Recruitment is a fast growing and innovative space where employers and HR professionals are constantly looking for better ways to identify and recruit top talent. Achieving the best result is sometimes thought to be expensive – and depending on your company’s decision it can be. But it doesn’t have to.
Cost pressure put on large and SME size companies has forced many business leaders to rethink the hiring process. One potential solution that has gained traction is the use of digital assessments, including psychometric tests. While there are a variety of assessment options available, Game-based Assessments offer a unique and highly effective approach to candidate evaluation.
In this article, we will delve into the reasons why you need to use the modern approach to recruitment – digital game-based assessments. From their ability to accurately measure candidate skills and abilities to their engaging and enjoyable format, game-based assessments offer a compelling alternative to traditional assessment methods. We believe game assessments represent an essential tool for companies seeking to make informed hiring decisions and build high-performing teams.
Game-based assessments have gained significant popularity as a much more engaging and interactive way for candidates to showcase their skills and competencies. With many companies adopting them as a part of their recruitment strategy, game-based assessments are now just as popular as the traditional resume and interview process.
But how do online game-based assessments work, and when should they be used during the hiring process? In this article, we’ll explore the ins and outs of game-based assessments, including the difference between game-based and gamification assessments in recruitment, their benefits and limitations, and how they can be effectively integrated into the hiring process. We’ll also provide real-world examples of how companies have successfully utilized game-based assessments to identify and hire top talent.
So whether you’re a talent acquisition expert, hiring manager, or HR professional, read on to learn how game-based assessments can help you find your next star employee.
In recent years, game-based and Game-based Assessments have emerged as a new and innovative way for organizations to evaluate candidates in the hiring process. While these two terms – game-based and Game-based Assessments – are often used interchangeably, they actually refer to two distinct types of assessments that have different purposes and design principles.
Definitions:
Game Based Assessments are assessments that use game mechanics and elements to measure a candidate’s knowledge, skills, and abilities.
Game-based Assessments are traditional assessments that have been modified with game elements to make them more engaging and motivating for candidates
How do Game-based Assessments work? Game-based Assessments are not necessarily based on games themselves, but they incorporate game design principles to enhance the assessment experience. For example, a Game-based Assessment might award points for completing certain tasks, or display a leaderboard that shows how the candidate compares to other applicants.
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In summary, game-based and Game-based Assessments are innovative and effective methods for evaluating candidates in the hiring process. In the following sections, we will explore these assessments in more detail, including the science behind them, what skills are assessed, and how organizations can use them to improve their recruitment processes.
Game based assessments can be used throughout the recruitment process, but are most commonly used at the early to mid-stage in the recruitment process and can be used to assess candidates at all levels. Employers will invite applicants to take an online game-based assessment interchangeably with a numerical, logical, or verbal reasoning test. This is a good way to assess candidates, before moving on to assessment exercises or in-person interviews.
Game assessments are usually distributed online. A candidate receives a link to a testing platform and has a dedicated period of time (usually several days) to complete the assessment, the recruiter reviews the results and selects candidates to move to the next round.
Below is an example of when game-based pre-employment assessments for candidates can be effectively implemented at different stages of the hiring process:
| Stage of Hiring Process | Use of Game-Based Assessments | Benefits |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-screening | To filter out unqualified candidates | – Saves time and resources by quickly identifying candidates who don’t meet the minimum qualifications – Provides a more engaging and positive candidate experience – Can help reduce unconscious bias in the screening process |
| Initial evaluation | To assess skills and competencies | – Provides a more accurate and objective evaluation of candidates – Can be used to measure a wide range of competencies and skills |
| In-person assessment | To complement other assessment methods and provide a positive candidate experience | – Helps to create a more engaging and interactive interview process – Provides a more comprehensive and multi-dimensional view of the candidate’s abilities and potential – Can help reduce interview bias and subjectivity |
| Final evaluation | To compare top candidates and make a data-driven hiring decision | – Provides a standardized and objective way to evaluate and compare top candidates – Helps to identify the best candidate for the role based on data and evidence – Can help reduce decision bias and subjectivity |
The use of game-based assessments at different stages of the recruitment process can help organizations make more informed hiring decisions and improve the candidate experience.
Let’s now move on to the science behind game-based assessments.
First and foremost, game-based assessments are rooted in the principles of psychometrics, the field of study concerned with measuring psychological variables such as personality, intelligence, and aptitude. Psychometric assessments have been used in hiring for many years, with the aim of providing objective and reliable measures of job-related competencies and personality traits.
Game-based assessments take this a step further, by presenting candidates with challenges and tasks that are similar to those they would encounter in the workplace, game-based assessments can provide a more accurate and reliable measure of their job-related skills and abilities.
But how do game-based assessments actually measure these skills and abilities?
A key aspect is the use of data analytics and machine learning algorithms to track and analyze the behavior of candidates as they navigate through the game. By collecting and analyzing data on factors such as response times, decision-making processes, and problem-solving strategies, game-based assessments can provide insights into a candidate’s cognitive and behavioral traits.
It was found that game-based assessments are a growing trend in talent acquisition and HR, and that they provide valuable insights into the potential of future hires.
We will now take a look at how game assessments differ to traditional psychometric assessments, such as aptitude tests.
Traditional aptitude tests and game-based assessments differ in their approach to measuring candidate abilities. Traditional aptitude tests are typically standardized and consist of questions that assess cognitive abilities such as numerical reasoning, verbal reasoning, and logical reasoning. These tests are often timed and can be administered in a controlled environment, such as a testing center, during an assessment center or online. In contrast, game-based assessments use interactive games or simulations to assess cognitive and non-cognitive skills in a more engaging and immersive way.
While game-based assessments can be used to replace traditional aptitude tests, they are better suited as an augmentation to more traditional assessments. This is because game-based assessments provide a unique and interactive way to measure skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking, and decision-making. However, traditional aptitude tests remain an essential tool for measuring specific cognitive abilities such as numerical reasoning or verbal comprehension.
It’s important to note that both traditional aptitude tests and game-based assessments have their strengths and limitations. Traditional aptitude tests have a long history of research and validation, and are widely accepted as an objective way to assess cognitive abilities. On the other hand, game-based assessments provide a more engaging and interactive way to measure skills and can be used to assess a wider range of competencies. Ultimately, the choice between using traditional aptitude tests or game-based assessments will depend on the specific needs of the organization and the skills that need to be assessed. A balanced approach that uses a combination of both types of assessments can be most effective in identifying the right candidates for the job.
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Game-based assessments utilize game scenarios to test candidates’ abilities, such as problem-solving, decision-making, and critical thinking. In this section, we will explore the 5 various skills that can be assessed in candidates through online game-based assessments and their importance in the hiring process.
Game-based hiring assessments can evaluate cognitive abilities, soft skills, job-specific skills, and emotional intelligence, which are all crucial for success in most job roles. By utilizing game-based assessments in the hiring process, hiring managers and HR professionals can make informed hiring decisions that lead to improved job performance and lower turnover rates.
Pre-employment game assessments have become an increasingly popular tool in hiring. As technology advances, so too does the range of options that can be used to assess job applicants. In recent years, game-based assessments have emerged as an innovative and effective means of measuring a candidate’s suitability for a given role. In this section, we will explore why employers should use pre-employment game assessments in hiring.
In fact, a 2020 study found that candidates who participated in game-based assessments reported higher levels of enjoyment and engagement compared to those who took traditional assessments.
Did you know? Game based assessments have been proven to alleviate test-taking anxiety. This can help to ensure that all candidates are evaluated fairly and objectively, without being hindered by external factors such as anxiety.
By incorporating game-based assessments into your hiring process, employers can make more informed decisions about which candidates to hire, leading to a more successful and productive workforce.
However, like any assessment methodology, there must be a consideration of the drawbacks in using them to make an informed decision for your hiring process.
Solution – Combine with other types of assessments, such as traditional cognitive ability tests or personality assessments. This can provide a more comprehensive evaluation of a candidate’s abilities.
Solution – Game based assessments have been scientifically validated as a selection tool.
Solution – Whilst looking for solutions on the market, consider checking what measures the test providers offer to prevent cheating.
Solution – Partner with third-party vendors or providers, like Assess Candidates, who specialize in game-based assessments. We can offer cost-effective solutions that are tailored to the needs of the employer, including pre-existing games. Additionally, employers can consider using game-based assessments as a supplemental tool rather than a replacement for traditional assessment methods, which can help reduce the overall cost of the recruitment process.
Are game-based assessments suitable for all roles or organizations? The answer is – not necessarily. For example, roles that require specific technical skills or knowledge may be better evaluated through traditional assessment methods.
When deciding whether to use game-based assessments, it’s imperative/critical to consider the specific needs of the role and the organization.
For example, game-based assessments may be particularly effective for evaluating candidates for roles that require strong cognitive skills, such as data analysts or software developers. They can also be effective for evaluating candidates for leadership or management positions, as they can provide insight into a candidate’s decision-making and problem-solving abilities.
- Game-based assessments in high volume recruitment are typically used by organizations who launch specific graduate programs and need to select several candidates in a relatively short period of time to commence the programme. For instance:
- PwC
- Shell
- NHS
- Accenture and many more.
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Game-based assessments are frequently used during the recruitment process for various industries including technology, consultancy, and finance:
Below is an outline of some roles in which game-based assessments may be used and how it applies to the given role:
| Consultancy Role | Role Description | What skills apply to this role? |
|---|---|---|
| Trainee Consultant | A consultant trainee works to establish a knowledge base and expertise in the underlying industry and develop a client portfolio. They will conduct research, fielding calls and answering inquiries, and organize clients’ databases and consultants’ schedules | – Numerical skills – Judgment – Memory – Response Time |
| Management Consultant | Management consultants help organizations to solve issues, create value, maximize growth and improve business performance. They do so by providing objective advice and to help an organization develop any specialist skills they may be lacking. | – Risk taking – Response Time – Memory – Resilience |
| Recruitment Consultant | The main duties of a recruitment consultant include negotiating contracts, interviewing prospective applicants, and matching them with vacancies at client companies, screening candidates and drawing up shortlists of candidates for clients to interview. | – Emotional recognition – Response time – Memory |
| Information Technology Role | Role Description | What skills apply to this role? |
|---|---|---|
| Technical support | Technical support team members monitor and maintain the technology of the workplace. They respond to requests to help the users in the business. Technical support provides you with the opportunity to work in different types of companies and the chance to explore different industries. | – Cognitive ability – Numerical ability – Memory – Multi-tasking |
| Business analyst | Working as a business analyst is about looking for ways to improve the processes and business operations using technology. You will be required to analyze business needs, gather requirements, and create a project plan to design technological solutions. | – Emotional recognition – Response time – Multi-tasking – Risk Taking – Judgment |
| Software engineer | As a software engineer you will be required to design and program system software. This requires the understanding of software and hardware functions. The role provides a lot of interaction with other areas of the business to assess and provide solutions. | – Cognitive ability – Risk taking – Multi-tasking – Judgment |
| Finance Role | Role Description | What skills apply to this role? |
|---|---|---|
| Finance/accounting Graduate Scheme | Entry Level Financial Analysts are responsible for consolidating and analyzing budgets and income statement forecasts. They perform analysis of actual results at corporate and division levels. | – Numerical ability – Response time – Organizing |
| Mortgage Advisor | Responsibilities as a mortgage advisor include meeting clients in person, or over the phone, assessing which type of mortgage is most suitable for each client, keeping up to date with new mortgage products and changes in mortgage regulation. | – Numerical ability – Emotional recognition – Judgment – Resilience |
| Bank Cashier/Clerk | A Bank Cashier, or Bank Teller provides face-to-face services in banks and handles customers’ concerns and complaints. Their duties include greeting customers, opening, and closing accounts and handling deposits and withdrawals. | – Numerical ability – Emotional recognition – Resilience – Response time |
Often online game-based assessments are used in conjunction with other psychometric tests so the decision to qualify a candidate to the next round may be based on combined results as well as on the type of role. If you would like to get a better understanding of how to use game-based assessments and other reasoning tests, please contact us for free advice.
We will now cover game assessments commonly used by employers in recruitment.
Game-based assessments can differ from simple games that examine cognitive skills within an interactive format, to an immersive job simulation experience that can analyze a candidate’s personality traits.
Below is a table that outlines the different online game-based assessments from Assess Candidates, the skills that are measured and the industries they could be used in:
| Assess Candidates Game-Based Tests | Skills Measured | Industries the game assessments would be useful in |
| Cognition-A™ | Cognitive Attention | Consulting, Pharma |
| Cognition-M™ | Cognitive Memory | FMCG, Consulting, Technology |
| BART | Preferences & Risk-Taking | Banking, Consulting, Finance |
| i-EQ™ | Emotion Recognition | Banking, Consulting, Finance |
| MathBubbles™ | Mental Arithmetic | Banking, Consulting, FMCG, Technology |
| Flanker Task | Selective Attention | Banking, Consulting, Technology |
| PassCode™ | Attention and Resilience | Banking, Finance, Technology |
| MTA-Tray™ | Organizing, Attention and Multitasking | Accounting, Banking, Consulting |
Here is some more detail behind each of these pre-employment game-based assessments.
Based on ‘The Stroop Effect’ (Stroop, 1935), candidates will see a rectangle box and will have to match the coloured object in the center with one side of the rectangle, for example; the red coloured object would go to the edge that is labeled ‘red’, no matter the color of the background. If a candidate makes a mistake the session will finish.
This game-based hiring assessment will take 2-4 minutes to complete.
Candidates will be presented with a sequentially increasing number of squares with an orange design. The squares with the design will appear for a few seconds and then disappear, the candidates must identify which position they were in. The difficulty level increases after every correct answer. If the applicant makes a ms=istake the session will finish.
This game-based hiring assessment will take 2-4 minutes to complete.
Based on work from Lejuez et al. (2002), candidates will be presented with inflatable balloons. To inflate the balloon the candidate will press the ‘inflate me’ button, each time the balloon is pumped the more points they earn, they can then click ‘collect me’ to keep the total points earned for that balloon. However, there is a risk that the balloon could burst at any point and they will lose all the money for that specific balloon. There are 15 balloons in total.
This game-based hiring assessment will take 2-4 minutes to complete.
This game focuses on one aspect of emotional intelligence, assessing a candidate’s ability to accurately recognise emotional expressions from different faces and body language. There are 40 faces in total.
This game based hiring assessment will take 3 minutes to complete and consider all 40 faces.
Candidates are presented with bubbles and given a target number the sum within the bubbles should add up to. Applicants must select the bubbles that equal the target number. There are 10 bubbles per round and 9 rounds in total.
This game-based hiring assessment will take 4.5 minutes to complete with each round lasting 30 seconds.
Based on work from Eriksen and Eriksen (1974), candidates will be presented with a fish that points in a particular direction. They must focus on the fish in the center and press the right or left arrow for which way it is facing. There are 80 rounds in total.
This game-based hiring assessment will take 6 minutes to complete.
Candidates are presented with a phone with an empty passcode. They must select the green tick when the purple digit is highlighted. If they click too fast or slow and make a mistake, it will start over. There are 5 rounds.
This game-based hiring assessment will take 2 minutes to complete.
Candidates must sort out the mail for a large post office. There are different types of mail and they need to be sent to the correct centers. The different centers will award different points. There are 3 rounds.
This game-based hiring assessment will take 6 minutes to complete.
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At Assess Candidates, we specialize in game-based assessments that use interactive games to measure specific competencies or skills, providing a more engaging and enjoyable experience for candidates.
Here is an example of our reporting tool available on Assess Candidates, which will be accessible to you as a hiring manager or talent acquisition professional when assessing candidate performance.
Here are the top four reasons to consider using Assess Candidates’ game-based assessments for your hiring process:
A mid-sized accounting firm was facing difficulty in identifying and hiring the right candidates for its entry-level accounting positions. The current recruitment was effective in bringing motivated and culturally great fit candidates, but their accounting knowledge or technical skills were more limited than required. This caused inefficiencies, more training needed, and dissatisfaction of business leaders with HR. The company needed a more effective way to assess candidates’ accounting knowledge, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills.
Assess Candidates recommended using a game-based assessment, along with other traditional assessments, to accurately measure the key competencies needed for success in the roles. The game-based assessment, MathBubbles™, was chosen to evaluate the numerical abilities of the candidates and their ability to perform calculations accurately and efficiently.
As a result of using the game-based assessment MathBubbles™, the accounting firm was able to identify and hire top talent more effectively for its entry-level accounting positions. The game-based assessment not only provided a more accurate and reliable way to assess candidate skills, but it also helped attract high-quality candidates who were motivated by the engaging and innovative nature of the assessment. The use of game-based assessments helped the company meet its talent acquisition needs and maintain its competitive edge in the accounting industry.
If you are a talent acquisition expert, a human resources specialist or a hiring manager you probably have come across tools that help to select and hire the best fit candidates for your business. These can range from tools helping to sift through job applications, psychometric testing, assessment centers and interviews. You may have even heard or used game assessments or video interviews.
Effectively designed candidate selection processes should form a funnel that helps you identify and choose the best candidates at every stage. In the times of LinkedIn and the ability to apply to a 100+ jobs with one click, recruiters need to have a portfolio of tools that helps them select the best candidates, fast and without spending thousands of dollars, pounds, or euros.
And this is what that article is about. To give you the best overview of one of the critical assessment tools in a recruitment funnel: pre-employment numerical reasoning test use in candidate selection.
Many organizations continue using job interviews as a primary selection tool. And yes, interviews are still a must however they may bring most of the value at the end of the hiring process.
Let’s find out what other tools should complement your recruitment funnel.
The article below will provide you with a very concise story of why and how to use numerical tests in your hiring process and funnel to identify and hire the best-fit employees for your business.
Keep reading to find out more.
Numerical reasoning pre-employment tests assess a candidate’s ability to handle and interpret numerical data.
Numerical reasoning pre-employment tests are:
For recruiters and hiring managers numerical reasoning tests form a fundamental part of the selection process supporting finding those applicants that have the aptitude to fill the requirements of the role.
To keep it short, most roles in a company will benefit from using numerical tests as a sifting tool since it is a broad proxy for IQ measure, however for some roles especially those that deal with numbers, analysis, data interpretations it simply is a must.
Keep reading to find out more.
