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According to HBR if you haven’t taken a test as part of a hiring process, you probably will in your next job search.
About 76% of organizations with more than 100 employees rely on assessments for external hiring, especially for senior positions. In this episode, I discuss:
- The benefits of pre-employment assessments AND why they Suck
- How these assessments tell me a lot about the company culture
- Suggestions about how you may approach pre-employment assessments
- Tips for employers and organizations
Today employers like assessments because they greatly reduce the time and cost of recruiting and hiring.
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| Read the Transcript |
| Aptitude tests are bs. According to HBR if you haven’t taken a test as part of a hiring process, you probably will in your next job search. About 76% of organizations with more than 100 employees rely on assessments for external hiring, especially for senior positions. Today employers like assessments because they greatly reduce the time and cost of recruiting and hiring. Tests also prevent interviewers from accepting or rejecting candidates based on conscious or unconscious biases. And because tests can be given remotely and scored electronically, they widen the pool of candidates. Ok that’s the good part of assessments. Now let’s get into the BS These tests have very little to do with the position. The cognitive test involves 50 problem-solving and math questions to be answered in 15 minutes. I can see how a test like this could be useful for a financial analyst, researcher, or accountant. My clients have held these roles, however, many of them are in product, design, creative, and marketing to name a few. “Assessing” their aptitude based on their ability to do long division without a calculator is ridiculous. Asking them spacial relationships questions when they are in sales or healthcare feels a bit wonky. So, I wanted to see for myself. I saw a LinkedIn post for a career coach and thought, wow, I wonder what it would be like to have colleagues again. It’s one of the things I miss about working for a company or an organization. To be a part of something. So I read the post, and they wanted 5-10 hours a week of career coaching. I thought this might be interesting. So I applied for two reasons 1) thought 5 hours a week working with others might be the additional collaboration and strategic connection that I am seeking. And 2) I wanted to see what my colleagues go through. Prior to this assessment, it’s been a few years since I had a first hand experience with a cold recruitment process. I send off my cover letter and resume. And I get the automated response that stated I was invited to take the pre-employment assessment. Like it’s an exclusive invitation. Let’s be clear, a pre-interview assessment not an employment assessment. And in case you are new here, I have been a certified coach for almost 14 years while working within organizations, and I launched my own consultancy 5 years ago. I’ve worked with over 200 1 on 1 clients and have lead team dynamics workshops within the organization servicing at this point close to a thousand people and counting. I took the timed assessment, and I failed. Like big time failed. I wish I screened and captured the results, but it was something like or maybe what I thought i read of “your not ready yet but keep trying…. you’re allowed to reapply in 6 months.” I have to tell you I laugh. I mean, that was my first reaction. Later, I had the big F you, but my first thought was, I’m not good enough for you yet the top companies in the world think I am good enough. I watched my brain. Baby spiral. What did I do? I separated story from fact. The fact is I’m not a strong test taker. Then I get to choose do I want to pay someone to train me how to be a better test taker or do I want to move on. I moved on. See I need to do the mindset work also my friends. For the employer, Maybe you dont care, but here are two things I’d share with you. 1. These assessments leave a bad first impression. They feel icky. So even though I wasn’t a fit for you and I should keep trying, I’m not going to be I will continue to go to places that are human. Not automated robots. I want to be in organizations that want dialogue and want to get to know me before deciding if I’d am a fit. I want to be in a culture with a high EQ, diverse, witty, and doing cool shit. I want to be around people where I am celebrated and welcomed. 2. It tells me your recruitment team needs some help. They need people and financial resources and support to fully help create a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion, and belonging. This assessment style pre-interview tells me your culture kinda sucks, and thank you for telling me who you are. Before we start our courtship |