How Employment Tests Can Help You When It’s Hard to Find Applicants

It seems that every time I listen to the news lately, all the talk is about how hard it is for companies to find people to hire, now that the economy is opening back up. I’ve observed, in the past, that when there are more jobs than people to fill them, there’s a tendency to feel that the employer can’t be “choosy.” There’s a basic misunderstanding, however, about what employment tests do if we look at them simply as a way to eliminate some applicants from the ones we are considering.

Employment tests measure specific skills, attitudes, and aptitudes, and that unquestionably gives you an idea about how well-suited to the job an applicant is when they first walk in the door. But let’s think outside the box. Employment tests also tell you what a new employee needs to be taught in order to perform successfully on the job. Instead of thinking about the results of an employment test as a thermometer that tells you whether or not your child has a fever, think of them as a diagnostic tool, like a visit with a doctor who listens to all of the symptoms in order to figure out what’s causing the fever.

Employment tests give you a good idea of the work-related strengths, and challenges, that a new hire brings to the job, and many employment tests results include specific training suggestions that are based on that person’s strengths and challenges. When you may not have many applicants to choose from, the results of a well-constructed, job-relevant employment test will help you customize training for the new employee. You’ll know where the challenges are, and you’ll know what strengths the person brings to the training process and to the job.

The topic of our next blog: Using Employment Tests to Customize Training