In numerical reasoning tests, candidates will be presented with numerical information and be asked to reason with this in various ways. As such, fundamental candidate ability is the focus of numerical reasoning rather than demanding the highest level of mathematical knowledge. With a demanding time-limit alone, candidates are challenged to balance their speed and accuracy in working to complete the test.
Imagine If you plan to hire a new employee, and you’ve received 1000 applications and maybe half are good enough to explore further after you’ve done the screening step. This is where numerical tests come to help.
A numerical reasoning test will be one of the first steps in the recruitment process, typically following the sifting of job applications and the screening process.
Known for their ability to accurately predict candidate future performance, numerical tests have withstood the test of time (used for 100+ years) and remain a staple tool for dozens of thousands of employers globally when assessing for all levels of candidate, from entry level to senior positions.
Numerical reasoning tests are most likely to be used at an early stage in the recruitment process. By inviting everyone to take a numerical reasoning test, employers can discount those who don’t meet a certain standard. This is an easy way to assess candidates in the first stage before moving on to next recruitment stages like other aptitude tests, assessment centers or the interview process.
Let us see now how this process could work.
The assessment process usually first starts with filling in the application and the CV upload by a candidate. Likely, the second stage is the numerical reasoning test or another type of aptitude test. Following initial application screening applicants and then employers can move on to further testing, game assessments, assessment center or video/in-person interviews.
A recruiter or a human resources specialist may invite pre-screened candidates to online numerical tests. The candidates have a dedicated period of time (usually several days) to complete the tests. The recruiter then reviews the results via an online report and selects the candidates to move to another round of the assessments.
There are a handful of companies on the market providing numerical tests solutions. Rarely you will need a bespoke solution. Off-the-shelf numerical tests will do the job. Make sure they can prove that their tests have been created and validated by professional organization psychologists and psychometricians. Otherwise these tests will not deliver on selecting the right candidates.
Assess Candidates is one of the major pre-employment aptitude tests providers proven to deliver best candidates for small, medium and large organizations. Our tests follow an end-to-end rigorous industry practice in test creation and validation. If you would like to get a better understanding of how to use numerical (and other) reasoning assessments, please contact us for free advice.
Importantly, numerical tests are often used in conjunction with other psychometric tests so the decision to qualify a candidate to the next round may be based on combined results as well as on the type of role.
Please reach out to us to help you evaluate the best selection of pre-employment psychometric tests for specific roles (info@assesscandidates.com or pop up to us on our chat bot).
Numerical reasoning tests are designed to examine a candidate’s ability in a number of ways. These typically include:
Various numerical questions are used by many different employers. However, the above areas are the most common.
In a data-driven environment, it is essential that the employees have strong numerical reasoning skills, without which any hiring decision would be difficult to make with confidence.
Further in the text you will find specific roles that the use of pre-employment numerical tests in the job interview process is highly recommended.
An example of pre-employment numerical reasoning questions:
Assess Candidates Numerical Reasoning Test Question Example
You may be wondering now what the benefits of using numerical reasoning tests in a recruitment process are. Let’s find out.
5 reasons (pros) to use numerical reasoning assessments in recruitment:
4 reasons to consider when using numerical reasoning tests:
With more of an understanding on the benefits of numerical reasoning tests in hiring and potential drawbacks, we will now go on to discuss when employers should use numerical reasoning tests to recruit.
Numerical reasoning assessments are one of the most common types of aptitude tests used by employers in their selection process.
Numerical reasoning tests are suitable for graduate level recruitment right through to experienced and senior hires. The questions may be adopted accordingly.
The role that numerical reasoning tests play however may differ. For example, certain roles have larger applications than others.
There are 2 forms of recruitment and these can affect how numerical reasoning tests are used:
Use of numerical reasoning tests in HIGH volume recruitment (large number of applications):
For graduate entry roles, it is common to receive a large volume of applications. It is important for recruiters to sift through these applicants in a legally defensible way but with an efficient measure.
Using a psychometrically robust numerical reasoning test allows you to reduce the candidate pool by 50% when partnered with another psychometric test or 30% if the numerical reasoning test is used alone as an assessment tool.
Use of numerical reasoning tests in LOW volume recruitment (low number of applications):
Often when assessing senior hires such as a financial director role, there will be a smaller volume of applicants. With a smaller volume of applicants, the focus shifts away from the need to shift but more to identify skills.
Numerical reasoning tests still allow employers to gain insights into fundamental ability in a cost-effective way, prior to advancing them to more expensive measures of their performance such as interviews or assessment exercises.
We have just discussed when the numerical reasoning test is used to recruit, we will now follow on with which roles the numerical reasoning test can be used.
Numerical reasoning tests help businesses ensure candidates have the required skill set to meet role requirements when applying for jobs.
Numerical reasoning tests are one of the most common assessments used by many employers in their selection process. Any job requiring numeracy skills is likely to be used by an employer to sift out applicants. Sectors that often require numerical reasoning tests include:
Broadly speaking the above are industries that have been successfully using numerical pre-employment tests for many, many years to select the best candidates.
However the use of the tests is not industry specific but rather role specific, the most typical roles that benefit from the use of numerical testing at hiring are:
Many employers use the numerical reasoning assessment to test candidates in the early stages of recruitment. For jobs that don’t require high levels of numerical reasoning skills, literacy and numeracy tests are still often used for recruitment to outline candidate’s skills and how they work through challenging tasks.
If you are an employer that is unsure if using the numerical tests is the right choice, get in touch with us and we will do a free of charge assessment of your needs.
The numerical reasoning test has not been used as much in small and medium businesses largely due to the infrastructure need. The infrastructure issue has been addressed in recent years with software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions taking the market.
More and more businesses regardless of size are now turning to numerical reasoning tests because they are more cost-effective than the regular interview process, do not require setting up any infrastructure on the employer’s side and take minutes to set-up an online recruitment campaign.
Modern tests are delivered in a fully automated and cloud-based way.
Many are afraid of the cost of running a numerical test process for recruitment. The existing cost models are very flexible and provide a cost efficient solution to any type of requirement or volume.
It’s been proven multiple times that the cost of a wrong hire or not being able to process a broader talent pool is much higher than the cost of the tests themselves.
The broad availability of cost effective infrastructure and easiness to set up the recruitment campaigns and interpret the results now mean that smaller size businesses can benefit from the use of professional candidate assessment tools that have been limited until recently to employers with deep pockets.
Now we will move on to explain the four reasons why to use Assess Candidates when using the numerical reasoning test for recruitment.
Numerical reasoning tests have been used for a long time by many organisations to assess a candidate’s ability. At Assess Candidates we provide a range of assessments including the numerical reasoning test to suit all organisation’s needs. Contact our experts if you would like to improve your pre-employment assessment process.
Four reasons why to use Assess Candidates:
1. Experienced psychologists developing top industry tests
2. Top in class reports enabling to shortlist your candidates fast using flexible criteria
3. Engaging Candidate Experience
4. Candidate Accessibility Support
This article will provide you with a thorough, easy to read summary about one of the most widely used psychometric tests used in recruitment and candidate selection – pre-employment verbal reasoning test.
Are you a recruiter, maybe a talent acquisition specialist, HR expert or a hiring manager? Most probably you are already using various candidates assessment tools to help you find and hire the best fit candidate, fast. These recruitment tools may range from aptitude tests, video interviews, assessment centers to even assessment games.
If you are looking for answers to questions such as:
Then this text is for you. Continue reading to find the answers and much more.
As a recruiter, a Human resource professional or a line manager you need to have a portfolio of tools that helps you to select the best candidates, fast and without spending thousands of dollars, pounds, or euros. Pre-Recruitment Verbal reasoning tests used in candidate selection are one of the building blocks of the efficient and effective recruitment process.
An effectively designed candidate selection process should form a funnel that helps you identify and choose best candidates at every stage, do it at a reasonable cost and still fit within the timeliness requested by the business.
Designing a properly functioning recruitment funnel helps a lot. The hiring funnel is the series of stages through which a candidate’s consideration for employment progresses.
This article unveils key aspects of the Pre-Recruitment verbal reasoning tests, their fit into that funnel and their use case in hiring. You will learn what verbal tests are, pros and cons of using them, why and when to use them, which roles in your organization would benefit the most from their use, and what to look for in the tests that do their job.
Keep reading to find out more and if you have any questions, just contact us. We, the Assess Candidates, team of organizational psychologists and recruiters are here to help you design a recruitment process that works best for your organization. We offer a full-fledged end-to-end set of assessment tools for recruitment and employee development. If you think the text below helped you, get in touch with us.
Verbal reasoning tests are designed to measure a candidate’s ability of verbal comprehension, reasoning, and logic, all done through the careful understanding of the use of language.
As you may know from reading the different articles on logical and numerical reasoning, pre-employment verbal reasoning tests are a common type of aptitude or psychometric test used in job recruitment. They are mainly used to measure candidates’ ability to understand and analyze written information.
As a recruitment manager or a talent acquisition expert, many jobs you advertise may require verbal comprehension as it is a highly-valued skill. The verbal reasoning test will assess how innate and developed those skills are. Furthermore, helping you with your task to find a fantastic candidate for the desired position.
Verbal reasoning recruitment tests are designed to assess a candidate’s ability to:
Depending on the role candidates are applying for, questions may range from basic reading comprehension to more advanced reasoning.
Verbal reasoning pre-employment tests are:
Verbal reasoning tests do not assess knowledge of a certain topic.
Language competence is a prerequisite of verbal tests. This test focuses on how an individual reasons solely with written information provided (and only this information) to determine its meaning or any implication. Likewise, the verbal reasoning test is not designed to assess a candidate’s ability in a given language.
For recruiters and hiring managers, verbal reasoning tests form a fundamental part of the selection process supporting finding those applicants that have the aptitude to fill the requirements of the role, whether that be in sales, consulting, or law.
Keep reading to find out more.
In verbal reasoning tests, candidates will be presented with verbal information in the format of a passage and are asked to read between the lines to form an answer to the statement.
As such, the test can examine their ability to examine the truthfulness of certain statements provided. With a demanding time-limit alone, candidates are challenged to balance their speed and accuracy in working to complete the test.
Individuals with strong comprehension and critical thinking abilities can correlate with strong performance in the workplace.
Verbal reasonings pre-recruitment tests:
Let us see now how this process could work.
A recruitment process for graduate jobs or professional roles requires verbal and written comprehension skills. The process is alike the others when using psychometric tests:
Tests are usually distributed online. A candidate receives a link to a testing platform and has a dedicated period of time (usually several days) to complete the tests, the recruiter reviews the results via an online report and selects the candidates to move to another round of the assessments.
Before you go through the testing process and distribute them online, you must verify that the verbal reasoning recruitment tests you are using to hire have been developed and validated by professional organization psychologists and psychometricians. Otherwise, your organisation may substandard test results from candidates or may face a legal challenge from the candidates.
Our (Assess Candidates) tests follow an end-to-end rigorous industry practice in test creation and validation. If you would like to get a better understanding of how to use verbal (and other) reasoning assessments, please contact us for free advice. Check our entire candidate assessment suit for recruitment here.
Our Assess Candidates team hold the highest standards in psychometric robustness. To ensure quality in all our services and assessments, we hold to the standards of the British Psychological Society, The Association for Business Psychology, the Science Council. We are also Chartered Scientists, HCPC registered and have a European Certificate in Psychology.
You may be thinking, why are verbal reasoning tests key in a working environment?
Verbal reasoning recruitment tests are particularly popular in a wide range of industries including the ones mentioned in Section 7. The test is important for any job where the role involves information comprehension, interpretation and communication based on data.
A verbal reasoning test will help you accurately predict a candidate’s performance before their first day on the job. You may require applicants to complete the test in order to narrow down the talent pool before assigning interviews.
Verbal reasoning tests can be used to help you identify the training and development needs of business and their teams. The test would be used as a diagnostic tool that helps to provide a more objective way of finding out people’s strengths and weaknesses.
Recruitment can be tough, but finding capable candidates is an important aspect of creating a profitable business. Verbal reasoning tests are an easy and efficient way for hiring professionals to bring top-tier talent to the organisation.
These tests are suitable for graduate level recruitment right through to experienced and senior hires. The questions may be adopted accordingly to reflect increased job complexity.
Broadly speaking, there are 2 main ways to recruit:
Depending on which one is ongoing in your organization this can affect how verbal reasoning tests are used.
Recruiters and employers may use verbal reasoning for high volume recruitment, this could be hundreds or even thousands of candidates per job offer.
For graduate, entry roles it is common to receive a large volume of applications. It is important for recruiters to sift through these applicants in a legally defensible way but with efficient measure.
Using a psychometrically robust verbal reasoning test allows you to reduce the candidate pool by 50% when partnered with another psychometric test or 30% if the verbal reasoning test is used alone as an assessment tool.
Verbal tests in high volume recruitment are typically used by organisations who launch specific graduate programmes and need to select a number of candidates in a relatively short period of time to commence the programme. For instance, they may offer 100 roles and receive 20,000 applications.
Often when recruiters are assessing candidates for more specialist jobs such as in consulting, law, engineering or they operate in a small or medium enterprise they may use the verbal reasoning test to assist them with recruitment.
Low volume of applicants means the focus of the verbal reasoning test moves away from the need to sift but more to identify job specific capabilities.
If you are part of a smaller company or organisation and want employees who are happy and want to stay for a longer tenure in your team you need to be sure that you recognise their individuality from the start of the application process. One potential risk of using psychometric tests in isolation is that you ignore their workstyle preferences and the things that make them energised in the work space.
We, at Assess Candidates, offer end-to-end set of candidate assessment tools that cater for a wide variety of roles you may wish to recruit for: psychometric tests (numerical, verbal, logical), situational, personality, game assessments (to complement traditional tests and increase candidates’ experience), video interviews with questions of your choice, assessment centre exercises. All this is delivered through an easy to manage online platform.
We have just discussed when the verbal reasoning test is used to recruit, we will now follow on with which roles the verbal reasoning test can be used to hire.
If you want your organization to unveil the best performance in your employees, verbal reasoning skills are a must-have in many jobs. Especially in today’s workplace, that continues to become increasingly remote or hybrid. Employees working 2-3 days from home are becoming more common. And working from home where work is done more independently, requires stronger than ever verbal reasoning skills.
Verbal reasoning skills measured in the assessments determine a candidate’s ability to:
Organizations use various verbal tests from a variety of providers, however the above areas are the most common requirements for candidates when sitting a verbal reasoning test.
Further in the text you will find specific roles that the use of pre-employment verbal tests in the job interview process is highly recommended.
You may be wondering the timeframe that candidates would face to answer verbal reasoning recruitment test questions
Total number of questions: The verbal reasoning test typically contains 20-30 questions
Time per question: Candidates would face an average time of 30 seconds per question.
To help you visualize the questions, here are several examples of a pre-employment verbal reasoning test question with worked solutions:
The task: Candidates must look at the passage carefully and identify from the passage whether the statement:
Solution: The passage states that regular downloaders of unlicensed music spend more on legal music than other music fans (£5.52 compared with £1.27). Therefore, the statement is false.
The task: In question 2 there is a different statement however the format stays the same; based on the information in the passage, candidates must answer the statement with true, false or cannot say.
Solution: The passage states that house prices have seen an annual double-digit fall for the first time in eighteen years. Consequently, last year’s fall cannot have been a double-digit fall. Therefore the statement is false.
The task: This is another common type of a verbal reasoning question with the same format.
Solution: The passage gives no information regarding the number of teachers surveyed. Therefore, you cannot say whether the statement is true or false, based upon the information contained in the passage
You may be wondering now what the benefits of using verbal reasoning tests in a recruitment process are. Let’s find out.
Verbal reasoning recruitment tests:
With more of an understanding of how Assess Candidate’s verbal assessments can benefit your business, below is an outline of what employers should consider when using verbal reasoning tests.
With more of an understanding on the benefits of verbal reasoning tests in hiring and potential drawbacks, we will now go on to discuss when employers should use verbal reasoning tests to recruit.
Verbal reasoning tests are frequently used during the selection process for various roles including: law, retail, consultancy, finance and engineering.
