The demand for great candidates to fill important roles has never been higher and this is no exception for the world's top science and tech companies.
Assessment tests are used most often by companies during the hiring process and can cover a wide variety of subjects and evaluate several skills. Most often helping the hiring manager or HR team to determine whether a candidate is qualified, matches the position, and is a good fit for the role. This is one tool by which many large companies across the US will streamline their hiring processes. It is therefore important for applicants to understand this process and access the right tools, materials, and online resources to ace their assessment tests the first time.
Understanding assessment tests
Often known as pre-employment assessments, assessment tests will save an employer time and money, during the initial selection process and then, when training new employees. There are many different types of assessment tests an employer may decide to use, these include, computer skills tests, personality testing, clerical skills testing, memory tests, English proficiency, and more.
Some of the most popular and well-known tests are the Caliper and Predictive Index, both of which are commonly used by large employers across the United States.
The Caliper test has existed for around 50 years and has been used by thousands of employers as a personality assessment tool. The Caliper test will help to generate a profile of a candidate based on a number of factors, such as competencies, behaviours, working styles, problem-solving, time management, and social interaction. This style of test will allow an employer to determine whether a candidate would be the right fit for a role before completing an interview. This style of assessment is particularly useful for roles of higher seniority, where personality and management style play a vital role.
Who uses Assessment tests?
Hiring managers seeking particular skill sets or large corporations who employ new team members are in favour of using assessment tests.
Johnson & Johnson, the largest biotech company in the world employs more than 130,000 people across 60 countries and has become well-known for using a variety of employment aptitude assessment tests. Being one of the largest employers in the sector, their use of assessment tests makes it easy for their hiring managers to filter through applicants to hire as quickly and effectively as possible.
To keep these as relevant as possible to the position, the Johnson & Jonson pre-employment assessment tests focus on demonstrating your suitability, communication, negotiation and teamworking skills. Other advisable interview attributes also include displaying effective body language throughout, conducting research online, preparing and practicing your presentation as many times as possible to demonstrate a compelling case for being the best candidate for the job.
It's estimated that 50-80% of candidates are rejected after the initial aptitude test stage.
Therefore, the best and only proven way to get to the next round is to practice.
Preparing for an assessment test
If you are in the process of preparing for an assessment test, some useful information to know is the criteria for which to pass an assessment test. However, since there are so many different kinds of assessment tests it can be difficult to understand this without the support of experts.
Get to know the test you will be completing, whether this is a numerical reasoning assessment, personality test or something else, research this style of test, and be sure to research the company you are applying to.
Often, simply understanding the role you have applied for, will help you determine the style of questions you will be asked within your assessment. For example, when applying for a service role that is customer facing, many of your questions will be centred around the treatment of customers. So, consider this and think about what a hiring manager would expect you to answer.
Hacks to help you ace your test first time
Top tips for studying and preparing for an assessment test include:
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Researching the company /job role and understanding which tests they use
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Completing practice test questions
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Putting yourself to the test with time limits, since many of these assessments are time sensitive
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Use study guides
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Access useful online resources
Resources to ace that test
Online resources have been curated to provide useful learning material in which you can access all the tools necessary to help you prepare for your assessment test.
This includes free practice tests and questions, plus advice, guidance, and study guides. All are prepared with the structure of an assessment test in mind. Using these tools and preparing yourself by researching the company and the test will help you feel confident and prepared to pass your assessment for the first time.
* This is a contributed article and this content does not necessarily represent the views of sciencetimes.com
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