Introduction
In the present online recruitment world, online assessment is becoming one of the most powerful recruitment tools. These systematic tests can evaluate aspirants against varied parameters of ability, adaptability, personality traits, or cognitive ability, thus leading to a better job-candidate match.
The assessment tools help to judge a candidate’s skills to understand how they will perform the given task and job responsibilities. There are various advantages of online examination system, and none of the tools can be considered ideal for every organization. It all depends on the organization’s requirements.
Making the right hiring decision is crucial for every organization, as the higher the employer’s efficiency, the higher the business success rate. The traditional recruitment process does not provide an accurate picture of the candidate’s performance, and the authenticity of the information provided in the resume requires proper verification. That’s where the pre-assessment tools fill the gap in hiring the right candidate.
Online examination tests have many benefits, like reduced turnover and speeding up recruitment, but they also have disadvantages. This guide discusses the merits and demerits of online examinations for hiring and how to maximize their usage.
What are Online Examination Tests?
Online examination tests are a great way to learn more about job candidates. They provide vital information to help employers decide who is most suitable for the job.
The kind of test depends on what you need when hiring for a particular job. For instance, if you want a programmer, you will have them take a test on Python programming. For a receptionist, a test based on real-life situations would work better. For a graphic designer, you would want to include design tests.
They should not take long but be fine and detailed enough to build an opinion. Online Examination tests show how well the candidate matches what you want from the job and how the person would perform.
However, some people resent taking tests, as they are a significant part of the hiring process. They can inform you more about a candidate than an interview, or even a resume alone can tell you.
Common types of pre-employment tests include the following:
Personality tests:
Personality tests depend on how a candidate appears and behaves. Different tests are administered, such as Myers-Briggs, DISC (which measures an individual’s traits like dominance and influence), and the Hogan Personality Inventory.
Skills tests:
These tests check for a candidate’s precise capabilities relative to the task, such as industry knowledge, technical skills, and software proficiency. The most preferred tests usually work around real-life work scenarios to understand how that person performs.
Integrity tests:
These refer to testing personalities based on honesty and a person’s behaviors, including honesty, drug or alcohol use, and how they address their anger or violence. The objective is to identify the behavior pattern that most negatively impacts them.rn that most negatively impacts them.
Cognitive tests:
These tests focus on measuring various mental abilities of a candidate, including the following areas: IQ, math ability, verbal ability, mental skills, and thinking and problem-solving abilities. They show whether one sample is fit to be employed mentally.
Advantages of online examination system
There are various advantages of online examinations, and they even come with strong arguments for their inclusion in your hiring process. Check out the benefits of online examination system mentioned below:
- Limited Turnover in Location
Every company finds it difficult to lose talented employees. The advantages of online examination tests cut this risk. Aberdeen Group’s study among its rival companies showed that those companies that adopted pre-hire assessments experienced a 39% reduction in their turnover rates.
Hiring costs a lot of money and time, not to mention the many resource persons involved in the process, such as team members. Lower turnover rates help keep the disruption minimal, and the team operates smoothly with people in the right roles. - More Objective Hiring Procedure
Interviews and resume reviews sometimes tend to be subjective, as personal opinion or bias influences the decisions. Such tests help to bring in a more structured approach rather than haphazard selection because they are drawn on the particular role and measure capacity against specific objective skills and qualities.
Although these tests may require a lot of effort to set up, they return much more relevant information to the job for their cost and time. - Fairness to All Candidates
Online Examination tests allow equal access to all by being consistent. Compared to interviews or informal screenings where bias might enter the picture (for example, spending more time with one candidate than another), these tests are clear and consistent.
Results are comparable under the same criteria, guaranteeing an impartial playing field. - Shortened Hiring Timeframes
Recruitment is long, from advertisement to resume parsing to interview to hire. Use online examination tests to collect information early in the process. It can reduce interview rounds and speed up decision-making. Such a shorter procedure can also benefit more candidates, who may lose interest if dragged out too long. - Offers More Insights Into Candidates
Among many, some limited pre-employment tests assess the proficiency not of the participants involved but of what motivates them and what they value most in a workplace. In this case, test questions can include which benefits they would rank priority to or which company values they would most care about.
Aside from setting the palette for the perfect person, this also offers clues on improving your workplace. For example, if respondents want more community initiatives, you may consider a donation match to meet their needs and attract top talent.
Disadvantages of online examination system
Online examinations may speed up the selection process, but they have slight disadvantages of online examination that require weighing their merits. These issues should be weighed carefully at every point to prevent disrepute in the hiring process.
- They Don’t Always Reveal the Whole Picture
Online tests can speed up the selection process but might not tell you everything about a candidate, which is one of the common disadvantages of online examinations. Some elements, such as personality or real-life tackling of difficult situations, become apparent only with the follow-up interview. Some candidates will fail in tests but do well in interviews. People respond differently to an exam pattern, so one should be careful. - Dishonesty Obnoxiously
Like many people lie on their resumes (40% of research finds), some individuals are not always honest online. They may boast about qualifications or find ways to cheat. It’s only human nature, as it were, to try to boast about oneself. That’s why you probably can’t simply rely on examinations as the whole picture. Be balanced by other means. - Results May Be Vague
Most often, depending on how the tests are designed, the results may be unclear or not detailed enough to replace other parts of the hiring process. Some tests limit only superficial knowledge that matters less in your decision-making process. To get the most out of online exams, ensure they are well-structured and collect a wide range of relevant data.
How to Optimize Your Hiring Process?
You might have gone through various pros and cons of online examination. Now, the question is how to optimize your hiring process with these tools. So, here are a few of the additional tips you can consider when trying to get outstanding results from recruitment:
Review Job Descriptions Before Posting
While posting a position on as many job sites as possible helps reach potential candidates, ensure that clearly defined and well-articulated job descriptions are used. A good job description draws the right people; it’s vagueness or poor construction restages the recruitment process.
Personalize the Interviews
Don’t limit yourself to professional questions; also, ask how the person has a passion or might describe a friend or family member. Often, these small personal touches can help you gain more insight into people as individuals (not just as employees).
Give-and-Take on Feedback
Feedback has something for everybody who takes part in the hiring process. Share constructive ideas with non-successful candidates and ask all candidates for their opinions on your process. Candidate responses are useful in improving your recruitment style.
What Makes InterviewVector the Right Choice?
InterviewVector is an interview-as-a-service platform that helps organizations hire technical developers and other technical job roles in less time. The platform conducts interviews with the help of MAANG-certified developers on companies’ behalf, offering unbiased feedback in just 2 hours.
InterviewVector lifts the burden of hiring with its new online examination tools. They are designed to provide precise, easily actionable insights and deliver a seamless experience for recruiters and job candidates. Customizable tests, extensive analytics, and an intelligent reporting system through AI help InterviewVector speed up and improve the accuracy of hiring decisions for the organization.
Final Thoughts
Online tests have transformed the entire recruitment scene, considering that they could be made fair, objective, and efficient for assessing candidates.
However, it should not be neglected that there are various merits and demerits of online examination, and considering the right tools will solely depend upon your organization’s hiring needs and requirements.
Even if there are disadvantages of online examinations, they could still lead to improved hiring outcomes when employed with other recruitment strategies. When applied to streamlining the process using solutions like InterviewVector, these tests can help organizations reach the most talented candidates and simplify the processes of acquiring such talent. Check out some leading online assessment tools here.