Below is an outline of the roles in which the verbal reasoning test may be used and how they apply to the given role.
| Retail Role | Role Description | How do verbal reasoning tests apply to this role? |
|---|---|---|
| Store Manager | A store manager is responsible for overseeing the daily operations of a store, making sure it runs smoothly and effectively. Their duties include motivating sales teams, creating business strategies, developing promotional material, and training new staff. | The VRT measures a store manager’s ability to quickly understand and efficiently convey work-related concepts and information, quickly sieve through extensive amounts of work-related written data to identify critical issues. |
| Visual merchandisers | A Visual Merchandiser is responsible for planning and building displays that maximise impact on a day-to-day basis. They move equipment, arrange lighting and work with suppliers, while maintaining close connections at wider retail levels. | Verbal reasoning tests measure if visual merchandisers have good organizational and decision-making skills when arranging stores. They also measure ability to cope under pressure when working with suppliers. |
| Sales associate | A Sales Associate is responsible for assisting customers throughout the buying process. Their duties include greeting customers when they enter the store, helping customers find specific products or showing them how to use them and ringing up customers. | The VRT helps employers identify a good sales associate by testing their verbal and written ability to communicate and assist customers which includes effectively greeting and assisting them with products. |
| Law Role | Role Description | How do verbal reasoning tests apply to this role? |
|---|---|---|
| Paralegal | Paralegal responsibilities consist of: Taking statements from witnesses; interviewing clients and passing on relevant information; researching cases and any pertinent legal information needed; presenting applications to Judges and helping Lawyers prepare for court cases; including opening and closing arguments. | Being able to accurately comprehend written information is an important skill for most graduate roles including a paralegal. Paralegals must be able to understand and siefer through witness statements and legal information therefore they need good written and verbal skills to read through several cases. |
| Solicitor | A Solicitor provides legal advice and conducts legal proceedings. Their duties include preparing legal documentation, representing and defending a client’s legal interests and attending meetings and negotiations. | Solicitors typically need to balance commercial awareness and business acumen with good people skills and strong verbal and oral communication- the verbal reasoning test is good to identify this. As well as, discussing cases with clients on a middle ground to understand their point of view. |
| Arbitrator | An arbitrator plays the role of a neutral person, who makes decisions on a dispute based on evidence presented by the parties. The decision the arbitrator makes is not always legally binding, but if it is, individuals and/or businesses are not able to go to court later if they do not agree with the outcome. | The VRT will show how well an applicant applying to be an arbitrator can make important decisions quickly and effectively. As an arbitrator they must have the ability to not make inferences on past experiences which is a very relevant skill identified in the verbal reasoning test. |
| Finance Role | Role Description | How do verbal reasoning tests apply to this role? |
|---|---|---|
| Audit Trainee | An Audit Trainee, provides an unbiased analysis of the client’s financial records and tests these records in accordance with accounting standards. | VRT is used to understand how well a candidate can cope in a business type scenario similar to the role they will be working in. For example, if they were sent an email or given a business report – how well and efficiently could they understand and pull the key information from it? |
| Financial manager | As Finance Manager, responsibilities will include overseeing end-to-end finance operations, financial planning and analysis, balance sheet reconciliations and looking to make improvements to procedures and control. | A finance manager will be expected to demonstrate a high capacity toquickly and effectively identify critical business-related issues and logically draw conclusions from written work-related material – this is where the verbal reasoning test comes in. Finance managers must also write in a clear way and effectively deal with procedures, the VRT will identify their written skills. |
| Financial risk analyst | A financial risk analyst’s role is to formalise the process of risk management in an organisation. This involves business decision-making and enabling the process of risk taking. | The test helps identify a candidate’s organization skills – how well can the candidate recognise the best practices associated with analysis? It is important for you to recognize the best candidate for this role using the VRT test to assess communication and verbal skills as a financial risk analyst must identify and deal with complex information. |
| Consultancy Role | Role Description | How do verbal reasoning tests apply to this role? |
|---|---|---|
| Trainee Consultant | A consultant trainee works to establish a knowledge-base and expertise in the underlying industry and develop a client portfolio. They will research, field calls and questions and organize clients’ databases and consultants’ schedules. | They are used in consultancy as it is important for consultants in training to be able to interpret and understand written information, for example they may have to liaise with clients, as well as discussing and developing a portfolio. Their verbal abilities are essential when calling new clients and building a relationship. |
| Managing Consultant | Management consultants help organisations to solve issues, create value, maximise growth and improve business performance. They do so by using their business expertise and skills to provide objective advice and to help an organisation develop any specialist skills they may be lacking. | The VRT measures a managing consultant’s ability to quickly understand and efficiently deal with work-related issues. They have to demonstrate their ability to sift through information and communicate their findings with other members of the team. All client relationships are different so managing consultants have to show the ability to adapt. This also helps the employer to learn how efficient and suitable they are for the managerial role. |
| Recruitment Consultant | The main duties of a recruitment consultant include: negotiating contracts, interviewing prospective applicants and matching them with vacancies at client companies, screening candidates and drawing up shortlists of candidates for clients to interview. | The VRT measures a recruitment consultants ability to handle and negotiate with clients when interviewing and scheduling interviews. Recruitment consultants must show their ability to adapt with new employers and discuss many different issues and areas of concern relating to interviews they have conducted. They must also have good verbal skills to listen to interviewees and write notes. |
| Engineering Role | Role Description | How do verbal reasoning tests apply to this role? |
|---|---|---|
| Civil engineer | Civil engineers create, improve and protect the environment. They plan, design and oversee construction and maintenance of building structures and infrastructure, such as roads, railways, airports and bridges. | The verbal reasoning test is essential for employers when hiring a civil engineer as they have to clearly understand problems and issues relating to infrastructure and construction ideas. Civil engineers often work in small teams, they have to be able to communicate effectively with colleagues. Written skills are needed for when they have to read engineering reports and fill in safety forms. |
| Broadcast engineer | A broadcast engineer works with hardware and broadcast systems that are used across television and radio. They make sure programmes are broadcasted on time and to the highest quality. As well as operating and maintaining the systems. | The verbal reasoning test will measure a broadcast engineer’s ability to time manage when scheduling programmes. Also, the ability to organize and show written and verbal communication when addressing broadcasting problems or relevant issues within the system. |
| Biomedical engineer | Biomedical engineers design electrical circuits, software to run medical equipment, or computer simulations to test new drug therapies.In addition, they design and build artificial body parts, such as hip and knee joints. | Biomedical engineers need a good level of verbal and written communication to work with software and computer simulations. Verbal reasoning will test their ability to organize and effectively get tasks done within the time limit when writing reports and communicating with colleagues. |
Verbal reasoning tests are here to help your business and to help ensure candidates have the required skill set to meet role requirements when applying for jobs.
Verbal reasoning tests are one of the most common assessments used by many employers in their selection process. Any job that requires language and comprehension skills will benefit from using the verbal reasoning test to assess candidates.
Sectors that often require verbal reasoning tests include:
Broadly speaking the above are industries that have been successfully using verbal pre-employment tests for many, many years to select the best candidates.
Many employers use the verbal reasoning assessment to test candidates in the early stages of recruitment. For jobs that don’t require high levels of literacy skills, numerical, verbal and logical tests are still often used for recruitment to outline candidate’s skills and how they work through challenging tasks.
If you are an employer that is unsure if using the verbal tests is the right choice, get in touch with us and we will do a free of charge assessment of your needs.
You may want to consider whether candidates find it difficult to complete the verbal reasoning test.
The verbal reasoning test’s level of difficulty is determined by 4 factors:
At Access Candidates we offer a wide range of practice verbal reasoning tests for candidates, which are designed to match the level of difficulty that they are likely to receive. Upon completing the test, applicants will receive a detailed report including scores and identifying correct and incorrect answers. This detailed explanation provides applicants with an opportunity to not make similar mistakes in the real verbal reasoning test so you can get a full picture of their competencies.
The verbal reasoning test, amongst many other things, tests a candidate’s critical thinking.
Looking at a situation and clearly understanding it from multiple perspectives whilst separating facts from opinion and assumptions is a key skill in today’s increasingly busy world.
Critical thinking is a key skill for any organization, and it could be the difference between good leaders and excellent leaders.
The verbal reasoning test identifies whether a candidate has the skill to think critically, this is important because critical thinking is:
The answer is relatively simple – we provide end-to-end candidate assessment solutions to help you find the best candidates for your organization. Fast and efficient ensuring excellent candidate experience.
Our verbal reasoning tests have been used for a long time by many organisations to assess a candidate’s ability.
Continue reading to find the details or contact us directly.
Above is an example of our reporting tool on Assess Candidates, that you as a hiring manager or talent acquisition expert will see when reviewing candidate performance.
1. Experienced psychologists developing top industry tests
2. Top in class reports enabling to shortlist your candidates fast using flexible criteria
3. Engaging Candidate Experience
4. Candidate Accessibility Support
Are you a talent acquisition specialist, recruiter, HR expert or a hiring manager? You are most likely using various assessment tools to help you find and hire the best-fit candidate, fast. These tools may include aptitude tests, video interviews, assessment centres or even assessment games.
You may ask yourself the following questions:
and much more.
This article will provide you with comprehensive, easy to read and understandable knowledge about one of the most widely used psychometric tests used in recruitment and candidate selection – the pre-employment logical reasoning test.
Let’s start with the funnel. If you have worked in recruitment, you perfectly understand that an effectively designed candidate selection process should form a funnel that helps you identify and choose the best candidates at every stage, do it at a reasonable cost and still fit within the timelines requested by the business.
Not an easy task in the times of LinkedIn and ability to apply to 100+ jobs with one click. Recruiters need to have a portfolio of tools that helps them select the best candidates, fast and without spending thousands of dollars, pounds, or euros.
Designing a properly functioning recruitment funnel helps a lot.
The hiring funnel is the series of stages through which a candidate’s consideration for employment progresses. You may have already guessed why it is called the ‘funnel’ – this is because of the shape and analogy. Many candidates enter the funnel, but few proceed through all the stages and are hired. The logical tests used in recruitment sit at the very top of the funnel.
This article unveils key aspects of the logical reasoning tests and their use case in hiring. You will learn what logical tests are, pros and cons of using them, which roles would benefit the most from their use, when they should be used and what to consider when selecting a test provider.
Keep reading to find out more and if you have any questions, just contact us. Assess Candidates are a team of organisational psychologists and recruiters and we are here to help you.
Pre-employment Logical Reasoning Tests assess a person’s logical ability when using the information provided in the form of sequences and diagrams containing various shapes, number sequences. The task for candidates is simple: find the next diagram, number, shape that comes in the sequence.
As a recruiter, many jobs you advertise require problem-solving as it is a highly valued skill. The logical reasoning tests examine how innate those skills are. As a result, the logical reasoning test is a common part of the recruitment process and sits at the very beginning of it.
Logic allows us to analyse the world around us, draw conclusions, accumulate the necessary data and problem solve through workplace situations. This is why you want to identify the candidates having this skill and ability early in the process. To retain the best, to save time, to save money.
As a matter of fact, logical reasoning recruitment tests are:
For recruiters and hiring managers, logical reasoning tests form a fundamental part of the selection process supporting in finding those applicants that have the ability to fill the requirements of the role.
Keep reading to find out more how you and your organization can benefit from using logical recruitment tests.
In logical reasoning tests, candidates are presented with a logical sequence and asked to reason with this in various ways. As such, logical reasoning allows a candidate to demonstrate their logical aptitude. With a demanding time-limit alone, candidates are challenged to balance their speed and accuracy in working to complete the test.
Known for their ability to accurately predict candidate future performance, logical tests have withstood the test of time (used for several decades), having once been taken using a paper and pen. Yet, despite the move to online, logical tests remain a staple tool for dozens of thousands of employers globally and when assessing for all levels of candidate from entry level to senior positions.
A logical reasoning test will be one of the first steps in your recruitment process, typically following the sifting of job applications and the screening process.
By inviting every candidate to take a logical reasoning test, you can discount those who don’t meet a certain standard. You simply set a threshold and allow only candidates who scored above a certain percentile (typically the 30th percentile) to move to the next stage. This is an easy way to assess candidates in the first recruitment stage before moving on to next stages like other aptitude tests, assessment centres or the interview process.
Let us now see how this process could work in your organization.
The assessment process or sometimes more well known as the recruitment funnel, is usually set out in various stages:
When a recruiter or a human resources specialist invites pre-screened candidates to online logical tests, the candidates have a dedicated period (usually several days) to complete the tests at home. The recruiter then reviews the results via an online report and selects the candidates to move to another round of the assessments.
There are a handful of companies on the market providing logical test solutions. Rarely you will need a bespoke solution. Off-the-shelf logical tests will do the job. Make sure they can prove that their tests have been created and validated by professional organisational psychologists and psychometricians. Otherwise, these tests will not deliver on selecting the right candidates.
Important. Often logical tests are used in conjunction with other psychometric tests so the decision to qualify a candidate to the next round may be based on combined results as well as on the type of role. If you would like to get a better understanding of how to use logical (and other) reasoning assessments, please contact us for free advice.
The logical reasoning test is one of the top predictors of a candidate’s ability to understand cause and effect relationships. As you may know, this will be a very helpful addition to your workplace.
In a data-driven environment, it is essential that employees have strong logical reasoning skills.
Logical reasoning questions will test candidates in a variety of ways, applicants may be asked to:
The logical reasoning test will demonstrate an individual’s ability to keep calm under pressure and solve non-verbal and logical problems.
Aptitude test publishers provide a variety of different pre-employment logical test types, like diagrammatic and abstract reasoning for organisations that use them in their hiring process. The areas listed above are the most common to be covered.
Logical reasoning, in combination with other cognitive skills, is an important quality to develop when dealing with most, if not all, workplace situations. It helps candidates to be aware of making important decisions in the workplace, discern the truth, solve problems, come up with new ideas and set achievable goals.
Further in the text you will find specific roles where the use of logical recruitment tests in the job interview process is highly recommended.
To help you visualise the questions, here are examples of a pre-employment logical reasoning test question with worked solutions:
Example 1
This question has been designed to assess a candidate’s logical reasoning ability using the information provided in a sequence of five diagrams containing various shapes.
When a candidate is approaching a logical reasoning question like the one above, they will have to think methodically. This question is a typical example of the logical reasoning assessment.
The task:
Average time per question: 60 seconds
The logical test typically contains 14-25 questions
Focusing on the top table of sequences, applicants must think logically about what comes next.
Logical test example 1 worked solution:
Answer: The correct option must be vertical meaning the answer is C
Example 2
This logical reasoning question is another example of a common question candidates will face. This is similar to the first question because it is testing the shapes moving around the boxes.
Logical test example 2 worked solution:
Answer: Option B is the correct answer
Example 3
Question 3 is a bit different to the two above. It uses arrows and dots in a different format. The same applies, candidates must work out the answer relating to the rotation and colour of the dots and arrows.
Logical test example 3 worked solution:
Answer: B is the correct answer.
There are many different types of logical reasoning tests however it is important to note that these terms are sometimes used interchangeably, depending on who the assessment tests publisher is.
Understanding these tests will help you decide which is the best test for your organisation and navigate the sometimes very new world of psychometrics terminology.
Types of pre-employment logical reasoning tests:
You may be wondering now what the benefits of using logical reasoning tests in a recruitment process are. Let’s find out.
8 REASONS (PROS) TO USE LOGICAL REASONING ASSESSMENTS IN RECRUITMENT
5 POINTS (CONS) TO CONSIDER WHEN USING LOGICAL REASONING TESTS:
With more of an understanding on the benefits of logical reasoning tests in hiring and potential drawbacks, we will now go on to discuss when employers should use logical reasoning tests to recruit.
Logical reasoning tests can be used at your organisation to help make better hiring decisions and more accurately assess candidates’ capacity to perform the job. The ability to solve problems well is a worldwide skill. Thus, these tests can be used to help select candidates for multiple roles.
Logical tests are also broadly used in internal development programs to assess employees who are already in the job either for further development or promotion.
When logical reasoning tests are used in recruitment, you can expect the test to outline one aspect of the candidate’s core abilities, following the candidate’s success in the first stage of the application, which is typically online. By combining logical reasoning with a breadth of assessments assessing their personality, competence, and skills, this means that all qualities are measured with an equal weighting.
Logical tests help senior managers try to understand where there could be potential for candidates to succeed in roles and climb the corporate ladder. Other recruitment managers use the data insights gathered to help guide applicants through their role within the business.
Logical reasoning tests are frequently used during the application process for:
The multiple-choice logical reasoning questions are based on a given job function that might require logical reasoning. This gives an employer a realistic insight into how an applicant might perform in the role they are applying for.
These tests are suitable for graduate level recruitment right through to experienced and senior hires. The questions may be adopted accordingly to reflect increased job complexity.
The role that logical reasoning tests play however may differ. For example, certain roles have larger applications than others.
There are 2 forms of recruitment, and these can affect how logical reasoning tests are used:
a. Use of logical reasoning tests in HIGH volume recruitment (large number of applications):
Employers use logical reasoning tests in high volumes (dozens of thousands of tests per year per employer) for recruitment purposes. Logical reasoning tests have been designed to predict job performance and research has shown that those candidates who do well in these tests tend to perform better in the job. This predictive validity is why logical reasoning tests so commonly form a fundamental part of the application process globally.
For graduate and entry roles it is common to receive a large volume of applications. It is important for recruiters to sift through these applicants in a legally defensible way but with an efficient measure.
Using a psychometrically robust logical reasoning test allows you to reduce the candidate pool by 50% when partnered with another psychometric test such as numerical reasoning, or 30% if the logical reasoning test is used alone as an assessment tool.
Logical tests in high volume recruitment are typically used by organisations who launch specific graduate programs and need to select a number of candidates in a relatively short period of time to commence the programme. For instance, they offer 100 roles and receive 20,000 applications.
In volume recruitments it is important that the test provider ensures they can cope with a large volume of tests being completed in a short period of time.
b. Use of logical reasoning tests in rolling recruitment (low number of applications):
Employers may wish to review applicants as they arrive on a rolling basis. This could be for roles such as graduates, entry roles or more experienced managerial roles. Logical reasoning tests are a good method to sift candidates at this stage. When desiring to continuously grow and develop a team, it is important that employers have the right tools in place. This makes for a more smooth and effective process for candidates and employers.
Companies can carry out recruitment as a continuous process all throughout the year and have different deadlines for different roles. They simply fill vacancies as they become available. Appropriate candidates can be processed through this cycle, and employers can have increased confidence when taking people onto first-line interviewing stages, for example.
Some examples of companies that use rolling recruitment include Accenture, Deloitte, Dyson, IBM, KPMG, Aldi, Arcadia Group, Boots, Citi, Google, and McDonald’s, among others.
In rolling recruitments it is important that the test provider ensures a capability to run a process on a continuous basis, providing ongoing reporting, support to recruiters, proper communication and low admin effort on the recruiter side.
If you have questions about how to best design your assessment testing process, contact us and our experts will gladly help you.
Even after reading all above you may still have a question: Which roles should I consider using logical reasoning tests for? Where do I get most of the benefits described above?
There is no scientific answer to that question however, after spending many years working with multiple organisations and supported by research we will provide you with sufficient detail below for you to make a decision.
First, you may think of using numerical reasoning recruitment tests. These are typically the first choice and for a good reason the most popular (please see our full guide on pre-employment numerical tests here).
Secondly, you may not find numerical reasoning tests sufficient in finding applicants best suited to the role. There may not be enough differentiation and you may be looking for that logical aptitude among candidates.
For example, when targeting candidates for jobs such as IT experts, consultants and analysts you must consider the role that problem solving has in these jobs. As such you may choose to use logical reasoning tests to assess candidates instead of or as well as the numerical reasoning test, to identify if applicants have good problem-solving skills to help with day-to-day tasks. This will allow you to gain an overview into potentials for success in the role.
If you do not mind a slight increase in the length of your assessment process, we recommend using a logical test in conjunction with a numerical test.
Logical tests are often used in conjunction with numerical, rather than verbal reasoning tests as the roles they sift for often involve working with nonverbal information such as data analysis. Such roles require a greater understanding of a candidate’s ability to work numerically and form logical conclusions, and as such do not place emphasis on verbal reasoning at the assessment phase of the recruitment process.
