With tests it’s clearer

To find the right workforce, many employers consider the job interview as the most important tool. Many small businesses uses only this opportunity, although traditional, simple tests can provide valuable information, and the latest approaches open up a whole new dimension in selecting candidates.

It is not a coincidence that a job interview plays an essential role in assessing applicants. The appearance, attitude, style and manners of prospective employees can be measured most safely by this method. It turns out in no time whether our candidate is self-contained or open, confident or insecure, calm or tense. Quickly, there will be some sort of kinship or dislike.

However, this emerging opinion may be misleading, as it has very little to say about how much the candidate has the skills actually necessary for the job at hand. Ability to make a good first impression not necessarily equals to being able to be a good workforce. To test for real qualities it is clear that best is to use test designed to measure those qualities in question.

Competency tests give a much more accurate, more detailed picture than personal impressions.

Various modern tests, in addition to the material knowledge and the existence of experience, explore properties that make the individual personally fit or unsuitable for filling a given job. In addition, surveys of teamwork, autonomy, attitudes to monotony or to stress are also very useful.

It is easy to see that the tests give a much more objective picture of the applicants than the interviews. Of course, personal interviews continue to play their part, since no matter how important it is to have a competency, if someone is unduly obnoxious, then teamwork will be impossible.

There are some other reasons supporting the new methods. One is that it was possible to prepare beforehand to a certain level to the previous generation questionnaires. A candidate who has filled out a lot of tests has gained some routines to achieve better results. Tests with answer keys have become obsolete by the information revolution, since anyone could access the answers on the Internet. Most advanced tests are now eliminating these mistakes. Their well-thought-out algorithm adapts to the candidate while the candidate solves the tasks, so there’s no two alike.

As the tests are evaluated by separate algorithms, the employer can get the clearest possible picture even of the candidates having the biggest routine.

SHL Hungary Ltd. provides solutions for every selection situation, and the use of tests can be learned by any professional. For more information, please visit our website: https://www.shl.hu/en/training-courses/selection-and-development-with-tests.