Employment Testing Blog

Pre-employment testing: Test 'em remotely or in your office?

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A common question that we hear from clients is..

Can we allow applicants take these tests at their home.  Is that okay?  What should we be concerned with?

And the answer is.....it depends.

There are pros and cons to testing your employees in your office or remotely.

Test them in your office and you can make sure that it's your applicant that is taking the test, not their brother-in-law or neighbor.  Or that they aren't searching the internet for answers to your test questions.  But it consumes your time and computer space, particularly if you have a significant number of applicants that are testing.  Invariably someone will not show up on time (or at all), possibly resulting in a necessary reschedule of their test session.  

So perhaps testing them remotely is better, right?  It can save their time (and yours) by not requiring them to be in your office.  It shows that you are the enlightened professional that respects their time (doesn't require them to travel to your office) and trusts them to be honest with the employment tests.

As with everything in in life, the right answer for your company will depend on your situation.  Some pre-employment tests, such as personality tests, can be admininstered remotely with more confidence because there is no right/wrong answer.  Other testing situations, such as computer skills tests, might need a more watchful eye (in your office) during testing.    One successful strategy when testing applicants remotely has been to institute a random re-testing of candidates in your office.   Explaining this policy in advance to candidates (and actually taking those steps) can discourage potential cheaters. 

Whether you are allowing employment tests to be taken at home or in your office, the important thing is to be consistent with all applicants, regarding testing location, tests given, and testing criteria.