In a business environment, most roles in a company will benefit from logical reasoning tests as a sifting tool since it is a fundamental skill in:
Industries that typically use logical reasoning tests in recruitment include:
Consulting and Accounting – logical tests are commonly used in the consulting industry for most entry jobs, internships, and more senior roles. Employers who utilise logical reasoning tests include the Big 4 (Deloitte, PwC, EY, KPMG), Accenture, strategic consultancies (Bain, McKinsey), and boutique consultancies. The candidates for the jobs in these companies have to possess very strong logical capabilities since often they face more senior employees as their customers, so speed of thinking, ability to come with a logical sequence of action, etc. is critical for their success.
Technology – logical reasoning tests are welcomed in technology roles. Some employers that implement logical reasoning tests into their application process are Samsung, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft.
Banking and Finance – logical reasoning tests are often used for banking and finance jobs. Most banks and financial institutions use logical reasoning tests and among them are Barclays, HSBC, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, and Lloyds Banking Group.
Broadly speaking, the above are industries that have been successfully using logical recruitment tests for many, many years to select the best candidates. A proper selection of talent is what makes them successful in the long run.
However, the use of the tests is not industry specific but rather role specific. The most typical roles that benefit from the use of logical testing at hiring are:
For jobs that don’t require high levels of logical reasoning skills, literacy and numeracy tests are still often used for recruitment such as numerical reasoning tests and verbal reasoning tests to outline candidate’s skills and how they work through challenging tasks.
If you are an organisation that is unsure if using the logical tests is the right choice, get in touch with us and we will do a free-of-charge assessment of your needs.
Let’s face it. The candidates do not like to be tested. They however accept the reality that if you are looking to staff 10 positions and 5,000 people apply, there has to be a selection process and 5,000 people cannot be interviewed.
Improve candidate engagement by helping them understand how your organisation runs the hiring process, by providing them with advice on how they can best present their abilities will ensure that the tests reduce bias. Being open and transparent is key to helping manage candidate engagement.
Use of a logical reasoning test can improve perception and candidate experience of your recruitment process, leaving prospective employees with the feeling that you value taking the time to find the right talent whilst reducing bias and taking a professional approach to hiring. They understand that certain roles require certain abilities and the most objective method to measure logical skill in a large population are the tests.
As your recruitment process reflects directly on your company brand, it is important that it creates a good impression and receives positive feedback from applicants. Candidates will appreciate the objectivity that logical tests (and other aptitude tests) bring to the recruitment process.
Below are two key reasons why logical reasoning tests increase candidate experience:
Logical reasoning tests have been used for a long time by many organisations to assess a candidate’s ability. At Assess Candidates, we provide a range of assessments including the logical reasoning test to suit all organisation’s needs.
Above is an example of our reporting tool on Assess Candidates, that you as a hiring manager or talent acquisition expert will see when reviewing candidate performance.
Four reasons why to use Assess Candidates:
1. Experienced psychologists developing top industry tests
2. Best-in-class reports enabling to shortlist your candidates fast using flexible criteria
3. Engaging Candidate Experience
4. Candidate Accessibility Support
Are you assessing candidates’ suitability, in terms of both drive and core knowledge? Are you a talent acquisition specialist, maybe an experienced recruiter, HR expert or a hiring manager? Most probably you are already using some assessment tools to help you find and hire the best fit candidate, fast. These tools may include aptitude tests, video interviews, assessment centres or even game-based assessments.
If you are looking for answers to questions such as
Keep reading to find out how to use situational judgement tests to select candidates and recruit best fit talent.
This article will provide you with an informative, easy to read summary about one of the most widely used competency tests used in recruitment and candidate selection – pre-employment situational judgement test.
As a recruiter, you need to have a portfolio of tools that helps you select the best candidates, fast and without spending thousands of dollars, pounds, or euros.
Designing a properly functioning recruitment funnel helps a lot. The hiring funnel is the series of stages through which a candidate’s consideration for employment progresses.
This article unveils key aspects of the situational judgement tests and their use in hiring. You will learn what situational judgement tests are, pros and cons of using them, which roles would benefit the most from their use and why they are so popular.
Keep reading to find out more and if you have any questions, just contact us. With many years of experience, we, Assess Candidates, are a team of organisational psychologists and consultants who are here to help you set up the candidate assessment process and tests to recruit the best candidates for your organisation.
Contents:
Pre employment situational judgement tests are one of many psychometric tests commonly used in recruitment. They assess a person’s ability (competence) to choose the most appropriate action in a workplace situation based on a series of scenarios provided. Typically these tests can be job / competence specific (e.g. you may assess a candidate for a sales job using specific competencies required in sales).
Situational judgement tests can be standardised or produced on a bespoke basis for your organisation, and actual examples from the job role are used. As a result, these tests carry high face validity and individuals taking these assessments are likely to see the relevance of the test to the job they are being assessed for. They tend to be favoured by candidates as they get a feel for the job and deeper insight into the role.
Most often the interim solution is provided, i.e. a recruiter provides key criteria for a job (e.g. competencies) and the SJT is built from a bank of questions for that specific role considering the abilities sought after and to be tested.
If you need a test that informs you on whether a candidate’s behaviour fits with what is expected in your organisation, then the situational judgement test is right for your company.
Assess Candidates’ Situational Judgement Tests have been prepared by experts with many years of experience with top test developers (such as SHL and Kenexa) and are easily self-customizable for dozens of roles. Our team will give you all the help you may need to set up your bespoke SJTs if needed.
Situational judgement assessment tests are:
For recruiters and hiring managers, situational judgement tests form a fundamental part of the selection process supporting in finding those applicants that have the competence to fill the requirements of the role.
Keep reading to find out more about how you and your organisation can benefit from using pre-employment situational judgement tests.
In situational judgement tests, candidates are presented with a passage and asked to choose two answers out of 4, which is the best and which is the worst. As such, situational judgement tests allow a candidate to demonstrate their understanding of the best courses of action required per role relating to many different competencies. With a lenient time limit, candidates are not challenged by the clock, the focus is on their ability to cope with various realistic situations.
Situational judgement recruitment tests:
Let us now see how this process could work in your organisation.
When a recruiter or a human resources specialist invites pre-screened candidates to online situational judgement tests, the candidates have a dedicated period (usually several days) to complete the tests at home. The recruiter then reviews the results via an online report and selects the candidates to move to another round of the assessments.
There are a handful of companies on the market providing situational judgement tests solutions. Often, you may need to explore if a bespoke solution will be appropriate and cost-effective.
Off-the-shelf situational judgement tests will usually do the job. However, if you want a more personalised specific test related to your advertised role and company competency framework, this is also possible. Make sure they can prove that their tests have been created and validated by professional organisational psychologists and psychometricians. Otherwise, these tests will not deliver on selecting the right candidates.
Important. Often situational tests are used in conjunction with other psychometric tests so the decision to qualify a candidate to the next round may be based on combined results as well as on the type of role. If you would like to get a better understanding of how to use situational (and other) reasoning assessments, please contact us for free advice.
Situational judgement tests can help assess the skills and select candidates who possess critical skills necessary in today’s virtually remote world.
Recruiters often use SJT’s to assess a candidate’s ability to:
Situational judgement tests are usually used to assess a candidate’s ability to embody a specific competency.
Typically, there are many competencies which are amenable to all SJT’s, here are some examples:
The results of the situational judgement test will demonstrate an individual’s ability in different competencies and their strengths and areas for improvement. For example, if applying for a consultant role, the skills that a candidate must acquire are analytical skills, excellent interpersonal skills and teamworking skills.
Situational judgement tests help candidates to be aware of making important decisions in the workplace, identify different competencies needed and set achievable goals.
Further in the text you will find specific roles where the use of pre-employment situational tests in the job interview process is highly recommended.
To help you visualise the SJT questions used in candidate selection, here is an example of a pre-employment situational judgement test question with worked solutions:
Pre-Employment Situational Judgement Test Question Example
The task:
Note: the other two options are somewhere between the best and worst.
There is not usually a specific time limit per question. However, in our tests at Assess Candidates we provide an hour for the applicants to complete the test to ensure they submit all 18 questions.
Situational judgement recruitment test example worked solution:
The question above is an example of a candidate being assessed for a finance or a sales role.
Advantages and disadvantages of using situational judgement tests in candidate selection
Why should you consider using situational judgement tests in hiring?
With more of an understanding on the benefits of situational judgement tests in hiring and potential drawbacks, we will now go on to discuss when employers should use situational judgement tests to recruit.
Situational judgement tests are frequently used during the application process for various roles including finance, retail, and public professions. Below is an outline of the roles in which the situational judgement test may be used and how they apply to the given role.
Relevance of situational judgement tests in public professions:
| Public Professions Role | Role Description | How do situational judgement tests apply to this role? |
|---|---|---|
| Firefighters | Firefighters respond to emergency situations and protect people, the environment and property from all types of accident and emergencies. They work closely with the local community to increase the level of fire safety awareness, in order to help prevent fires and accidents happening. | The SJT will assess a future firefighter’s ability to choose workplace scenarios that ensure the safety of themselves and others and also the ability to make the correct decisions with limited information- creating a virtual situation that needs to be dealt with in the most appropriate and effective way. The SJT may outline problems with colleagues in dealing with the public, it will help employers ensure they have the correct skills needed for each aspect of the job. |
| Teachers | Teachers develop curriculum and lesson plans, and present those lessons to their students, individually or in groups. They track the progress of their students and create reports to inform parents about their progress. | SJT will assess a future teacher’s ability to answer scenarios based on colleagues, teamwork and communicating with children/students. It will assess their planning and organising ability to produce lessons and activities and their ability to deliver results in a timely manner, for example helping other teachers or students to obtain their targets. |
| Local Council | Administrators work for local councils on administrative, financial and human resources tasks. Administrators keep local councils running smoothly. They look after the information that council staff need to do their jobs – for example, details about customers, projects, finances and community facilities. | A SJT can test a candidate’s ability to deliver results. As a future administrator they must meet targets in a timely manner. They also must be customer centred to demonstrate empathy to customers and anticipate their needs. Furthermore, have good team work and be able to work with colleagues to achieve goals. |
Relevance of situational judgement tests in retail:
| Retail Role | Role Description | How do situational judgement tests apply to this role? |
|---|---|---|
| Department Managers | Department managers oversee the functioning and productivity of a company division. Their responsibilities include recruiting and dismissing staff, establishing, and working towards strategic departmental goals and managing a departmental budget. | Management positions require the ability to motivate a team and solve conflicts. An SJT will access their teamwork and communicating skills to be able to work with colleagues and lead them in their required role. |
| Retail Advisors | Sales advisors facilitate sales transactions by advising customers on suitable products that best meet their needs and encourage purchases. They explain product features and benefits to customers, assist them in locating specified products on the sales floor, and process customer payments. | An SJT will assess how customer-service orientated a candidate is. A good retail advisor must demonstrate empathy to customers and anticipate customer needs. Understand if the candidate will listen and ask questions to better understand their colleagues as well as customers. |
| Visual merchandisers | A Visual Merchandiser is responsible for planning and building displays that maximise impact on a day-to-day basis. They move equipment, arrange lighting and work with suppliers, while maintaining close connections at wider retail levels. | Situational judgement tests measure if visual merchandisers demonstrate good planning, organisational and decision-making skills when arranging stores. They also measure ability to cope under pressure when working with suppliers. |
Relevance of situational judgement tests in finance:
| Finance Role | Role Description | How do situational judgement tests apply to this role? |
|---|---|---|
| Finance Graduate Scheme | Entry Level Financial Analysts are responsible for consolidating and analysing budgets and income statement forecasts. They perform analysis of actual results at corporate and division levels. | SJT assesses an applicant’s ability to time manage when working with clients and performing analysis. SJTs measure whether a candidate excels in innovating as they must look for efficient measures from a cost perspective and deliver results. |
| Graduate Accountant | Graduates will be responsible for the upload of the monthly forecast and balance sheet reconciliations. Assist with the annual audit of the business unit legal entities and liaison with auditors throughout the audit process. Assist with tax accounting and liaise with appointed tax teams ensuring deadlines for local and foreign tax reporting are adhered to. | Graduate accountants assess a candidate’s ability to time manage when working with clients whilst performing balance sheets and audits. They should successfully be able to work with other members of the team and be good at communication when presenting information to clients. |
| Insurance, Reinsurance and Risk Management Graduate Programme | This role consists of graduates understanding the importance of claims through to winning new business. They’ll focus on developing client-management skills too, and building relationships with a broad spectrum of people — including clients, own industry specialists and members of the global reinsurance markets. | For this graduate programme, graduates should be customer centred to have client-management skills. As well as being able to inspire others and lead with creating and dealing with challenging tasks. Planning and organising would also be a good skill to move onwards and win new businesses. |
| Mortgage Advisor | Responsibilities as a mortgage advisor include meeting clients in person, or over the phone, assessing which type of mortgage is most suitable for each client, keeping up to date with new mortgage products and changes in mortgage regulation. | Mortgage advisors must show empathy and good communication to help customers and solve problems. They should have strong competencies in customer service skills as they deal with clients every day as well as working with colleagues. |
| Bank Cashier/Clerk | A Bank Cashier, or Bank Teller provides face-to-face services in banks and handles customers’ concerns and complaints. Their duties include greeting customers, opening, and closing accounts and handling deposits and withdrawals. | SJT measures skills such as time management relating to servicing clients and ensuring everything complies with the relevant standard. Candidates also need to demonstrate communicating skills for this role, customer care when speaking with customers and attention to detail. |
Relevance of situational judgement tests in consultancy:
| Consultancy Role | Role Description | What workstyle preferences apply to this role? |
|---|---|---|
| Trainee Consultant | A consultant trainee works to establish a knowledge base and expertise in the underlying industry and develop a client portfolio. They will research, field calls and questions and organise clients’ databases and consultants’ schedules. | Trainee consultants are generally organised and able to plan. They are people focused and able to interact with clients and work with others. |
| Consulting Graduate Programme | Consulting graduates will be thinking and innovating with colleagues across the firm to solve fascinating problems. They’ll define strategies, plan their development, and implement outcomes. And collaborate – with clients and colleagues. Graduates will imagine, deliver and run the future of their organisations, creating solutions. | Consulting graduates are normally good at communicating, influencing and persuading others with good ideas and working with others. This is because they must define strategies and plan development. They also are customer centred to deliver the best results for clients. |
| Management Consultant | Management consultants help organisations to solve issues, create value, maximise growth and improve business performance. They do so by using their business expertise and skills to provide objective advice and to help an organisation develop any specialist skills they may be lacking. | Management consultants are commonly empathetic to businesses and organisations when working with them. They tend to be confident when speaking to new and existing staff. Management consultants are usually between easy-going and conscientious, as they are adaptable to change in terms of movement of staff. |
| Recruitment Consultant | The main duties of a recruitment consultant include negotiating contracts, interviewing prospective applicants, and matching them with vacancies at client companies, screening candidates and drawing up shortlists of candidates for clients to interview. | Recruitment consultants are generally open and understanding when it comes to various peoples’ interests. Recruiters are also outgoing and find it comfortable meeting new people confidently. |
Most typically the pass mark used for assessing applicants with the SJT would not go above the 50th Percentile.
Situational judgement tests can be used at your organisation to help identify what an individual excels in, specifically in relation to certain competencies. Most importantly the test will accurately assess candidates’ capacity to perform the job. The ability to identify competencies such as leadership and communication is a worldwide skill. Thus, these tests can be used to help select candidates for multiple roles.
When situational tests are used in recruitment, you can expect the test to outline many aspects of the candidate’s core skills and emotional abilities, following the candidate’s success in the first stage of the application, which is typically online. By combining situational judgement with a breadth of assessments assessing their personality, it means that all qualities are measured with an equal weighting.
The situational judgement questions are based on a specific competency that might require candidates to outline their overall fit to the roll. It gives an employer a realistic insight into how an applicant might perform in the role they are applying for.
These tests are suitable for graduate level recruitment right through to experienced and senior hires. The questions may be adopted accordingly to reflect increased job complexity.
There are 4 forms of recruitment, and these can affect how situational judgement tests are used:
A question you may be asking yourself is, how will this test work when I have deadlines to meet? Luckily, situational judgement tests can be used as a high-volume recruiter (sometimes referred to as mass hiring) for a wide variety of candidates in a limited period. Here, there is no specific number to hold on to.
Situational judgement tests have been designed to predict job performance and research has shown that those candidates who do well in these tests tend to perform better in the job. This predictive validity is why situational judgement tests so commonly form a fundamental part of the application process globally.
For graduate and entry roles it is common to receive a large volume of applications. It is important for recruiters to sift through these applicants in a legally defensible way but with an efficient measure.
Using a psychometrically robust situational judgement test allows you to significantly reduce the candidate pool when partnered with another psychometric test, for example the personality test or a more technical one such as the numerical reasoning test.
Situational judgement tests in high volume recruitment are typically used by organisations who launch specific graduate programs and need to select a number of candidates in a relatively short period of time to commence the programme. For instance:
and many more.
In volume recruitments it is important that the test provider ensures they can cope with a large volume of tests being completed in a short period of time.
Often when recruiters are assessing candidates for consulting, finance or retail roles and they have a smaller business they may use the situational judgement tests to assist them with recruitment.
Medium volume of applicants means the focus moves away from the need to sift but more to identify skills. This is because if a role has a medium number of applicants it is more likely to be for a more highly skilled position or managerial role.
Be rest assured that at Assess Candidates you can personalise the tests to sift through them how you wish, as well as adding additional tests such as the video interview to personalise your own specific questions related to your company.
Often when assessing senior hires such as a financial director role, there will be a smaller volume of applicants. With a smaller volume of applicants, the focus shifts away from the need to sift but more to identify skills.
Situational Judgement tests allow employers to gain insights into fundamental ability in a cost-effective way, prior to advancing them to more expensive measures of their performance such as interviews or assessment exercises.
Employers may wish to review applicants as they arrive on a rolling basis. This could be for roles such as graduates, entry roles or more experienced managerial roles.
Situational judgement tests are a good method to evaluate candidate suitability at the stage after the traditional numerical and verbal tests. When desiring to continuously grow and develop a team, it is important that employers have the right tools in place. This makes for a more smooth and effective process for candidates and employers.
Companies can carry out recruitment as a continuous process all throughout the year and have different deadlines for different roles. They simply fill vacancies as they become available. Appropriate candidates can be processed through this cycle, and employers can have increased confidence when taking individuals onto first-line interviewing stages, for example.
