Employment Testing: 5 Things to Know

Are you considering using employment tests as part of your employee selection process? Here are 5 things employers should know about employment testing.

1. How widespread is employment testing?

   The use of employment testing has grown dramatically in recent years because companies have become increasingly aware of the fact that their hiring success rates are linked directly to their bottom-line. A survey conducted by the American Management Association revealed interesting statistics about the prevalence of employment testing in the U.S. The survey found that:

   • 41% of employers test job applicants in basic literacy and/or math skills.
   • 34% of job applicants tested lacked adequate skills for their positions.
   • 20% of employers use cognitive ability tests.
   • 13% of employers use personality tests.

   Source: 2001 Survey by the American Management Association

2. How can employment testing help an organizations' hiring process?

   When properly implemented, employment testing measures job-related skills, abilities, and work activities. Employment testing is one of the most accurate means that an organization has for predicting future job performance because it measures these key competencies in an objective and scientific way. Research has shown that employment aptitude tests, for example, are twice as accurate as job interviews in predicting future job performance. In order to ensure that tests will predict future job performance, however, it is critical that you follow certain guidelines to ensure that your tests are job-related. The first step is to conduct a Job Requirements Analysis. To learn more about performing a job analysis and other best practices relating to employment testing, read our White Paper on Pre-Employment Testing.

3. Does employment testing increase my company's exposure to potential lawsuits?

   Actually, when implemented appropriately and in accordance with professional guidelines, employment testing can actually decrease your company's risk of legal exposure. This is because assessments are a very objective means of gathering data about job candidates, and can help make your company's hiring process less subjective. Legal challenges to a company's hiring decisions typically arise when individuals feel that the hiring process was inequitable or unfair, and assessments can help enhance the perceived objectivity of the selection process. Employment testing, however, is subject to the same legal standards as are all employee selection techniques. Interpretive guidelines for the legal issues surrounding employee selection are contained in the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures (UGESP). The UGESP explicitly recognizes the right of employers to use employment tests to help make hiring and promotion decisions, and provides recommendations for how to implement legally compliant testing programs. One of the important legal issues related to testing is the concept of adverse impact, which is the idea that certain tests will screen out disproportionate numbers of people from a protected group. To learn more about the legal issues surrounding employee selection, we recommend you take a look at our White Paper on Pre-Employment Testing or sign up for a free trial of HireSelect and view the tutorial on legal defensibility.

4. How do I choose which tests to use?

   Test selection is the first, and probably most important, step in implementing an employment testing program because it is critical that organizations use tests that measure job-related abilities and skills. Inappropriate test selection will result in an ineffective selection methodology, and can also result in a testing program that is not legally compliant. This is why a common best practice in employment testing is to perform a Job Requirements Analysis for a position before utilizing tests to screen candidates for that position. Once your company has described the skills, work activities, and abilities that are associated with a given position it will be much easier to determine appropriate test selection. HireSelect's Job Profiler is an interactive tool that allows organizations to conduct a Job Requirements Analysis and provides test recommendations based on the job profile that is created. To use the Job Profiler, sign up for a free trial of HireSelect.

5. Is it illegal to use certain types of tests?

   Yes, it can be illegal to use certain types of tests for the purposes of employee selection. For example, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) makes it illegal to use tests that may constitute a "medical examination" in a pre-employment setting. One of the purposes of the ADA is to prohibit discrimination against individuals with psychiatric disabilities, so clinical tests that assess an individual's mental health should generally not be used for employee selection. For example, personality tests that are designed to screen for psychopathologies, such as the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, or MMPI, should not be used as part of an employment testing program. There are exceptions to this rule, and tests judged to be medical exams may be permitted if they are shown to be job-related and consistent with business necessity. In practice, this means that these exams are typically allowed for jobs that have public safety implications-for example, police forces commonly screen for psychological disorders. However, personality tests that are deemed to be "medical exams" generally should not be used for employee selection purposes. Integrity tests, which are legal in most but not all US states, are another example of tests that may be illegal for pre-employment purposes.