Regardless of an interviewer’s (or interview panel’s) experience, judgement, or relevant expertise, an interview is largely a matter of faith. That is, the interviewers have to trust in the candidate’s statements and resume. If position dynamics require a new employee to hit the ground running, it makes sense to assess a candidate’s level of skill and knowledge relative to the stated job requirements.

What are the best way to assess a potential employee’s skills? Read the following case study to consider the role of tests in the hiring process.

There are three broad categories of job-specific testing that we’ll discuss: work samples and simulations, cognitive ability tests, and personality tests.

Work Samples & Simulations

Work samples and simulation tests are used during the candidate evaluation process as a way for employers to evaluate job-specific skills and aptitude. A work sample consists of having a candidate perform a work-related task or subset of job tasks, generally in the actual workplace using the requisite equipment, processes and procedures. A work sample allows the employer to “preview” the candidate’s performance and also gives the candidate a realistic job preview.

In a simulation, the candidate would engage in a highly structured role-play designed to represent broad aspects of a the job, for example, assessing an applicant’s problem solving, communication, and interpersonal skills. OPM notes that performance should be evaluated “by trained assessors who observe the applicant’s behavior and/or by measuring task outcomes (e.g., the degree of interpersonal skills demonstrated or the number of errors made in transcribing an internal memo^[1]).”  When administered and evaluated correctly, this assessment technique is one of the strongest predictors of job performance.

Cognitive Ability Tests

The McQuaig Institute describes a a cognitive ability or mental agility test as “a tool to measure aspects of general intelligence, such as mental agility and speed of thought, analytical thinking, the ability to learn quickly, and verbal reasoning skills.” Psychological research indicates that cognitive ability is one of the most accurate predictors of job performance and the tests are significantly more accurate predictors of job performance than interviews or experience. To be precise, the correlation between cognitive ability and job success is 0.51 (1.0 would be a perfect or 100% predictor). This compares to a correlation of 0.36 for reference checks, 0.18 for years of experience and 0.18 for unstructured interviews^[2]. An example of a Cognitive ability test is a general aptitude test (GAT). A limitation of this approach, as with any test, practice and using test strategies can decrease the validity of the test. Also, researchers have noted the racial differences in test results, with validity (as a predictor of performance) lower for blacks and hispanics^[3]. To avoid the risk of discrimination, use this test in combination with other evaluation methods.

Personality Tests

Personality assessments such as the Big Five or Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) can provide insight into a candidate’s personality and whether he or she would be successful in a particular role or prospective company culture. As described by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the Federal Government’s chief human resources agency, “Personality tests are designed to systematically elicit information about a person’s motivations, preferences, interests, emotional make-up, and style of interacting with people and situations. This information is used to generate a profile used to predict job performance or satisfaction with certain aspects of the work.” According to the OPM, “personality tests have been shown to be valid predictors of job performance in numerous settings and for a wide range of criterion types (e.g., overall performance, customer service, team work), but tend to be less valid than other types of predictors such as cognitive ability tests, assessment centers and work samples and simulations^[4].”

One caveat to keep in mind in the hiring process. As a self-reported test, the effectiveness of personality tests is dependent on a candidate’s commitment to test accuracy. Some individuals people may attempt to “game” the test, providing what they think is the “right” answer rather than an accurate response. For best results, verify that a test is designed to identify misrepresentations.