Some examples of companies that use rolling recruitment include: KPMG, Aldi, Arcadia Group, Accenture, Deloitte, Dyson, IBM, Boots, Citi, Google, and McDonald’s, among others.
In rolling recruitments, it is important that the test provider ensures a capability to run a process on a continuous basis, providing ongoing reporting, support to recruiters, proper communication and low admin effort on the recruiter side. An applicant tracking system is often useful for achieving this.
If you have questions about how to best design your assessment testing process, contact us and our experts will gladly help you.
Even after reading all above, you may still have questions: Which roles should I consider when using the situational judgement test? Which benefits help me in regard to the role I am recruiting for?
There is no scientific answer to that question however, after spending many years working with multiple organisations and supported by research we will provide you with sufficient details below for you to decide.
First, you may think of using numerical reasoning pre-employment tests. These are typically the first choice and for a good reason the most popular (please see our full guide on pre-employment numerical tests here).
Secondly, you may not find numerical reasoning tests sufficient in finding applicants best suited to the role. You might feel that there is not enough differentiation between candidates with this alone and you may be looking for a test to identify a candidate’s competencies and emotional intelligence.
For example, when targeting candidates for jobs such as medical practitioners, finance managers and customer service roles you must consider the relation that different competencies have in these jobs. As such you may choose to use situational judgement tests to assess candidates instead of or as well as the numerical reasoning test. This will help you to identify if applicants have, for example, good problem-solving skills or a good independent working style when working through day-to-day tasks. This will allow you to gain an overview into potentials for success in the role.
Situational judgement tests are not typically used on their own. If you do not mind a slight increase in the length of your assessment process, we recommend using a situational test in conjunction with a personality test. This step in the recruitment process is usually after doing a traditional psychometric assessment such as the numerical, verbal, or logical test.
Industries that typically use situational judgement tests in recruitment include:
Broadly speaking, the above are industries that have been successfully using situational judgement pre-employment tests to select the best candidates. A proper selection of talent is what makes them successful in the long run.
For jobs that don’t require high levels of situational judgement tests, literacy and numeracy tests are still often used for recruitment such as numerical reasoning tests and verbal reasoning tests to outline candidate’s skills and how they work through challenging tasks.
If you are an organisation that is unsure if using the situational judgement tests is the right choice, get in touch with us and we will do a free-of-charge assessment of your needs.
You may be thinking why are situational judgement tests so commonly used? SJT’s can be used for any type of role whether that be working with people, working in an office setting, working with decisions or any manner of situations. Situational judgement tests can be crafted around the specifics outlined in job descriptions. They can also be used and tailored for a specific company using competency frameworks. 3 reasons why situational judgement tests are so popular include:
At Assess Candidates we provide a range of assessments including situational judgement tests to suit all organisation’s needs.
We offer both, self-customizable and fully-fledged bespoke SJTs:
Self-customizable SJTs:
The advantages: no extra cost, rapid as the test is available immediately
Fully-fledged, bespoke SJT:
If you do not have typical roles for senior positions or need for internal development, we will create bespoke SJTs after gathering your individual needs. Simply contact one of our experts.
Above is an example of our reporting tool on Assess Candidates, that you as a hiring manager or talent acquisition expert will see when reviewing candidate performance.
1. Experienced psychologists developing top industry tests
2. Top in class reports enabling to shortlist your candidates fast using flexible criteria
3. Engaging Candidate Experience
4. Candidate Accessibility Support
It is a scientifically proven fact that personality at work plays a vital role in how employees perform, interact with others, and are satisfied with their job. As an employer looking for the best fit candidate to a specific position or job setting, requesting a candidate to complete a work style personality questionnaire is highly recommended.
Would you like insight into assessing a candidate’s personality, preferences, and drive? As an experienced recruiter or talent acquisition specialist, you may have already used some assessment tools to help you find and hire the best fit candidate, fast. These tools may include aptitude tests, video interviews, assessment centres or even assessment games.
You may be wondering:
As a recruiter, you need to have a portfolio of tools that helps you select the best candidates, fast and without spending thousands of dollars, pounds, or euros.
This article will provide you with an easy-to-read summary about one of the most widely used competency tests used in recruitment and candidate selection – pre-employment personality tests.
This article unveils key aspects of the personality questionnaire and its use in hiring. You will learn what they are, pros and cons of using them, which roles would benefit the most from their use and why they are so popular.
Keep reading to find out more and if you have any questions, just contact us. We, Assess Candidates, are a team of organisational psychologists and consultants and are here to help you.
Work-style personality questionnaire also referred to as work personality questionnaire.
A personality questionnaire (a.k.a. assessment) is designed to measure a candidate’s personality traits and behavioural preferences which are aligned with your company’s workplace.
Like most valid and established questionnaires, the work personality questionnaire (WPQ) is underpinned by the widely accepted areas of personality – The Big 5.
The Five-Factor Theory of Personality was developed by Costa and McCrae in 1986, they proposed 5 main personality traits producing the acronym OCEAN:
As a talent acquisition expert, you may want to get an insight on an applicant’s personality and skills a candidate pursues before meeting them for an interview. If you want a test that informs you on whether a candidate’s personality fits with what is expected in your organisation, then the pre-employment personality test is right for your company.
Work personality questionnaires are:
A personality test reveals core aspects of an applicant’s personality- their values, work preferences, their style, the bright side, and the dark side. Also, it reveals a candidate’s fitment in the company’s culture. Is the candidate possessing the required personality traits suitable for your job role?
We want to assure you as a recruiter or hiring manager about the details of the personality assessment for selection and give you any insights that you may be confused about relating to this specific test. The WPQ forms a fundamental part of the selection process supporting in finding those applicants who have the workplace strengths that you are looking for.
Keep reading to find out more about how you and your organisation can benefit from using pre-employment work-style personality questionnaires.
In work personality tests, candidates are presented with statements and are required to agree or disagree with them. As such the pre-employment personality test allow a candidate to demonstrate their comprehensive insight into the suitability of a role. With a lenient time limit, candidates are not challenged by the clock, the focus is on their level of agreeance on workplace preference statements.
Personality tests for recruitment:
Let us now see how this process could work in your organisation.
A recruiter’s process to find candidates is usually:
Many different companies are providing personality tests for recruitment. Often, you may need to explore if a bespoke solution will be appropriate and cost-effective. Off-the-shelf WPQ will usually do the job. Make sure they can prove that their tests have been created and validated by professional organisational psychologists and psychometricians. If not, these tests will not deliver on selecting the right candidates.
Important. Often personality tests in hiring are used in conjunction with other psychometric tests so the decision to qualify a candidate to the next round may be based on combined results as well as on the type of role. If you would like to get a better understanding of how to use pre-employment personality tests (and other) reasoning assessments, please contact us for free advice.
You may be thinking, why are personality tests key in a working environment?
Personality tests for recruitment are particularly popular in a wide range of industries. The test is important for jobs that require employers to understand whether a candidate will be energised in a work environment. For example, will the candidate thrive working with people, show their creative side, and be punctual in meeting strict deadlines. This understanding further leads to a happier and more profitable business.
A work style questionnaire can help you in a variety of ways:
Recruitment can be tough, but finding capable candidates is an important aspect of creating a profitable business. Pre-employment personality assessments are an easy and efficient way for hiring professionals to bring top-tier talent to the organisation.
These tests are suitable for graduate level recruitment right through to experienced and senior hires.
Broadly speaking, there are 2 recruitment volumes that lend themselves well to using personality assessments for selection:
Depending on which one is ongoing in your organisation this can affect personality tests for recruitment.
Recruiters and employers may use personality questionnaires for high volume recruitment, this could be hundreds or even thousands of candidates per year per job offer.
For graduate, entry roles it is common to receive a large volume of applications.
Before you take a candidate to a later interview stage, you can get an indicator of the type of person they are. The candidate may not be aligned to the preferences best suited to your role. In which case, it would be a benefit to the candidate and employer to not progress the application further. Alternatively, the candidate may be a good match in which case you can learn more when taking them through to the next stage.
Personality tests in high volume recruitment are typically used with other psychometric tests such as competency based situational judgement test, verbal or numerical to help sift out candidates. The numerical reasoning test would be used to sift applicants whereas the WPQ would help by giving you more insight into the candidate’s personality.
Organisations who launch specific graduate programmes need to select a number of candidates in a relatively short period of time to commence the programme. For instance, they may offer 100 roles and receive 20,000 applications.
Often when recruiters are assessing candidates for consulting, technology or public sector roles and they have a smaller business they may use the personality assessments to assist them with recruitment.
If you are part of a smaller company or organisation and want employees who are happy and want to stay for a longer tenure in your team, you need to be sure that you recognise their individuality from the start of the application process. One potential risk of using ability tests in isolation is that you ignore their workstyle preferences and the things that make them energised in the workspace.
We, at Assess Candidates, offer end-to-end set of candidate assessment tools that cater for a wide variety of roles you may wish to recruit for: ability tests (numerical, verbal, logical), situational, personality, game assessments (to complement traditional tests and increase candidates’ experience), video interviews with questions of your choice, assessment centre exercises. All this is delivered through an easy to manage online platform.
Further in the text you will find how candidates should approach the WPQ and which roles it applies to.
Personality tests for hiring are becoming much more common in today’s virtually remote world. Employers often use WPQ’s to access a candidate’s ability to:
Candidates aren’t required to have any skills to complete this test. It is essential that candidates answer honestly to ensure you can find the best fit for your company in relation to their answers.
The WPQ will demonstrate an individual’s preference in 5 dimensions of personality based on the responses that an applicant gives. These are:
There is also a 6th dimension that is assessed through any good personality questionnaire is the social desirability scale. The Social Desirability scale examines whether an applicant has responded in a socially desirable way to the questionnaire.
Candidates can sometimes be inclined to respond to the questionnaire in a way that makes them look good, rather than to respond in an accurate and truthful manner. The social desirability scale identifies whether the candidate is honest during the assessment. On a scale of 1 to 10, most people will land in the middle range (4,5,6,7), but both high and low scores must be reviewed with care. It is best to explore this with the candidate in a direct conversation, to see if you can offer any additional support.
A process you could follow when using the personality questionnaire would be:
Even if there are some areas of concern with the applicants not aligning to your organisation, they may still succeed. For example, if your role is more suitable for an introvert, someone who is an extrovert may still fit well into your organisation.
Personality tests for recruitment offer invaluable insights on candidates, providing objective and scientifically valid explanations of an individual’s thinking style, behaviour tendencies, values, and motivations. They can also be useful to better understand existing employees who are being considered for a different role, or as part of an ongoing internal development programme.
In the next section we have added an image of the WPQ to give you a visual representation of what the work-style personality test will look like when candidates are completing it.
To help you visualise the questions, here is an example of pre-employment workstyle personality test statements.
Example 1:
The task: Candidates must look at the statements carefully and identify the extent to which they agree with the statement, using the following 1 to 5 Likert scale:
Average time per question: 3-7 seconds
The WPQ typically contains 50-150 questions
There is no correct solution for questions in a WPQ, candidates must answer honestly based on their personality preferences.
You may be wondering now what the benefits of using pre-employment personality tests in a recruitment process are. Let’s find out.
With more of an understanding of how Assess Candidate’s personality tests can benefit your business, below is an outline of what employers should consider when using personality tests for recruitment.
With more of an understanding on the benefits and considerations of the personality questionnaires in hiring and potential drawbacks, we will now go on to discuss when employers should use personality tests for recruitment.
Personality tests for recruitment are frequently used during the application process for various roles including technology, consultancy, and the public sector. Below is an outline of the roles in which the personality tests may be used and how it applies to the given role.
Relevance of pre-employment personality tests in information technology:
| Information Technology Role | Role Description | What workstyle preferences apply to this role? |
|---|---|---|
| Technical support | Technical support team members monitor and maintain the technology of the workplace. They respond to requests to help the users in the business. Technical support provides you with the opportunity to work in different types of companies and the chance to explore different industries. | People focus applies to technical support staff as they enjoy working/helping others as well as being relationship focused and empathetic to deal with customer problems. They are usually more extraverted. Preferences for technical support staff also include being sociable and comfortable talking to new people, for example the customers. |
| Business analyst | Working as a business analyst is all about looking for ways to improve the processes and business operations using technology. You will be required to analyse business needs, gather requirements, and create a project plan to design technological solutions. | Business analysts are open, to improve processes and creative and innovative. They also tend to be easy going, adaptable to change and flexible. |
| Software engineer | As a software engineer you will be required to design and program system software. This requires the understanding of software and hardware functions. The role provides a lot of interaction with other areas of the business to assess and provide solutions. | Software engineers are people focused to understand the external demand of customers as well as being conscientious. They tend to be organised to make deadlines for new software and enjoy high attention to detail. |
Relevance of pre-employment personality tests in consultancy:
| Consultancy Role | Role Description | What workstyle preferences apply to this role? |
|---|---|---|
| Trainee Consultant | A consultant trainee works to establish a knowledge base and expertise in the underlying industry and develop a client portfolio. They will research, field calls and questions and organise clients’ databases and consultants’ schedules. | Trainee consultants are generally organised and able to plan. They are people focused and able to interact with clients and work with others. |
| Management Consultant | Management consultants help organisations to solve issues, create value, maximise growth and improve business performance. They do so by using their business expertise and skills to provide objective advice and to help an organisation develop any specialist skills they may be lacking. | Management consultants are commonly empathetic to businesses and organisations when working with them. They tend to be confident when speaking to new and existing staff. Management consultants are usually between easy-going and conscientious, as they are adaptable to change in terms of movement of staff. |
| Recruitment Consultant | The main duties of a recruitment consultant include negotiating contracts, interviewing prospective applicants, and matching them with vacancies at client companies, screening candidates and drawing up shortlists of candidates for clients to interview. | Recruitment consultants are generally open and understanding when it comes to various peoples’ interests. Recruiters are also outgoing and find it comfortable meeting new people confidently. |
Relevance of pre-employment personality tests in the public sector:
| Public Sector Role | Role Description | What workstyle preferences apply to this role? |
|---|---|---|
| Social workers | Social workers work with people to find solutions to their problems. This may be helping to protect vulnerable people from harm or abuse or supporting people to live independently. They work with clients, families, and others around them and with different client groups including: the elderly. | A social worker’s main job is communicating with vulnerable individuals and clients/families. That means they tend to be open, have good communication and listening skills. They also need to be target driven as they will have many appointments to attend. Social workers are often people focused. For example, they need to have a preference prioritising another person’s feelings over their own. |
| Planning officers | Planning officers generally work for local planning authorities, involved in development management associated with the local town planning system. They may also work in other public sector organisations. They must have a good knowledge of the local community, legislation, environmental issues, and social responsibilities. | Planning officers need to be able to plan local work and organise the correct people for jobs. They often have a good ability to work with others and be target driven. As well as this, planning officers tend to be comfortable speaking to different authorities. |
| Environmental health officers | Environmental health officers are responsible for monitoring and enforcing health and hygiene legislation. They also investigate when there’s an incident, such as pollution, a noise problem, toxic contamination, pest infestation or an outbreak of food poisoning. | Environmental health officers are sociable and find it easy when working with others as they are often people focused when having to deal with different aspects of the environment. Also, comfortable in their own company to work on their own if needed. They are commonly independent, target driven as well as optimistic. |
Personality assessments for selection help businesses ensure candidates have the required skill set to meet role requirements when applying for jobs.
When targeting candidates for jobs such as planning officers, trainee consultants and software engineers, you must consider the candidate’s personality to figure out whether they would be a good fit for the job. As such you may choose to use a personality questionnaire to assess candidates as well as the numerical reasoning test or potentially the verbal reasoning test. This will help you to identify if applicants have, for example, strong people skills or a good independent working style when working through day-to-day tasks. This will allow you to gain an overview into potentials for success in the role.
Pre-employment personality questionnaires are not typically used on their own. If you do not mind a slight increase in the length of your assessment process, we recommend using a personality test in conjunction with a situational judgement test or a traditional psychometric test such as numerical, verbal, or logical.
Industries that typically use personality tests in recruitment include:
Broadly speaking, the above are industries that have been successfully using personality pre-employment tests to select the best candidates. A proper selection of talent is what makes them successful in the long run.
The OPQ is a trait-based personality questionnaire which measures an individual’s personality preferences in the workplace. The results are interpreted in line with a role’s key behavioural expectations to see how well someone is suited to a job.
The SHL occupational personality questionnaire involves an aspect of the social desirability scale as well as the consistency scale. The consistency scale identifies whether a candidate is trying to distort the questionnaire, a low result can usually mean an individual has tried to portray themselves in a more desirable way or they did not understand the questions.
One key difference is, SHL’s OPQ primarily focuses on three key areas from a total of 32 dimensions relating to The Big Five and uses this to draw inferences on behavioural competence and job fit. The three key areas for SHL are:
Whereas, as mentioned above, Access Candidates WPQ, is designed to specifically look at the 5 continuums of the Big 5 to assess job fit.
There are three different versions of the OPQ that are currently in use today:
As you may have already noticed, the key second difference is that all the OPQ’s are longer than Access Candidates personality questionnaires.
The length of the Work Personality Questionnaire is designed to balance candidate experience and the ability to determine candidate preference.
In the final section, it will be outlined why you should use the Assess Candidates personality test.
Pre-employment personality tests have been used for a long time by many organisations to assess a candidate’s ability. At Assess Candidates we provide a range of assessments including personality questionnaires to suit all organisation’s needs.
Above is an example of our reporting tool on Assess Candidates, that you as a hiring manager or talent acquisition expert will see when reviewing candidate performance.
1. Experienced psychologists developing top industry tests
2. Top in class reports enabling to shortlist your candidates fast using flexible criteria
3. Engaging Candidate Experience
4. Candidate Accessibility Support
In today’s rapidly-evolving job market, identifying and hiring top talent is crucial for organizations that are striving to build high-performing teams. As remote work (and virtual hiring) continue to gain traction, companies need to seek digital solutions to streamline their recruitment processes without sacrificing the quality of the hire.
In this article, we will explore the benefits of using pre-employment video interviews as a modern approach to recruitment. From reducing hiring costs and time-to-hire to providing deeper insight into candidates’ communication and interpersonal skills, video interviews offer a compelling alternative to conventional recruitment methods. Video interviews are a vital tool for organizations seeking to make informed hiring decisions and build exceptional teams.
