. Not to say that there aren't more difficult programs to learn. Because there certainly are. But Microsoft Excel is the program, across the globe, that confounds the greatest majority. And because it's so critical to office staff, it's the one program about which applicants will most often misrepresent their skills.
Why is that? Maybe because job applicants think they can get away with such deception. They often can because the Hiring Manager often does not have the proper Excel skills on their own to distinguish Excel mastery from overstated skills. And they shouldn't have necessarily have those skills, unless it's part of their job. Not when there are Microsoft Excel tests that help determine precisely what the applicant knows.
Searching for Excel tests is the number one reason (by far) people find our website and sign up for our employment testing program. Just shows how hard it is to determine those skills by simply asking questions. You are not alone, my friend. Others that are hiring are in the same boat as you. It's virtually impossible for an interviewer to determine, just by verbally questioning them, what an applicant knows about Excel. It can't consistently be done.
Which leads us to the question: How would you, as the Human Resource Professional/Vice President/Business Owner, score on an Excel test?
The answer is....it doesn't really matter. Your job may or may not require those skills. So you may not need to know it at all. And you will be smart enough to use a Microsoft Excel test that will independently assess each applicant's skills, without you having to "dance" with the applicant to figure out what they know.