Using resumes and cover letters only has shown not to be sufficiently reliable in making final hiring decisions. They’re prone to bias, fail to measure essential attributes for job suitability, and selections are made from gut feelings.
Pre-screening assessments can fill these gaps by gathering deeper and more relevant insights about a candidate, which increases the chances of finding a right-fit hire within a shorter period than your normal time-to-hire rate.
What Is a Pre-Screening Assessment in Hiring?
A pre-screening assessment is any type of evaluation that occurs during the recruitment process, often to filter out a large applicant pool based on key employability attributes. These tests can screen for basic information, such as licensing and background searches, as well as detailed insights, such as mental aptitude and personality behaviours.
Unlike traditional screening methods that rely more on subjective opinions, pre-employment tests provide objective validated metrics that are more effective in predicting candidate performance.
Pre-screening interviews typically happen early in the recruitment process to narrow down the applicant pool. However, you can also apply these assessments in the advanced stages to make a final hiring decision from a list of top candidates.
The test sessions can be in questionnaire, video, text, or phone call forms to ensure flexibility for both employer and the candidate. There are many types of pre-employment screening assessments, all designed to evaluate different employability attributes:
- Personality assessments
- Skills assessment tests
- Psychometric tests
- Background screening
- Reference checks
- Job knowledge tests
Why a Pre Screening Interview Is Important for Your Hiring Process
The purpose of pre-employment screening interviews is to ensure you’re getting the best match from your candidate pool. This main benefit often translates into other areas of business growth over time.
Effective Use of Organizational Resources
Unfortunately, most organizations pump resources into methods that no longer work and wonder why they still get bad hires.
Pre-screening assessments filter out unqualified candidates so that you’re spending money and time on applicants more likely to become hires.
Improved Hiring Accuracy
Recruitment tests evaluate a variety of crucial attributes that resumes and cover letters may not show. This reliability improves hiring precision and results in high-quality hires.
For organisations, this means improved productivity, high workplace morale, and overall growth.
Enhanced Candidate Experience
Offering candidates an easy application process leads to positive brand reputation, reduced talent-to-hire periods, and improved chances of attracting quality talent.
Pre-screening interviews weed out unqualified applicants, saving them time spent on additional assessments. With the right tools, these tests are often easy to access and complete, which further improves candidate experience.
Minimized Hiring Bias
Pre-employment assessments offer a standardized set of similar questions for every applicant, which reduces the chances of hiring bias.
Individual test results are also objective and based on scientific scoring patterns, leading to data-driven hiring decisions.
Tips for an Efficient Pre-Screening Assessment
Implementing these best practices creates more effective pre-screening interviews.
- Understand key job requirements: To measure the right attributes and find the best match, you must understand the roles and their needs. Create an ideal candidate persona, clearly define job requirements, and develop a scoring system to assess each of the predetermined qualifications.
- Prepare sufficiently: Map out the needs of a role and prepare pre-screening interview questions beforehand. To avoid mishaps and time wasting, conduct a test version for the interview to ensure everything is up to par.
- Measure and improve your screening process: To create an effective hiring system, measure important metrics, such as time-to-hire and quality of hires, and improve your process based on these insights.
- Create clear and concise assessments: For a positive candidate experience and reduced applicant drop-outs, design short and concise screening tests, typically 10-15 minutes.
- Use the right tools to streamline pre-screening assessments: Basic forms and document sharing tools don’t cut it to create efficient pre-employment tests. Invest in professional pre screening tools, such as Seargent Assessment Gorilla, that are specially designed for recruitment tests.
Transform Your Recruitment With Pre-Screening Interviews
Whether you’re designing a simple interview questionnaire, testing technical skills, evaluating personality suitability or assessing for a blue-collar role, Assessment Gorilla by Seargent Solutions has the right test for every hire. With over 3000 assessments spanning over hundreds of roles and different industries, we provide an all-in-one solution for enterprise recruitment.
Curious to see how Assessment Gorilla can transform your hiring process? Book a free demo to try it out today.