We will delve into the ins and outs of video interviewing, including how it differs from traditional in-person interviews, its benefits and limitations, and how it can be effectively integrated into the hiring process. We will also provide real-world examples of how companies have successfully used video interviews to identify and hire top talent.
Contents
Video interviews in recruitment refer to the process of conducting job interviews with candidates using video technology. This method of interview has gained popularity in recent years due to:
Instead of conducting interviews in person, employers and hiring managers can connect with candidates virtually, regardless of their location.
Gartner report that 86% of organizations were using video interviews for recruitment by 2020. This suggests that organizations are finding video interviews to be an effective and efficient way to assess candidates remotely.
The high adoption rate of video interviewing indicates that it has become an accepted norm in the hiring process and is here to stay.
Let’s now take a look at the key video interview types that are currently used.
The two main types of video interviews are called asynchronous and synchronous interviews.
What is the difference between Automated Video Interviewing (Pre-recorded/One-Way) and Live Video Interviewing?
Asynchronous interviews, also known as one-way video interviews for hiring, are a type of job interview that allow candidates to record their responses to predetermined time limits and selected interview questions at their own convenience. These interviews are typically conducted in the early stages of the hiring process before the candidate meets the hiring team in person.
Synchronous or live video interviewing, on the other hand, allows for more personal interaction between the interviewer and candidate, and can give the interviewer a better sense of the candidate’s communication skills and personality. It can also be easier to build rapport with a candidate during a live video interview. However, live video interviewing can be more challenging to schedule, and can be affected by technical issues or interruptions.
| Automated video interviewing (asynchronous) | One-way video interviews where candidates record answers to pre-recorded questions. |
| Live video interviewing (synchronous) | A real-time conversation between the interviewer and candidate. |
In summary, video interviews have become an increasingly popular tool for recruiters and hiring managers to screen candidates, save time and streamline their recruitment process. Whether automated or live, video interviewing can offer benefits such as greater flexibility, reduced costs, and improved efficiency.
But, just how do they differ from the traditional method? Check out our graphic below for some key points.
Did you know? A Totaljobs.com survey found that on average, graduates are willing to travel only 35 miles to meet a prospective employer. This highlights the benefit of video interviews, which allow candidates and employers to connect without the need for travel.
It’s clear video interviews are here to stay. We will now move onto how these are being leveraged by employers as part of their hiring processes.
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Employers use one-way and pre-recorded interviews differently in light of their format. Let’s break down how each of these are used starting with one-way or asynchronous interviews.
Prior to both asynchronous and synchronous video interviews, the hiring team must select a reliable video interviewing platform that is user friendly and easy to navigate for both them and the interviewee.
Questions should target the skills required for the role. These are often competency-based, such as, ‘give me an example of a time you demonstrated leadership’.
You need to ensure that clear instructions on how to complete the interview are provided and enough time has been allocated for the candidate to record their responses to each question.
Two-way or synchronous interviews differ in that they offer both the hiring team and the candidate to ask follow-up questions during the interview. Naturally, with the interview being live, questions are also more tailored to the candidate. Here’s how live interviews work.
Typically, multiple assessors are present at interview for more senior roles as part of a panel interview.
When selecting questions to ask a candidate, consider questions that tap into their background specifically and the job requirements. You want to ensure the individuality of the candidate is celebrated but also ensure you are able to gather the information you need to make an informed decision. Open-ended questions are great too, as they allow the candidate to elaborate on their skills and experience.
This can be a great way to tap into the detail you need. For example, say a candidate was giving an example of how they were a team player and mention someone they disagreed with in their project. You may deliberately follow-up with a question on conflict resolution to see if they would handle this in line with your organizational culture.
When reviewing the candidate’s responses, pay attention to their communication skills, their ability to answer the question comprehensively and concisely, and their overall professionalism.
Having covered how video interviews are used in hiring, we will now cover which organizations are leveraging this technology.
Video interviews have become a popular tool in the recruitment process for a variety of organizations across different industries. Many companies have incorporated video interviews into their talent acquisition strategies to streamline the hiring process, reduce costs, increase efficiency and candidate experience.
Notably, a 40% surge has been observed in the utilization of online testing platforms by employers, further solidifying the trend towards modern and technology-driven recruitment methods.
Organizations of all sizes, from startups to large multinational corporations, can benefit from using video interviews in their recruitment process. Companies in the industries below are just a few examples of those who have embraced video interviews as a valuable addition to their hiring practices:
Effective incorporation of video interviews into an organization’s talent acquisition strategy requires careful planning and execution:
If your organization is uncertain about the suitability of incorporating video interviews into your recruitment process, feel free to reach out to us. We offer a free-of-charge assessment of your requirements, allowing you to make an informed decision based on expert recommendations.
Let’s now move onto skills video interviews help to assess when screening candidates.
Video interviews are becoming increasingly popular among recruiters and hiring managers as a way to assess candidates‘ skills and suitability for a job. They offer an opportunity to evaluate candidates’ communication skills, body language, and non-verbal cues in a more convenient and cost-effective way than traditional face-to-face interviews. Here are some of the skills that can be assessed in candidates through video interviews:
The following steps can help ensure that video interviews are aligned with hiring goals and job requirements:
The process for two-way or live interviews is largely the same, however as we covered above, these will also include the added step of creating questions unique to each candidate. This ensures a more personal feel to the interview whilst the skills being looked for are assessed.
We will now cover why you should consider using video interviewing as part of your organization’ recruitment process.
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TOP 7 REASONS (PROS) TO USE VIDEO INTERVIEWS IN RECRUITMENT
| Benefit of video interview | How video interviews help with this | Who does this benefit? |
|---|---|---|
| Cost and time savings | Video interviews reduce costs associated with in-person interviews, such as travel expenses and meeting room rentals. This can save time for both the candidate and the interviewer. | Company and candidate |
| Ability to involve multiple assessors | Interview recordings can be shared within the organization for appraisal from multiple assessors. Multiple stakeholders accessing the recordings will support in taking an informed, balanced and unbiased decision. | Company |
| Help with sifting | Video interviews can be used at an early stage to help screen candidates. | Company |
| Standardized and legally defensible | Pre-recorded video interviews can provide a more objective evaluation of candidates, as each candidate is evaluated on the same set of questions and can be compared directly with other candidates. Recordings can evidence why a candidate was selected or not selected for the next stage. | Company |
| Improved candidate experience | There is no need to coordinate schedules between the interviewer and the candidate. Interviewers can review the responses at their convenience, whilst candidates can feel calmer and record responses at a comfortable and convenient time for them. | Company and candidate |
| Expands geographical pool of candidates and provides flexibility | Expands the talent pool and allows remote candidates from around the world to broaden their employment opportunities. | Company and candidate |
| Predict future performance | Video interviews have a proven record of predicting high performance in employees. To achieve this, make sure professionals validate the tests according to industry standards. | Company |
According to a survey conducted in 2014, more than 65% of candidates expressed a preference for video interviews during the hiring process
So, are virtual interviews just as effective as face-to-face interviews? Yes and no. Pre-recorded video interviews offer several advantages over traditional face-to-face interviews, such as saving time and resources, as they eliminate the need for scheduling and coordinating interviews with multiple stakeholders. Video Interviews also provide a more objective evaluation of candidates, as each candidate is evaluated on the same set of questions and can be compared directly with other candidates.
Let’s now move onto the drawbacks of video interviewing technology and how these can be mitigated for your talent acquisition process.
| Con of video interview | How video interviews may result in this | How to mitigate the impact on your process |
|---|---|---|
| Video interviews are more impersonal than face-to-face interviews | Pre-recorded video interviews can be perceived as impersonal or robotic, which can make it difficult for candidates to form a connection with the hiring team. As a company, you also miss out on valuable non-verbal communication, often vital supplementary cues, to support your decision-making. | Provide feedback to the candidate after the interview, thanking them for their time and highlighting what impressed you about their application. Additionally, you may opt for a live interview rather than one-way/prerecorded for a more personal conversation. |
| Speaking to a webcam can be anxiety-inducing | Many job seekers fail to attempt the video interview because of anxiety and the lack of first-hand experience. This may lose you potential candidates in the search for top talent. | Encourage candidates to practice beforehand, so they will feel more at ease when tackling the assessment. This will ensure they present their true ability under typical working conditions. |
| Technical issues can affect candidate experience and cost time | Video interviews can be subject to technical difficulties, such as poor video or audio quality, which can impact the evaluation process. Additionally, candidates must be reset if they have launched an assessment by mistake which can cost companies added admin time. | Ensure you have clear instructions on how to use the video interviewing software to ensure candidates have tested their camera and microphone. Additionally, make sure they are using the right browser. |
| No opportunity for questions from the interviewer or interviewee | Asking follow-up questions is a key ingredient to the interview process, allowing the interviewer and interviewee the opportunity to gather all the information they need. | Introduce an automated email after the process to allow candidates the opportunity to ask you any questions. Alternatively, reach out with follow-up questions once you have reviewed their recordings and encourage them to do the same. |
| Candidates miss out on exposure to your company culture | Getting a feel of a company’s culture through an office meet and greet is beneficial to both candidates and companies to ensure a good fit. | Include a welcome video to introduce your company and offices to candidates at the start of the process. You can also invite shortlisted candidates to an assessment center. These are a key stage for most recruitment processes and can be a good final step to see if a company and candidate align. |
| Lack of stable internet connections in some areas can cost you applicants | Video interviews require a more stable internet connection versus other online assessments. You may not receive submissions from some candidates in light of this, lightening your talent pool. | Allow an audio-only interview for regions where it may be more difficult to secure a more stable internet connection. Alternatively, use a one-way interview as these are easier to run versus live interviews that require a greater internet connection. |
Now that we have a balanced approach to the pros and cons of video interviewing, we will cover when this should be used in your hiring process.
Pre-employment video interviews can be a valuable tool in the hiring process, but they are not appropriate for every role or situation.
Here are 6 factors to consider when deciding whether to use video interviews in your hiring process:
Video interviews can be used for any role. Below is an outline of examples of roles in which video interviews may be used and one-way or two-way interview questions that may be asked.
| Retail Role | Role Description | What video interview questions apply to this role? |
|---|---|---|
| Department Managers | Department managers oversee the functioning and productivity of a company division. Their responsibilities include recruiting and dismissing staff, establishing, and working towards strategic departmental goals and managing a departmental budget. | – How would you handle a difficult employee? – How do you train new employees? – What would you do if there was a shift that was understaffed? |
| Retail Salespeople | Retail salespeople facilitate purchases and share knowledge with customers to ensure a trouble-free buying experience. | – Can you describe an instance where you effectively upsold or cross-sold a product? – Describe your approach to meeting sales targets and driving revenue. – Give me an example of a time where you have experienced commission-based compensation. |
| Retail Advisors | Retail and sales advisors facilitate sales transactions by advising customers on suitable products that best meet their needs and encourage purchases. They explain product features and benefits to customers, assist them in locating specified products on the sales floor, and process customer payments. | – Why do you think you are suited to this role? – Tell us about a time you have demonstrated leadership skills? – Why are you interested in our company? |
| Visual Merchandisers | A Visual Merchandiser is responsible for planning and building displays that maximize impact on a day-to-day basis. They move equipment, arrange lighting and work with suppliers, while maintaining close connections at wider retail levels. | – Which of your projects shows off your creativity to the max? – How do you make the most of your visual merchandising budget? – What factors contribute to a great window display for the store? |
| Finance Role | Role Description | What video interview questions apply to this role? |
|---|---|---|
| Finance/accounting Graduate Scheme | Entry Level Financial Analysts are responsible for consolidating and analyzing budgets and income statement forecasts. They perform analysis of actual results at corporate and division levels. | – What is your greatest achievement? – Tell me one change introduced by the government which has had an impact on financial services? – Tell me about a recent piece of news that’s interested you? |
| Mortgage Advisor | Responsibilities as a Mortgage Advisor include meeting clients in person, or over the phone, assessing which type of mortgage is most suitable for each client, keeping up to date with new mortgage products and changes in mortgage regulation. | – What was the most stressful situation you have faced? – What attracted you to this company? – If you were hiring a person for this job, what would you look for? |
| Bank Cashier/Bank Teller | A Bank Cashier, or Bank Teller provides face-to-face services in banks and handles customers’ concerns and complaints. Their duties include greeting customers, opening, and closing accounts and handling deposits and withdrawals. | – Where do you see yourself in 5 years? – How would your previous co-workers describe you? – What are you passionate about outside of work? |
| Information Technology Role | Role Description | What video interview questions apply to this role? |
|---|---|---|
| Technical Support | Technical Support team members monitor and maintain the technology of the workplace. They respond to requests to help users in the business. Technical Support provides you with the opportunity to work in different types of companies and the chance to explore different industries. | – What are the most important skills in IT and why? – How would you begin a newly assigned IT project? – How would you ensure a difficult IT task or project is delivered on time and budget? |
| Business or Data Analyst | Working as a Business Analyst is all about looking for ways to improve the processes and business operations using technology. You will be required to analyze business needs, gather requirements, and create a project plan to design technological solutions. | – What are the essential tools for business analysts? – How do you approach a new analysis project? – How do you explain technical concepts to clients? |
| Software Engineer | As a Software Engineer, you will be required to design and program system software. This requires the understanding of software and hardware functions. The role provides a lot of interaction with other areas of the business to assess and provide solutions. | – Can you describe your process for planning and executing a programming task? – How do you explain technical concepts to stakeholders or colleagues without a technical background? – In your opinion, what distinguishes a great software engineer from a good one? |
| Consulting Role | Role Description | What video interview questions apply to this role? |
|---|---|---|
| Recruitment Consultant | Recruitment Consultants work closely with the hiring team to introduce effective recruitment strategies. It largely involves understanding hiring needs, selecting the right tools and leveraging technology to streamline the process. | – How do you ensure an organization’s recruitment strategy aligns with its goals?- – How would you ensure quality candidates are selected at pace? – How do you measure the effectiveness of a recruitment strategy? |
| Process Improvement Consultant | Process Improvement Consultants focus on maximizing efficiency in a given area of an organization. For example, they may be asked to work with Operations to streamline their various processes in handling day-to-day work, or HR to better manage employee performance. | – Give me an example of a time where you effectively revamped a process within an organization. – How do you measure the success of any change to a process you implement? – How do you ensure your recommendations are sustainable and will work over the longer-term? |
| Strategy Consultant | Strategy Consultants work to develop and implement strategies to drive organizational growth. Typically, strategy consultants work with the top-tier of management to navigate complex challenges and make informed decisions. | – What steps would you take to ensure your strategies are implemented over the longer-term? – How do you conduct market research and analysis to ensure you are well-informed prior to recommending growth opportunities for clients? – How do you ensure the viability of any initiatives you propose? |
| Management Consultant | Management Consultants work with organizations to improve their overall performance, working closely to target and resolve complex business strategies. The role often involves data analysis, research and providing recommendations. | – How do you establish credibility and build relationships at different levels of an organization? – How do you keep up with the latest industry trends to ensure you are up-to-date? – Can you share an example of when you |
| Engineering Role | Role Description | What video interview questions apply to this role? |
|---|---|---|
| Civil Engineer | Civil Engineers are predominantly involved in the design, construction and maintenance of infrastructure projects. This may include, building, dams and water supply systems, and often involves collaboration with other team members to ensure successful completion of a project. | – Can you highlight a significant architecture you have worked on, outlining your contributions to the project’s success? – How do you stay up-to-date with the latest developments in civil engineering? – How do you navigate stakeholder expectations during a project? |
| Chemical Engineer | Chemical Engineers apply chemistry, physics and engineering to the production, transformation and utilization of chemicals and materials. | – How do you approach risk assessment when undertaking a project? – Can you provide an example of a complex chemical engineering project you worked on, focusing on your approach to solving problems? – Describe your experience in working with simulation and modeling software. |
| Industrial Engineer | Industrial Engineers optimize complex systems, improve efficiency and maximise productivity. They do this by analyzing workflows, identifying bottlenecks and streamline processes. | – Provide an example of a project where you improved efficiency with your expertise. – How do you ensure successful implementation of a change you propose? – How do you measure the effectiveness of your initiatives and how do you communicate these to stakeholders involved? |
Having covered some of the video interviews used in popular industries, let’s work through some example video interview questions you can ask more broadly.
It is vital to ensure when choosing a video interview provider, they capture all the questions and competencies you want the individual to tap into for the required role. At Assess Candidates, we have a bespoke solution to customize your video interview. We also provide a variety of question styles to highlight candidates’ strengths and weaknesses as well as different industries including:
| Accounting | Banking | Consulting |
| Construction | Engineering | Finance |
| HR | Law | Marketing |
| Retail | Technology |
To help you visualize the video interviews used in candidate selection, here are some examples of video interview questions.
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There is no right or wrong solution for questions in a video interview, candidates must answer based on their research on an employer and past experiences.
The pre-recorded video interviews we offer each contain 9 questions. Candidates typically have two minutes to answer each automated interview question. However, the amount of time assigned per question is entirely customisable.
Let’s now move onto the differences between video interviewing technology and commonly used video recording platforms.
Pre-recorded and live video interviews conducted through a video interviewing platform, versus interviews conducted through Zoom or Microsoft Teams, are two different approaches to virtual interviewing. While both have their benefits, interviewing using a video interviewing platform (whether live or pre-recorded) offers several advantages over video interviews conducted over Zoom/Teams.
Below are some reasons why a video interviewing platform can benefit your company, rather than using Zoom and Microsoft Teams:
One such example of back-end data is the use of artificial intelligence to support hiring decisions.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the video interview process by automating tasks such as candidate scoring, facial recognition, and voice recognition. AI is the use of machines to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and language translation.
Major companies such as Hilton, HSBC and Unilever have used AI interview software. This allows companies to interview large numbers of potential candidates even more efficiently than they otherwise could. AI-enabled hiring software can quickly scan interviews with hundreds of applicants.
