As pillars, employees lay the foundation of success for a company. So, for a company, choosing the right candidates for all its positions is necessary to achieve both short-term and long-term goals.

The conventional method to hire an employee is to conduct several rounds of interviews and identify the right candidate among those who apply for a specific designation. However, it can be time-consuming and tedious. Moreover, it may not provide the best benchmark for the selection of candidates for technical jobs such as the ones related to coding.

For hiring qualified employees for coding nowadays, hiring managers need a proven methodology through which they can put the technical skills of a candidate to test. This is precisely where pre-employment assessments can make a huge difference. Such assessments enable hiring managers to test a potential employee’s technical expertise and capabilities before their selection. However, HR professionals have mixed views regarding its effectiveness.

So, should you use employment assessments to hire coders? Read on to find an answer to this question.

The strategy for using pre-employment tests for hiring candidates is not new. It has been there for the last few decades. But there has been a change in its acceptance rate as more companies are gravitating towards it.

Most recruiters show their preference towards a pre-employment test due to its uniformity. An unstructured interview or a screening call is less reliable for technical job roles such as coding. That’s because hiring managers ask different questions to different candidates while interviewing by adopting such methodologies.

However, pre-employment assessments bring the element of uniformity in the process. It guarantees a fair assessment by ensuring that all candidates who appear for the interview get the same set of questions.

It also saves recruiters precious time while they conduct interviews for the selection of candidates.

If you are a hiring manager, you might also want to conduct pre-employment tests for other reasons.

Pre Employment Assessment Helps Recruiters In Conducting A Structured Interview

Structured interviews are different from unstructured ones. The former revolves around the job-related requirements, whereas the latter is subjective by nature. Being closely related to a job, a structured interview leads to objective-based decisions. Thus, it is more reliable between the two options and also leads to fair selection.

Pre Employment Tests Provide The Best Benchmark To All Candidates

Unstructured interviews involving traditional methods lead to the lack of consensus on the part of recruiters when they evaluate the performance of candidates. More often than not, they ask different questions to different candidates in such interviews. As a result, it becomes challenging for the former to assess the latter’s employment skills and expertise.

Pre-employment assessments provide a reliable solution to it through questions that are related to the core objectives of a job role. All candidates get the same set of questions in pre-employment assessments. This puts recruiters in a better position to evaluate the performance of candidates. By this method, hiring managers can gauge the performance of candidates through the same yardstick.

Pre Employment Assessments Deliver Desired Results Without Taking Away A Lot Of Time

A job interview is usually considered a time-taking process for a reason. Traditional interviews can go on for several rounds. Such an arrangement can exhaust both recruiters and candidates alike.

Pre-employment assessments provide the ideal benchmark through tests for assessing the basic coding skills of candidates. These include their problem-solving skills, written communication, typing speed, and so on. This way, hiring managers can narrow down the list of candidates for a coding job and identify eligible candidates. This approach saves the precious time of recruiters by making the whole process short and crisp.

Pre Employment Tests Prevent Legal Hassles For A Recruiter And Their Company

Sometimes hiring managers go by their gut feeling while making a hiring decision. Such decisions can lead to legal hassle, especially if they are based on an unconscious bias. A candidate may file a lawsuit if they believe they have been rejected without a valid reason. In such a situation, a recruiter may have a hard time defending their decision by citing vague assumptions.

Pre-employment tests can help prevent such a situation by acting as a tangible guide. With it, a recruiter can prove the validity of their decision to reject a candidate. Consequently, they can defend themselves and their company if a rejected candidate files a lawsuit.

Pre Employment Tests Ensure The Relevance Of Testing The Skills For A Job

For choosing the right candidates for coding, taking relevant tests is a must. Without it, a recruiter will not be able to evaluate a candidate’s in-depth knowledge and technical skills. Even if a hiring manager conducts several rounds of an interview or dedicates a long time, he may not succeed in identifying a qualified candidate without testing for skills that are more specific to a job.

Pre-employment assessments keep recruiters on the right track and prevent them from a diversion. This allows them to better focus on the imperatives of the job role for which they conduct a job interview.

Pre Employment Tests Ensure Transparent And Unbiased Selection Of Candidates

Almost 8 out of 10 potential employees secretly blame a recruiter for their rejection. They consider the decision to be biased. They are more likely to feel that way when recruiters use traditional methods for hiring candidates.

On the other hand, a pre-employment assessment is a byword for an opportunity. It allows a candidate ample opportunities to showcase their knowledge, skills, and expertise. Therefore, both candidates and their recruiters are more likely to accept the decision.

From the above, it stands out that there are many reasons to advocate the use of pre-employment tests for hiring candidates. It is all the more important and reliable for selecting candidates for technical job roles such as coding. However, to reap its benefits, a recruiter must focus on certain aspects. They should ensure that the tests are legal, relevant to a job role, and try their best to validate them.

Start leveraging pre-employment assessments right away!