According to the Pennsylvania Journal of Labor and Employment Law; Since the development of the first modern personality tests, the personality assessment has grown to become a 400 million dollar a year industry. Based on that fact alone there must be a reason for its increased popularity. Below are the top three reasons to use pre-employment testing:
- Testing is useful when determining whether the applicant has the specific traits that could predict success in a particular job. The tests can also determine whether the candidate is or is not a good fit for the job. Pre-employment testing can predict how an applicant will respond to certain situations. For example, personality testing can be a useful tool when determining how applicants would act in a busy sales environment.
- Bad hiring decisions are costly. When hiring a candidate you will naturally be paying them a salary, but what about the money spent covering a current employee so they can step away from their job to train the potential hire? The time spent covering their shift if they don’t show up due to tardiness? These situations cost money, and lots of it. This is where pre-employment testing comes in. It gives you the opportunity to analyze an individual’s habits; the habits that are nowhere to be found on a resume.
- A resume does not describe the whole story; it is simply a work history or timeline. It won’t accurately portray the candidate’s accomplishments at their previous job, nor will it give you insight into what the applicant’s habits were there. Furthermore, the resume does not tell you how strong an applicant’s skills are in certain areas; math, grammar, technical expertise, and any skill you deem important for the position you are hiring for.