Testing Materials

NaeNae55

I received a catalog today that offers, among other things, some applicant screening tools.

We have never tested applicants here, though we have frequently talked about it. This company is offerring 4 types of tests (general skills, potential, risk, and clerical). Do you guys find tests helpful in finding good employees? Do you use tests like these, or do you make up your own?

If you use purchased tests, would you find any of these helpful and would you recommend these types of tests? How much do you typically pay?

lorrie

We use a 'survey' for all warehouse applicants that is supposed to judge things like tendency toward theft and drug use, as well as work ethic. I am always amazed at how honest some people are, and wonder if they answer a certain way because they don't really want a job! (Which makes me wonder if the rest are as good as they look or if they just know what looks good.) In any case, it makes a nice 'elimination' tool. These cost about $20 each, but I only run the results for those that I am thinking about making an offer.

As for skills, we use is a basic math test for our clerical positions. Again, it simply helps eliminate those with little or no math skills, which is necessary in those positions. No cost for this as it is a test we created from actual job duties.

We also use a fairly extensive set for our sales employees. Part of this is kind of a personality thing that shows how their personality fits into the sales area, and part of it shows actual knowledge of sales skills. This costs about $100 for each one I run, but I believe it is well worth it. It is very costly to hire a fully-commissioned sales person that does not work out, since they are on salary until they work into that full-commission.

LarryC

Applicant testing can be very useful, but dangerous if the tests aren't reliable and valid. As far as being reliable, does the test reveal what you want it to reveal? For being valid, (and this is the important one), does the test provide a good and VALID indicator of future job performance. This is where you have to make sure that your testing does not have a disparate impact on protected groups.

HRinFL

I agree with LarryC. We have a 3rd party administer our testing procedures. That way, it eliminates any perception that we graded the tests unfairly, or had any influence over the test results. When the results are resturned, it has the applicant's name on them and the percentile that they tested into. We use this method for clerical tests, IT tests, etc.

We do not use one vendor, but have many vendors depending on the type of test that is being administered. We have used Adecco and Kelly Services for clerical testing. I am not sure of the vendor used for the IT tests, but we use the WOLF Test to measure logic, etc. For some tests, such as behavioral tests for HR applicants, we administer the test, but do not grade it. Hope this helps!

dchr9203

We use computer skills testing for the clerical hires. We test for aptitude in MicroSoft products, etc, and we do it through Snelling. Its a service they offer at a very reasonable rate, $25-50 per applicant depending on the extent/level of testing.