On average, a business can expect to lose about 6% of its staff due to involuntary turnover. Involuntary turnover is any termination related to a reduction in the workforce or poor job performance.
If turnover rates are consistently higher than this 6% threshold, it can spell major issues for an organization’s financial future. According to Gallup, the average cost of replacing a single employee can range from about half to more than double their annual salary. This price means excessive turnover can be particularly costly.
Therefore, businesses must make the right hiring decisions the first time. Doing so requires a well-designed screening and evaluation process that includes tools such as pre-employment tests.
By deploying employment testing, you can increase the efficiency of hiring practices while also ensuring that you choose the best candidate for the position. This article provides some tips for using these assessments to hire better employees.
Benefits of Pre-Employment Testing
Pre-employment testing offers tremendous benefits to both employers and staff. As an employer, pre-employment testing will help you identify the top candidates within a hiring pool. Your team will be able to gain deeper insights into each applicant’s skill set. This insight will decrease the risk of involuntary turnover and allow your team to make informed hiring decisions.
Existing staff will benefit from employment testing as well. When you introduce a new employee to a team or department, they will impact the performance of that group.
A new hire who is a good fit for your organization will pull their weight and positively contribute to the team. Conversely, a candidate who lacks technical abilities or communication skills will diminish productivity while creating friction among team members.
Testing during the screening process also has a positive impact on new hires. By using these assessment tools, you can ensure that individuals are placed to succeed. They are less likely to leave voluntarily due to a lack of job satisfaction and will enjoy higher morale overall.
What Skills Can Pre-Employment Tests Measure?
Pre-employment assessments can measure a vast array of abilities and skills. Most employers use skills testing to measure “hard skills.” A hard skill is a technical ability that an employee can learn through training and experience. A few examples of hard skills include typing, using Microsoft Excel, and performing advanced coding tasks.
In addition to hard skills, pre-employment tests can effectively gauge a candidate’s “soft skills.” Whereas hard skills are talents directly related to the position, soft skills refer to non-job-specific abilities. For instance, employers can use assessments to measure an individual’s communication skills or analytical thinking ability.
Lastly, employers can use assessments to learn more about applicants. Behavioral assessments provide valuable information about the individual’s unique personality traits and attributes. Unlike skills, behaviors are not teachable through workplace training. A behavioral assessment can help your team determine whether an applicant will be a good fit for your company’s culture.
For optimal results, your pre-employment testing strategies should measure hard and soft skills. You should also conduct a behavioral assessment to gain additional information about a person’s core attributes and traits. Cumulatively, the information gathered from these assessments will help you hire better.
What Are the Most Popular Pre-Employment Tests?
There are hundreds of pre-employment assessments that you can utilize to measure an applicant’s abilities. The exact tests that you deploy will vary depending on the position that you are trying to fill. However, some generalized skills tests can improve employers’ hiring practices in virtually any industry. They include:
- Attention to Detail: The Attention to Detail exam covers finding errors, word analysis, word meaning, and related topics.
- Logical Thinking:This exam uses analogies, anagrams, and deductive logic questions to gauge a candidate’s ability to think through problems in a logical manner.
- Reasoning Ability:This exam requires an individual to analyze and interpret information to find the best possible solution for the problem provided.
Regardless of the position you are trying to fill, these three tests can help determine a candidate’s fitness. They offer a good general overview and can be paired with job-specific tests to determine the best candidate for any job.
Employment Testing Solutions from eSkill
eSkill is an industry leader in the online skills testing market. We have a library of hundreds of pre-employment tests and also offer behavioral assessments. These solutions can help you improve your hiring practices, improve productivity, and reduce turnover.
Our pre-employment testing solutions are administered entirely online. Simply create an account for your organization and select the exams that you want to deploy. When evaluating candidates, request a test ID for each individual. You can link specific assessments to that test ID and provide it to the applicant.
Your candidates will be able to take the exams on our user-friendly platform. Once they have completed the exam, your team will be able to access their scores nearly immediately so that they can make data-driven hiring decisions.
Contact us today to book your free demo or to speak with one of our assessment experts.
