Have you ever looked at a job posting and thought, “Yeah, sure, I could do that”? Or applied to a position that you’d like but didn’t necessarily have the skills for? This is one of the biggest reasons employers have a series of tests to weed out applicants that may not be ready for a role’s challenges.
“According to the Department of Labor, any assessment used during the employee screening and selection process is a test. And any test used must be job-related,” says Ira S. Wolfe, president of Success Performance Solutions and author of “Perfect Labor Storm 2.0”. “The inherent problem with most testing is that it focuses on what the applicant accomplished in the past. And many managers focus on the ‘hard’ skills — the technical and administrative skills.”
As Wolfe points out, though, employers need to test how the applicant will apply these skills, and that they can repeat their success. “While the interview and references are still important tools, work samples and pre-employment testing are playing a bigger role to assess future performance and potential to adapt and grow.”
Read on to learn more about how employers can adequately test the skills of their applicants, and to find out how you can prepare to ace these tests.