Web-Based Pre-Employment Assessments Help Firms Hire Better Candidates, Retain Stronger Workforce

Latest Survey Finds Broader Market Acceptance and Adoption of Online Assessment Tools

According to Aberdeen's latest research findings, corporations are increasing their use of pre-employment testing and employee assessment to identify, hire, and retain candidates who best fit a corporate culture and demonstrate the potential to remain on the job longer. Online assessment tools are becoming integral to successful senior management recruitment, as well.

Aberdeen conducted its most recent survey work in conjunction with the Human Capital Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based provider of educational programs for human capital practitioners, talent managers, and executives.

Findings showed that interest in screening and assessment tools is widespread and growing as online testing methods make assessments easily accessible to candidates, and more accurately and rapidly scored. Companies also perceive that the use of pre-employment assessment is a valuable strategy for enhancing employee retention.

According to Aberdeen's newly published report, Pre-Employment Testing and Assessment: The State of the Art, the most significant growth in online testing will involve professional positions, the area in which assessments are most often conducted today. Moreover, the study indicates that testing for higher level corporate management will also increase as companies seek to decrease the ensuing risk, expense, and churn associated with senior managers who fail to work out.

"Not all companies use formal assessments as part of the hiring process. Those that do are growing in number and increasing their application of testing to more employees and different levels of employees," says Dr. Katherine Jones, Aberdeen's research director of enterprise applications and report author. "The greatest growth in the coming 12 months will involve testing automation, which facilitates accurate assessments of employee skills and subject area knowledge."

Among the findings in the report:

• A bulk of the respondents — 52% — believe pre-employment assessment distinguishes poor from good hires, and helps identify candidates who stay on the job longer.
• The 60% of respondents who don't now use pre-employment testing cited insufficient awareness of the use of pre-hire assessment technology as the predominant reason.

AberdeenGroup, Inc.
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