English
AllFor job seekersHiring & recruitingHuman resourcesScienceSkills-based hiringTalent assessmentTestTrick
What is Pre-employment Testing and Why Does it Matter?
- by Favour Etinosa Ogie
April 24, 2025
What is Pre-employment Testing and Why Does it Matter?
Hiring the right people is one of the biggest challenges businesses face today. Resumes can be polished to perfection. Interviews can be influenced by nerves or charm. Even strong references sometimes paint an incomplete picture.
So how do you really know if a candidate is the right fit for a role?
Pre-employment testing has emerged as one of the most effective tools for bridging this gap, offering objective, data-driven insights that go far beyond the resume.
In this guide, we'll explore what it is, the different types available, why it’s so critical to modern hiring, and how companies can use it strategically to build stronger, more successful teams.
What Is Pre-Employment Testing?
Pre-employment testing refers to the practice of using structured assessments to objectively measure a candidate’s abilities, personality traits, skills, or potential job performance.
Rather than relying solely on subjective impressions during interviews, employers use tests to gather concrete data about each candidate.
This structured approach helps hiring teams make better, more predictive decisions and reduces the risk of costly hiring mistakes.
Think of it like looking under the hood before buying a car. It gives you a deeper understanding of the "engine" that drives each candidate, rather than just admiring the shiny exterior.
That's why, according to a 2024 report by SHRM, 54% of companies are incorporating these assessments into their recruitment process, and 78% of these companies say this has tremendously improved the quality of their hires.
When Should You Use Pre-Recruitment Testing?
Tests can be administered at different stages of the hiring process:
- Early screening: To quickly filter out candidates who don’t meet essential skill or knowledge thresholds.
- Mid-process validation: To distinguish between candidates who seem equally strong on paper.
- Final selection: To confirm that your top choice aligns with both the technical and cultural needs of the role.
Types of Pre-Hiring Tests
There’s a spectrum of tests available today, each measuring different competencies depending on the role you're hiring for.
Let's break them down:
Skills Tests
These tests assess whether candidates can actually perform the tasks required by the job. They are especially useful for technical roles, creative positions, or roles where real-world application matters.
For instance, if you were hiring a graphic designer, you could make your candidates complete a design under time constraints. For a copywriting role, you would make applicants proofread a paragraph for errors or give them actual writing exercises to gauge their skills.
This helps you measure a candidate's actual expertise in these positions through job-related assessments.
Cognitive Ability Tests
Cognitive ability tests are designed to measure skills like critical thinking, problem-solving, logical reasoning, memory, and the ability to learn quickly.
These traits are vital across nearly every industry and job role, making cognitive tests one of the most reliable predictors of future job performance.
A candidate applying for a finance role might take a numerical reasoning test to assess how quickly and accurately they can interpret financial data, while a software engineer might be evaluated on their ability to identify patterns and troubleshoot problems effectively.
Personality Tests
Personality tests assess a candidate’s behavioral traits, emotional intelligence, communication style, and working preferences.
Unlike cognitive tests, which evaluate what a candidate can do, personality tests help employers predict how someone will approach their work, interact with their team, and align with the company culture.
Used thoughtfully, these assessments can help hiring managers build teams that work well together and match candidates to the roles where they’ll thrive long-term.
Situational Judgment Tests (SJTs)
Situational judgment tests assess a candidate’s judgment, problem-solving skills, and interpersonal instincts by presenting them with realistic, job-related scenarios.
The candidate must then select the most appropriate response from several options.
For example:
A customer service representative might be asked:
"A client is angry about a delay in service. What should you do first?"
A project manager candidate might see:
"You realize your team will miss a key deadline. What’s your best course of action?"
SJTs are powerful because they don’t just measure what candidates know; they assess how they’re likely to behave when faced with real-world challenges.
Why Pre-hiring Testing Matters?
Now that we understand what employment testing is, let's explore why it matters so much in your workforce.
It Reduces Hiring Bias
Even the best hiring managers are vulnerable to unconscious bias. Resumes can trigger assumptions about candidates based on names, educational backgrounds, or previous employers.
Interviews can be skewed by confidence, appearance, or small talk.
Pre-hiring tests level the playing field by giving every candidate the same opportunity to demonstrate their abilities in a standardized, objective way.
Let's say you’re interviewing two candidates for a role, one from a prestigious university and one from a smaller, lesser-known college.
Relying simply on their resumes might cause you to hire in favor of the candidate from an Ivy League institution. But educational background does not necessarily translate to actual expertise.