The importance of AI lies in its ability to analyze vast amounts of data in real-time, identify patterns and insights that are invisible to the human eye, and make predictions based on that analysis. This enables HR professionals to do the following more efficiently:
The incorporation of artificial intelligence into HR procedures is a fresh and most likely irreversible movement. When it comes to hiring, as many as 86% of employers use technology-facilitated job interviews, with an increasing number of them opting for automated video interviews (AVIs)
AI technology can be used to enhance the video interview process in several ways. For example, facial recognition software can analyze a candidate’s facial expressions, tone of voice, and body language to determine their level of confidence, enthusiasm, and engagement. This helps recruiters evaluate a candidate’s soft skills, such as communication, emotional intelligence, and cultural fit, which are difficult to assess through a resume or phone screen.
However, there are ethical and legal considerations to keep in mind when using AI technology to assess candidates. Recruiters should check that the algorithms used are free from bias and discrimination and that candidates are treated fairly and with respect. It is also important to provide candidates with transparency and an opportunity to opt-out of the process and toggle off AI if they have concerns about the use of AI technology.
We will now cover why you should use Assess Candidates for video interviews to recruit.
Assess Candidates video interviews are an effective tool for streamlining the hiring process and identifying the most qualified candidates.
Here are four reasons why you should consider using Assess Candidates video interviews in your hiring process:
Assess Candidates video interviews ultimately provide a modern, user-friendly, and scalable solution to streamline the hiring process and ensure a more accurate assessment of candidate qualifications, skills, and fit. Here is an example case study of how Assess Candidates video interviews have been used previously.
IT consulting company Implements Assess Candidates Video Interview Platform to Streamline Recruitment Process
The HR team at the IT consulting company needed to find a more efficient and effective way to assess candidates while maintaining the quality of hire. They required a solution that would help them identify the best candidates quickly and efficiently, without sacrificing the personal touch of the hiring process. Traditional recruitment methods were time-consuming and often failed to deliver the quality of hire they needed.
After conducting extensive research on modern recruitment techniques, the HR team decided to implement the Assess Candidates Video Interview Platform. The platform provided the team with a digital solution to assess candidates‘ technical skills, communication skills, and overall fit for the role.
The Assess Candidates Video Interview Platform allowed candidates to complete an automated video interview, answering pre-set technical questions worked on by the company and one of our experts. The HR team could then evaluate each candidate’s responses at their convenience, without the need for time-consuming in-person interviews. The platform also provided AI feedback on the candidates performance, allowing the team to make data-driven hiring decisions.
The Assess Candidates Video Interview Platform proved to be an excellent solution. It helped the HR team identify the best technical candidates quickly and efficiently, without sacrificing the quality of hire. The platform reduced time-to-hire, enabling the company to fill open technical positions promptly. Additionally, the platform provided valuable insights into candidate performance, enabling the HR team to make informed hiring decisions. As a result, the IT consulting company was able to build a high-performing technical team that was essential for achieving their growth objectives. Candidate feedback on user experience was overwhelmingly positive: Ease of use, elimination of stress and an interactive and visually enhanced solution that worked for hiring managers and job candidates alike.
Having the right talent matched to the right position is one of the top 3 priorities of the CEO role. It is just as important as ensuring the growing and satisfied customer base and having a sound financial position to continue developing the business.
Simply put, no CEO can afford hiring employees who will not be a good fit for the company – making and hence recruitment is such an important function of any business, large or small.
As a talent acquisition expert, hiring manager or HR professional, you play a pivotal role in recruiting the right talent who possess the skills of the future or potential to develop them. This is where pre-employment psychometric tests come in to help select and recruit the best fit talent for your organisation. The psychometric recruitment tests help make more informed hiring decisions, resulting in improved job performance, better employee retention rates, time and cost savings, and ultimately satisfying your line managers.
This article on pre-employment, recruitment psychometric tests, highlights their benefits, optimal use, and how to successfully integrate pre-employment assessments into your recruitment process.
A recruitment pre-employment psychometric test, is a standardised assessment tool that allows employers to assess and appraise the potential, talent, and ability levels of candidates during the recruitment process, as well as their capacity for success in the workplace.
Psychometric tests measure a candidate’s:
among other factors.
Psychometric tests have been used for over 100 years in the candidate selection process and they have solid, proven scientific support.
As a recruiter or hiring manager, psychometric tests provide a valuable means of evaluating a candidate’s suitability for the role in question. By using a personality test and testing candidates’ problem-solving skills, ability to handle challenges they will face in the role, you can make more informed decisions about which candidates are best fit for the job.
In today’s highly competitive job market, it’s more important than ever for organisations to attract and retain top talent.
Psychometric tests provide comprehensive evaluation of a candidate’s mental capabilities and behavioural traits. These assessments are a valuable resource for employers looking to make data-driven, legally defensible, and effective hiring decisions. By measuring factors such as personality, cognitive abilities, and work style, psychometric tests provide objective data that can help determine a candidate’s suitability for a specific job role and the organisation’s culture.
These tests are relevant for all job levels, from entry-level to senior positions. Ultimately, psychometric tests provide a reliable and scientifically validated method of assessing candidates, leading to more successful hires and a stronger workforce.
Aptitude tests are a type of psychometric test that assess a candidate’s skills and abilities in specific areas such as numerical, verbal, or logical reasoning. They are often used to determine a candidate’s suitability for a certain role, particularly for roles that require technical or analytical skills, such as IT, finance, or engineering. By using psychometric tests, the risk of hiring someone who lacks the technical skills required for the job is reduced, leading to better overall job performance and productivity.
In fact, research has shown that nearly all large businesses and 70% of SMEs in Europe, India, and Australia use aptitude tests, indicating a significant rise in the use of these tests over the past 8 years.
Top reasons to consider when using psychometric tests during your recruitment process:
It is also important to consider how psychometric tests can be applied in different types of recruitment efforts. Understanding which form of recruitment your organisation is undertaking can help you determine how psychometric tests can best be utilised in the hiring process.
Broadly speaking, we may divide recruitment efforts into the following 4 forms:
| High Volume Recruitment | A large number of applications need to be reviewed |
| Medium Volume Recruitment | A moderate number of applications need to be reviewed |
| Low Volume Recruitment | A small number of applications will be reviewed, such as for senior hires |
| Rolling Recruitment | A continuous hiring process where an organisation accepts job applications whilst leaving the role/job advert open. |
Regardless of the type of recruitment, pre-employment psychometric tests can help to reduce time-to-hire and accurately assess candidates.
When it comes to assessing candidates, recruiters have a range of psychometric tests at their disposal to determine if a candidate has the right skill sets for the role. Here are the most common types of psychometric tests used in recruitment:
To Assess Candidates effectively, it’s important to tailor the selection of tests to your organisation’s needs. Our team of organisational psychologists and consultants can work with you to develop a bespoke candidate assessment process that aligns with your recruitment goals and objectives.
Psychometric tests are often used alongside other selection methods, such as video or face-to-face interviews, assessment centres and references, to provide a more comprehensive understanding of a candidate’s abilities and suitability for a role. This helps recruiters make more informed hiring decisions and reduces the risk of costly hiring mistakes. The tests can also provide valuable insights into a candidate’s strengths and weaknesses, which can be used during the interview process and for ongoing development and training once a candidate is hired.
Aptitude tests are commonly used to filter out unsuitable candidates early in the process, and further psychometric testing can be used to evaluate a candidate’s personality traits, values, and motivations. Different types of jobs may require different types of psychometric tests, such as numerical reasoning tests for roles that require analytical skills and behavioural tests for roles that require interpersonal skills and teamwork.
Here is an example of a typical recruitment process:
The goal of psychometric testing is to efficiently screen out unsuitable candidates, without the need for time-consuming one-to-one interviews and focus recruiters’ attention on candidates who are more likely to be a good fit for the role.
The table below presents a summary of an assessment centre and the different types of psychometric recruitment tests, and their potential applications:
| Test Type | Description | Potential Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Aptitude | Assess cognitive abilities such as numeracy, literacy and spatial awareness | Roles that require strong analytical and problem-solving skills |
| Behavioural | Assess personality traits, values, and motivations | Roles that require strong interpersonal skills and teamwork |
| Assessment Centres | Evaluate a candidate’s abilities and potential through various exercises such as group activities, role-plays, and presentations | Roles with potential for leadership positions |
| Game-Based Assessments | Use interactive tasks and game-like elements to evaluate a candidate’s cognitive abilities and personality traits | Roles that require creativity and adaptability |
Note that this table is just an example, and recruiters should consider the specific needs of their company and roles when deciding which types of tests to use.
This question is a great starting place for any recruiter or HR professional who is looking to plan or design a recruitment campaign for their team or department. In the following steps we explain each key decision point you will need to carefully consider to prepare a sound recruitment strategy plan.
Determining the size of your recruitment campaign can be difficult, however there are some easy tricks you can follow. Here are two important factors to consider:
Things to keep in mind:
Each organisation, and sometimes even individual departments within an organisation will have their own approach to involving recruiting teams in the selection process of their future co-workers.
It is best practice for recruiters and HR specialists to organise the recruitment process in a way that minimises any distractions to the daily running of the business, as well as ensuring each candidate has an equal and fair chance for evaluation. What does this mean for your company?
Understanding what is needed from a potential employee is crucial to achieving the right result. How do I prepare a job specification and candidate profile?
This depends on whether you are filling a longstanding position or a new role in the company or industry. If it is a well-established position, such as a financial analyst, you can find the requirements online or on job boards of your competitors. However if it is a new role, such as a creative director, you will need to work closely with the sponsor of the recruitment campaign to understand their objectives and the expectations and challenges of the position.
For example. If you’re looking for a junior data scientist with experience in the pharmaceutical industry, any candidate with experience in this field would be a bonus. However, attention to detail and introverted personality traits may be more important for success in a role that requires meticulous analysis of product and sales in a highly sensitive and regulated environment.
Would you prefer to employ someone without experience in this field but with the right skills and personality profile? Or someone with experience but without the necessary skills and personality traits? The former may require additional training but will make a valuable and long term contribution to the company, while the latter may not require training but may lack the motivation and determination to perform the job’s required tasks, leading to high turnover and costs of the company.
Once you have built a candidate profile, match each element against an assessment tool.
(Link the assessments sections here).
At Assess Candidates we provide personalised service in preparing the assessment matrix. We will help you break down key candidate requirements and match these against a variety of assessments so that you can ensure your recruitment approach is sufficient and reliable. We will explain major differences and benefits and risks of choosing between alternative options.
There are many different methods and techniques you can use to interact with your candidates during the recruitment process, which includes the type of communication (invitations, instructions, feedback messages) and type of assessments (standard or interactive, live or pre-recorded, etc.). Each decision will highlight the motivations and culture of your company.
Recruitment campaigns have become a new marketing and brand building tool.
This is an opportunity to define the brand experience you want to convey to potential employees. For Example if your company works with new technologies and wants to attract tech-savvy Gen Z candidates, your messaging should reflect that. Alternatively, if your company works with traditional clients, like in the insurance industry, trust, simplicity and familiarity may be the most important branding message.
Consider how automated you want your recruitment process to be. Nowadays, job matching tools can analyse CVs to help you structure a decision-making algorithm that selects the best candidates. Equally, video interviews can be conducted in an automated manner, but if your company values physical interaction among coworkers, your teams may want to personally screen each candidate at this stage.
As your candidates pass a series of assessment tests, such as aptitude reasoning tests, are you looking to eliminate candidates based on each of the series of tests, or would you prefer to analyse the aggregate outputs?
Prepare the budget for the recruitment transformation or new assessment tools but remember to estimate not only future spending but also expected savings.
The decision makers and recruitment campaign sponsors will expect you to provide a sound financial analysis for any proposal. This includes your plans to change your company’s recruitment strategy or selection of assessment tools. What do you need to consider to prepare an effective recruitment budget?
What forms part of the total cost?
The nature of realised saving opportunities and benefits are harder to estimate – there are many dynamic factors in making your recruitment campaign successful. However, it is imperative that you try to quantify:
These include higher staff productivity and stronger market position stemming from effective recruitment, as well as fewer unsuccessful staffing choices (fewer employees leaving their jobs before being able to generate value for the business). Our research at Assess Candidates estimates that the cost of new assessments is usually paid back within the first year of implementation.
Assessing the number of individuals involved in a recruitment campaign and the extent to which their time was diverted away from their main responsibilities is an important step in evaluating the efficiency of the internal recruitment efforts. Here are some potential considerations to keep in mind:
Many companies – especially small and medium sized enterprises struggle to perform successful recruitment campaigns simply because they lack the size and budgets to organise it internally. The same companies are very successful and effective in what they do best – their respective business offerings in their markets. Why not focus on what generates most value and not leave the recruitment job to the experts?
At Assess Candidates we want to support organisations of all sizes.
Here are some pros of why psychometric tests should be used during the hiring process:
Despite the numerous benefits of using psychometric testing in recruitment, there are some drawbacks to consider. Here are three potential disadvantages and solutions:
Solution : Combine assessments with other selection methods such as interviews or references to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the candidate’s skills and experience.
Solution : Check what anti-cheating software is integrated into the solution offered by your provider. You can also utilise technology such as video interviews with AI facial recognition and live recording, which makes cheating impossible. Or re-test randomised candidates at a later stage.
Solution : Discuss the practice resources providers can offer to alleviate test anxiety. Have a user-friendly interface that candidates can easily navigate. Ensure the technology infrastructure is reliable and functions smoothly to avoid candidates experiencing technical difficulties, which can add unnecessary stress.
At Assess Candidates we provide a range of psychometric assessments to suit all organisation’s needs.
Below is an example of our reporting tool on Assess Candidates, that you as a hiring manager or talent acquisition expert will see when reviewing candidate performance.
Here are the top four reasons to consider using Assess Candidates’ Psychometric tests for your hiring process:
A leading FMCG company approached us for a proposal for a transformation of their recruitment process among the challenges in retaining top talent and high employee turnover. We worked together with client’s stakeholders to identify the inefficiencies in the process, reasons for short staff tenure and problems with job matching.
With the new recruitment strategy, as well as Assess Candidates hiring assessment platform, our client was able to:
When we performed a post campaign impact analysis with the client we found that the use of psychometric assessments saved the company money in terms of recruitment costs, improved overall employee satisfaction, and boosted morale.
A medium-sized company approached us with their challenge of attracting top talent whilst competing against larger companies with bigger budgets and long standing known brands. Together with the client’s HR team we identified a better way to evaluate candidates beyond just their experience and qualifications. We recommended:
With the use of our hiring assessment platform, the client team was able to invite a larger than usual number of candidates in the process without sacrificing on the quality of job matching. Our assessments helped identify candidates who were a good fit for the company’s culture and values, resulting in a higher percentage of new hires who stayed with the company for longer periods. The assessments were found to be user-friendly and highly predictive of job performance, allowing the HR team to confidently make hiring decisions.
As a result, in the long term our client was able to run effective and successful recruitment campaigns, attracting better talent at a lower price and with fewer system and process inefficiencies. Our client grew the personnel within a few recruitment campaigns and was able to successfully strengthen their position in the market.
Psychometric tests are used across a wide range of industries and roles – with industries such as finance, consulting, law, engineering and IT leading the way in the use se psychometric for their recruitment campaigns The types of tests that are most common and recognisable in recruitment are: cognitive ability tests (also known as aptitude tests), personality tests, and situational judgement tests.
In finance and consulting, for example, cognitive ability tests are commonly used to assess a candidate’s numerical and verbal reasoning abilities, while in engineering and IT, technical aptitude tests may be used to assess a candidate’s problem-solving and understanding complex systems. Personality tests may be used across industries to assess traits such as openness to experience, conscientiousness, and emotional stability, while situational judgement tests may be used to assess a candidate’s decision-making abilities.
| Industry | Recommended Assessments | Key/most common Assessments |
|---|---|---|
| Banking | Aptitude tests, Presentation, Negotiation and Team exercise, Video Interview – competency and personality, Game-based assessments. | Numerical reasoning test, Assessment centre exercises that involve other candidates, Case study interview |
| Consulting | Aptitude tests, Game-based assessments, Situational Judgement Test, Assessment centre exercises and Personality interviews. | Numerical and logical reasoning tests, Personality and Situational Judgement tests, Risk and attention measuring games |
| Law | Aptitude and Personality tests, Video interviews | Checking tests, Critical thinking tests, Case study interviews and Verbal reasoning tests. |
| Technology | Technical tests (mechanical, coding, AI), Numerical and Logical reasoning, Game-based assessments and Technical interviews. | Technical tests (mechanical, coding, AI), Aptitude reasoning tests and technical interviews. |
Psychometric tests have key advantages in the recruitment process:
In conclusion, by using psychometric tests, companies can help to reduce the impact of unconscious bias and ensure that candidates are evaluated based on their abilities rather than their background. This can help to increase diversity in the workplace and ensure that the best candidates are selected for the role.
Psychometric tests are designed to measure a candidate’s abilities in comparison to a norm group, which is typically a group of people who have previously taken the test. To determine whether a candidate has “passed” a test, a threshold or passing percentile is often set. This threshold or percentile represents the minimum score a candidate must achieve to be considered for the role.
For example, if the passing percentile is set at 50%, it means that a candidate must score higher than 50% of the norm group in order to be considered for the role. Percentile refers to the percentage of the entire population that the candidate performed better than – eg. if passing percentile is set at 70%, only 30% of the best performing candidates progress to the next stage.
What will the passing percentile depend on:
Psychometric testing can be a valuable sifting tool when there are a large number of candidates applying for a particular role. By setting a passing percentile, recruiters can use the results of the test to quickly identify candidates who are most likely to be a good fit for the job.
A valuable skill that sets candidates apart and is crucial for the job may require a higher passing score than other skills. For instance, an IT job may require a candidate to score above the 50th percentile on a verbal reasoning test, indicating they perform better than half of the test pool. However, for a numerical reasoning test or coding assessment, the required percentile may be as high as 80%. This ensures that the candidate possesses the necessary proficiency in these skills that are particularly relevant to the job.
Some industries are more challenging to get into – examples of aptitude tests in investment banks and on the other side Big 4 firms that include more ‘interactive’ problem solving assessments, and divert away from focusing on numerical or verbal scores. There are many possible strategies. Some industries pose more challenges to applicants than others.
There are various approaches to tackling these tests and succeeding in these competitive industries.
Technology has transformed hiring, empowering recruiters with powerful tools to find top talent. Applying for jobs is now easier than ever, thanks to ‘easy apply’ or ‘one-click apply’ features.