These candidates might perform equally well on a skills-based test, while the applicant from the lesser-known college might be more qualified for the job.
That’s because pedigree isn't the whole story, and pre-hiring assessments help us look beyond these biases.
It Improves Predictive Hiring
Hiring decisions shouldn’t be left to gut feeling. Employment tests, especially cognitive ability assessments, offer a much more reliable way to predict future job performance.
In fact, a major UK meta-analysis found that general mental ability (GMA) tests have operational validities ranging from 0.5 to 0.6 — strong predictors of how well a candidate will perform on the job.
When you focus on traits that drive real-world success, like problem-solving skills, critical thinking, and adaptability, you can dramatically improve your hiring outcomes.
And that matters because the cost of a bad hire can be steep. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, a single bad hire could cost up to 30% of the employee’s first-year earnings.
Using employment testing to better predict performance lowers this risk and builds stronger, more productive teams from the start.
It Speeds Up the Hiring Process
Hiring can easily become a bottleneck when hundreds of resumes start piling up. Traditional screening methods are slow, often subjective, and can result in wasted time.
Employment testing changes that.
By objectively evaluating skills, aptitude, and traits right from the start, companies can quickly filter out unqualified candidates and spotlight their top performers.
The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) notes that recruitment tests help organizations improve the quality of hires and significantly reduce time-to-hire.
Instead of drowning in resumes, your team can easily weed out unqualified candidates through hiring tests and focus its energy on engaging with the right candidates earlier in the process, saving time, money, and resources.
It Increases Employee Retention
Good hiring is about finding a qualified person who can stay for the long haul. Pre-hiring tests help companies assess not only technical skills but also cultural fit, work style, and long-term potential.
Now, this has a real impact: companies that use these assessments experience up to 39% lower turnover among high-potential employees, according to research from Aberdeen Group.
This eliminates poor matches from your hiring pool early on, helping you build a workforce that is more engaged, more loyal, and less likely to burn out or leave prematurely.
It Strengthens Your Employer Brand
Today's candidates are savvy, and they value transparency and fairness.
A structured hiring process that includes screening tests shows candidates that your company is serious about objective, merit-based hiring.
It says, "We care about finding the right fit, not just about who interviews best."
Candidates appreciate it when your hiring process feels rigorous, fair, and transparent. It boosts your reputation among job seekers and gives you a serious edge in attracting top-tier talent.
Strong employer brands aren’t formed by accident; they are built on practices that prioritize fairness, clarity, and the candidate experience from the very first interaction.
Best Practices for Effective Employment Testing
Not all recruitment testing strategies are created equal. Here’s how to use them wisely:
Utilize AI-Powered Assessment Tools
One mistake you might make is manually evaluating candidates with tools like Google Forms. This will only further slow down your process and subject it to bias and human error.
AI assessment tools like TestTrick, on the other hand, can significantly streamline your hiring by providing more accurate, data-driven insights.
These tools can automatically score responses, analyze patterns, and shortlist the best candidates instantly. This reduces human error and ensures more objective and consistent evaluations.
Customize Tests to the Role
Tailor assessments to match the specific demands and skills required for each role.
For example, a software engineer should be evaluated on coding proficiency, problem-solving, and technical knowledge, while a customer support agent might be tested on communication skills, conflict resolution, and product knowledge.
Customization ensures the tests are relevant, helping you identify candidates with the exact skill set needed for the role.
Integrate Tests Naturally Into Your Process
Instead of making assessments feel like an obstacle course, incorporate them seamlessly into your hiring pipeline.
You can schedule them after the initial application or during the interview process to create a smooth experience for candidates.
Provide Feedback When Possible
Transparency builds trust and improves candidate experience.
When you share feedback, even if it’s brief, such as "You scored highly in logical reasoning!" or “Your communication skills are top-notch," candidates gain insight into their strengths.
This feedback leaves them with a positive impression of your company’s hiring process, increasing their likelihood of staying engaged or reapplying in the future.
Conclusion
The truth is, resumes and interviews can only tell you so much.
If you really want to build better teams (and do it faster), employment testing needs to be part of your process. It helps you spot real talent, avoid expensive hiring mistakes, bring in more diverse skills, and create a fairer, more positive experience for candidates.
The good news? With TestTrick, integrating employment testing into your hiring process is a breeze. Our extensive library of pre-built tests spans everything from cognitive ability to job-specific skills, allowing you to start evaluating candidates immediately.
Contact Us
FlyPearls LLC. 8 The Green # 4367 Dover, DE 19901 United States
+1 302 261 5361
© TestTrick 2025. All rights reserved.