However, this advancement also presents a significant problem to the talent acquisition department. As a hiring manager or HR professional, finding the best candidate among the pool of job applications is daunting, often like finding a needle in a haystack.
To avoid this issue companies use standardized assessments, such as aptitude tests, to identify the best fit for the job. These tests evaluate a candidate’s potential for success in a specific role.
With the right blend of technology and strategies, you can uncover the perfect candidate from the applicant pool.
This article highlights the transformative benefits of pre-employment aptitude assessments, showing you how they can make your hiring process a breeze.
Keep reading to find out more.
An aptitude test is a standardized assessment to assess the cognitive skills and potential of candidates. By utilizing an aptitude test, employers can evaluate a candidate’s abilities and make informed decisions when selecting the most suitable applicants for the role.
A pre-employment aptitude test measures the ability of candidates to learn and perform required tasks to be successful in the specific work environment of your organisation. Although these assessments do not necessarily measure innate intelligence, they provide insight into whether a candidate has the necessary abilities to succeed in a given role.
Having explored the concept of aptitude tests in recruitment, we now turn our attention to their significance in the hiring process. Understanding why aptitude tests hold such importance is crucial in grasping their impact on effective candidate evaluation and selection.
Let’s now look into the key reasons why aptitude assessments are crucial in the recruitment process
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Good to know: Having an engaging assessment platform can be a quick win to help build a favourable brand impression among your candidates.
Now that we understand the importance of aptitude tests in recruitment, let’s delve into the pros and cons of implementing them. By considering the benefits and challenges, we can gain valuable insights to enhance our hiring practices.
Let’s explore the advantages and potential drawbacks of aptitude tests in recruitment.
| Advantage of using pre-employment aptitude test | How it impacts the hiring process |
|---|---|
| Cost effective | Aptitude tests for recruitment can help find the most eligible applicants for a job, reducing the need for additional recruitment efforts and saving on advertising and candidate screening costs. |
| Unbiased | Pre-employment aptitude tests are given consistently to all applicants, guaranteeing that everyone is assessed using the same criteria. This serves to reduce differences in the recruitment procedure and reduces the possibility of bias. |
| Boost organizational diversity | Aptitude tests can be taken from anywhere allowing people from all over the world to be assessed, thus boosting potential for diversity across your organization. |
| Efficient recruitment tool | Aptitude assessments can be given swiftly and effectively, saving the HR department’s time spent interviewing and screening applicants. |
| Scientific validity | Aptitude assessments are designed based on research and psychometric principles to ensure that they accurately measure the abilities and skills that are relevant to the job. |
Good to know: According to Sartori and Pasini, 2007, the objective of an aptitude test is to assess an applicant’s ability by scoring the speed and accuracy of their answers. Using these scores, the aptitude tests allow the employer to make a more informed hiring decision based on the candidate’s performance.
As we have explored the benefits of implementing aptitude tests in recruitment, it is important to acknowledge that like any assessment method, there are also potential challenges to consider. Now, let’s delve into the disadvantages of implementing aptitude tests, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of the subject and enabling you to make informed decisions for your recruitment process.
| CONS | How it Impacts the Hiring Process |
|---|---|
| Test anxiety | Test Anxiety is a frequent challenge that applicants face while taking an aptitude assessment. It can impact candidate performance, preventing them from displaying their true ability. It can be avoided by offering them practice tests and tools, as well as straightforward instructions, support, and encouragement throughout the testing process. |
| Cheating | Cheating on aptitude tests is possible, especially if they are given remotely, which can weaken the accuracy of the results. Opt for a provider with tools to minimise cheating and strict time conditions where cheating is less impactful. |
| Captures one aspect of a candidate’s performance | Aptitude tests for recruitment do not assess a candidate’s psychological characteristics, work experience, motivation, or interpersonal skills, all of which can influence job success. An applicant may score well on an aptitude test but lack the required skills or expertise to perform well in the interview. It is important to use a range of assessments to ensure softer skills are captured to build an overall picture. |
| Time is required to design the aptitude test | The design of an aptitude test can take time and needs plenty of detail to get just right. Solve this by turning to an external provider as opted for by many organisations. |
| Not suitable for all roles | Pre-employment aptitude assessments are unlikely to be suitable for all roles. It is key to consider the nature of your role and request consultation from a trusted advisor to build your perfect assessment process. |
Having examined the pros and cons of implementing aptitude tests for job recruitment, it is crucial to explore how these tests are scored and understand the concept of percentiles. By delving into the scoring process we can gain a deeper understanding of how aptitude tests are evaluated and how they can effectively inform hiring decisions.
Let’s now explore the scoring methods and passing percentiles associated with aptitude tests in recruitment.
Since recruiters are in charge of administering the aptitude test, they can set a benchmark score or passing percentiles required for the candidates.
For example, a company may establish a passing percentile of 70%, indicating that individuals scoring at or above the 70% mark would be considered for future rounds.
You’re probably wondering what criteria you should use to determine a passing percentile.
Here are a few crucial factors that will help you to get more clarity:
We recommend a lower cut-off at the 30th percentile. This helps ensure not too much weight is put on an assessment, as no method is 100% infallible. Rather, you safely sift and progress desired applicants through this method.
Now that we have covered how aptitude tests are scored and the importance of passing percentiles, let’s shift our focus to the ongoing validation and adaptation of these tests in the recruitment process. Exploring this continuous process will help us understand how aptitude tests remain reliable and relevant in assessing candidates over time.
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Ongoing test validation and adaptation are critical to keeping aptitude tests relevant and successful in the recruiting process. Here are some key details to consider:
While aptitude tests undergo ongoing validation and adaptation to ensure relevance, it’s crucial to question their effectiveness compared to traditional interviews. Aptitude tests for recruitment provide objectivity, while interviews are often said to be prone to biases.
Let’s explore the nature of aptitude tests and then weigh their predictive accuracy against traditional interviews.
Traditional interviews have long been the go-to method for evaluating job candidates, but research suggests they may not be the most accurate predictor of job performance.
According to a Harvard Business Review survey, 63% of hiring managers believe traditional interviews fall short in assessing a candidate’s true capabilities. While interviews allow for open conversations and the evaluation of soft skills, they are prone to biases and first impressions, which can cloud judgment.
Aptitude tests, on the other hand, provide a more objective and unbiased evaluation of a candidate’s skills. These exams assess a candidate’s cognitive ability, problem-solving abilities, and other work-related traits, offering insightful information about how well they could function in their future roles.
A study conducted by revealed compelling evidence of the effectiveness of various cognitive ability tests, including aptitude tests, in predicting job performance with a validity coefficient exceeding 51% (Hurtz & Donovan, 2000).
Both aptitude tests and traditional methods of interviewing can be used by a wide range of companies, and the choice between them often depends on various factors, including:
Aptitude tests are highly valued in
Traditional interviews are preferred in:
The approaches a firm chooses to use to evaluate job candidates, traditional interviews or aptitude tests, depends on the requirements and preferences of that particular organization. A hybrid strategy that combines the two approaches can result in a more thorough and accurate review, which will eventually improve recruiting decisions.
Now that we have explored the aptitude tests versus traditional interviews in assessing candidate performance, we will take a look at examples of aptitude tests used in recruitment.
Aptitude tests used in recruitment cover a wide range of cognitive abilities and skill sets. By examining these examples in detail, we can gain a better understanding of the types of aptitude tests utilized to assess candidates’ skills, abilities, and potential.
Here are a few examples of aptitude tests commonly used by employers.
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Let’s explore a range of aptitude tests frequently employed in recruitment in detail and how they contribute to effective candidate evaluation.
The Numerical Reasoning Test assesses the candidate’s ability to perform arithmetic calculations by drawing numerical data from charts, graphs and tables.
An example of a pre-employment numerical reasoning question:
Verbal reasoning assessments measure the candidate’s ability to critically read a passage of text, interpret it and use conclusions drawn from a written passage of text to assert if the statements in question are true, false or Cannot Say.
Here is a glimpse of a pre-employment verbal reasoning test question:
Logical reasoning test examines the candidate’s ability to solve problems, identify the pattern, and reason critically by interacting with visual sequences based on shapes, diagrams and icons.
Check out the pre-employment logical reasoning test question example below:
Diagrammatic Reasoning Test requires candidates to use logical reasoning skills to interpret the patterns in a sequence to solve problems. Diagrams, flowcharts, and other visual representations of information are commonly used in diagrammatic reasoning assessment.
Here is an example of a diagrammatic reasoning test
Abstract reasoning tests use abstract shapes and symbols. It is used to assess a candidate’s ability to recognise patterns and relationships in complex sets of data without the assistance of visual representations.
This assessment measures the candidate’s ability to compare and analyse various 2D and 3D shapes to solve problems.
Spatial reasoning frequently demands the candidate to rotate and manipulate shapes in their head mentally and is used to evaluate abilities including spatial perception, mental visualisation, and spatial memory.
In this assessment, the candidate’s ability to critically reason is measured using a variety of statements and questions around the information provided.
The critical reasoning test is to analyse the capacity of candidates to make judgements and solve problems by applying evidence and reasons.
Critical thinking abilities are regarded as an important talent for assessing decision-making capacity while under pressure.
In this assessment, candidates are provided with likely scenarios and will be required to choose the best (and worst) decision options.
A Situational Judgement Test can give significant insight into how a candidate would react in certain work scenarios.
Specific soft skills, like leadership, responsibility, and time management, can potentially be measured through situational judgement assessments.
Here are the top four reasons to consider using Assess Candidates’ Aptitude tests for your hiring process:
In conclusion, by incorporating aptitude tests, recruiters can make informed decisions, improve the efficiency of candidate selection, and enhance the overall quality of their workforce. However, it is crucial to regularly validate and verify the effectiveness and accuracy of the tests over time. This ensures that the aptitude tests remain reliable and up-to-date, and continue to provide valuable insights for making hiring decisions.
In the following FAQ section, we will address some final queries that recruiters often have.
This article provides a comprehensive and easily understandable overview of the pre-employment abstract reasoning test, a widely used tool in recruiter’s candidate selection processes.
Are you involved in recruitment as a recruiter, talent acquisition specialist, HR expert, or hiring manager? Chances are, you’re already utilizing a diverse range of candidate assessment tools to swiftly identify and hire the most suitable candidates. These tools can include aptitude tests, video interviews, assessment centers, and even assessment games.
If you are looking for answers to questions such as:
Then this text is for you. Continue reading to find the answers and much more.
A pre-employment abstract reasoning test is a cognitive ability test that assesses a person’s ability to solve problems and comprehend complicated ideas, especially when they have little to no prior knowledge or experience.
Abstract reasoning, also known as inductive or non-verbal reasoning, involves identifying patterns, relationships, and rules within visual or abstract stimuli.
The pre-employment abstract reasoning tests are a common type of aptitude or psychometric test used in job recruitment. They are mainly used to measure candidates’ ability to solve problems and comprehend complicated ideas, especially in situations when they have little to no prior knowledge or experience.
As a recruitment manager or a talent acquisition expert, many jobs you advertise may require strong critical thinking, problem-solving, and analytical skills. These assessments are commonly used in fields such as
Abstract reasoning tests are not designed to assess specific knowledge or skills. Instead, they focus on evaluating an individual’s ability to identify and apply rules or principles based solely on visual stimuli. This prerequisite of abstract reasoning tests highlights the importance of visual-based reasoning in the assessment process.
For recruiters and hiring managers, abstract reasoning tests form a fundamental part of the selection process supporting finding those applicants that have the aptitude to fill the requirements of the role, whether that be in finance, engineering, or scientific research.
Having covered the prerequisites and main competence of abstract reasoning tests, let’s now delve into understanding what these tests measure.
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Abstract reasoning tests determine a person’s capacity for information analysis, pattern recognition, and making connections without the aid of prior knowledge or specialised abilities.
Abstract reasoning tests provide insights into an individual’s cognitive abilities, including analytical skills, creativity, and critical thinking in abstract and complex situations.
Abstract reasoning tests are a type of cognitive assessment also referred to as inductive reasoning tests because they assess the ability to identify patterns and draw conclusions based on limited information.
Let’s discover the different aspects of abstract, logical and diagrammatic tests.
| Assessment Type | What it measures | What it involves | What is assessed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Reasoning Test | Abstract pre-employment tests measure a person’s ability to think critically, problem-solving, and make choices based on new or incomplete information. | It typically involves a series of diagrams, shapes, or patterns, and requires the test-taker to identify the underlying logic or pattern that governs the sequence. | The test-taker must then use this understanding to predict the next item in the sequence or complete a missing item. |
| Logical Reasoning Test | Logical pre-employment tests assess an individual’s ability to apply formal or informal logic to solve problems. | These tests often involve questions requiring the test-taker to analyse statements, evaluate arguments, and draw conclusions based on a set of rules or principles. | Logical tests are often used to assess a person’s ability to think logically, critically, and analytically. |
| Diagrammatic Reasoning Test | Diagrammatic pre-employment tests, sometimes referred to as spatial reasoning tests, assess an individual’s ability to understand and manipulate visual information. | These tests often involve diagrams or images that require the test-taker to identify patterns, relationships, and spatial arrangements among objects or shapes. | Diagrammatic tests are often used to assess a person’s ability to understand and work with visual information. |
Although skills in Abstract, Logical, and Diagrammatic Reasoning may overlap, each type has a distinct goal and focus.
Recognizing the distinctions between logical, diagrammatic, and abstract reasoning tests empowers recruiters to assess candidates more effectively, make informed hiring decisions, and optimize their talent acquisition processes.
Let’s now find out about some of the most common types of abstract reasoning tests:
Abstract reasoning tests are intended to assess a person’s capacity for understanding and analysing complicated relationships, patterns, and concepts. There are several types of abstract reasoning tests, including:
It is worth noting that while there are various types of abstract reasoning tests, the terminology used for these tests may vary depending on the publisher or assessment provider.
Gaining a comprehension of these tests will assist the recruiters in determining the most suitable test for your organization and navigating the occasionally unfamiliar realm of psychometrics terminology.
Now, let’s explore some examples of abstract reasoning test questions.
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To help you visualise the questions, here are some examples of pre-employment abstract reasoning test questions with worked solutions:
Average time per question: 60 seconds
The abstract test typically contains 10- 40 questions
Learn how to interpret abstract reasoning test results and understand the meaning of percentile score marks with our next section.
By examining the percentile score marks, recruiters analyse the results of the abstract thinking test. A candidate’s performance in relation to other test-takers is depicted by their percentile score, which is a statistical indicator.
For instance, if a candidate has a score in the 75th percentile, it signifies that they outperformed 75% of the test-takers.
Recruiters use percentile scores to compare and identify top-scoring candidates who possess the necessary cognitive abilities for the job. However, it’s important to consider other factors like work experience and soft skills during candidate evaluation.
Here are some general guidelines for interpreting percentile scores on abstract reasoning tests:
Remember: Pre-employment abstract reasoning tests are best used as a sifting tool. We recommend employing low cut offs around the 30th percentile to ensure a basic standard of performance is met. You can then introduce additional stages to find out more about your candidate’s suitability for the role.
Read on to learn more about the advantages of employing abstract reasoning tests for you and your company.
Here are 4 top reasons for incorporating abstract reasoning tests in the hiring process.
For example, a software development company might administer an abstract reasoning test to assess candidates’ logical thinking skills, as they need to solve intricate coding challenges
For instance, an investment firm may use an abstract reasoning test to identify candidates who can quickly understand market trends and make sound investment decisions.
For example, a tech company aiming to enhance diversity and inclusion might rely on abstract reasoning tests to assess candidates solely based on their cognitive abilities.
For example, when hiring entry-level analysts, a consulting company may utilize an abstract reasoning test to eliminate candidates lacking the requisite analytical skills prior to progressing to the interview phase
Despite the valuable insights that abstract reasoning tests bring, there are drawbacks. Let’s cover these in some more detail.
Here are 5 questions often asked when it comes to limitations of abstract reasoning tests in the recruitment process.
Solution: Use abstract reasoning tests alongside a situational judgement test to give candidates a realistic job preview of what to expect in a given role.
Solution: Encourage candidates to practice abstract reasoning tests beforehand to ensure test scores reflect their true performance.
Solution: Consider introducing other assessments to tap into preferences and behavioural competence. For example, a measure of personality or situational judgement test to get a well-rounded picture of a candidate.
Solution: Consider introducing other assessments to tap into preferences and behavioural competence. For example, a measure of personality or situational judgement test to get a well-rounded picture of a candidate.
We will now move onto the industries that employ abstract reasoning tests.
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Abstract reasoning tests are used in various industries and fields to assess an individual’s logical and analytical thinking abilities.
While specific industries may have their own unique assessment requirements, here are some examples of industries that commonly utilize abstract reasoning tests:
It’s important to note that the specific use of abstract reasoning tests may vary within each industry and even among different companies or organizations.
Now, let’s dive into the roles and positions that are particularly well-suited for recruitment with abstract reasoning tests.
Abstract reasoning tests commonly assess a candidate’s problem-solving and critical-thinking capacity. These tests are most appropriate for highly analytical, creative, and innovative jobs.
Here are some positions that could benefit from the use of abstract reasoning tests in the recruitment process:
| Roles and Positions | Skills Assessed |
|---|---|
| Engineers | Ability to analyse complex data and solve technical problems. |
| Analysts | Ability to understand complex algorithms, think creatively and solve technical problems. |
| Software Developers | Ability to understand complex algorithms, think creatively, and solve technical problems. |
| Architects | Ability to think creatively, analyse complex data, and develop innovative solutions. |
| Scientists | Ability to think critically, analyse data, and solve complex problems. |
Ultimately, any position that requires strong analytical and problem-solving skills could benefit from the use of abstract reasoning tests in the recruitment process.
Keep reading to discover even more answers to frequently asked questions about the Abstract reasoning pre-employment recruitment tests.
Here are a few FAQs that provide recruiters with a better understanding of the rationale, benefits, interpretation, and considerations associated with using abstract reasoning tests in the pre-employment recruitment process.
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At Assess Candidates we provide a range of psychometric assessments to suit all organisation’s needs.
Below is an example of our reporting tool on Assess Candidates, that you as a hiring manager or talent acquisition expert will see when reviewing candidate performance.
Here are the top four reasons to consider using Assess Candidates’ Pre-employment tests for your hiring process:
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