Recruiting top graduate trainees has become more competitive than ever. Its approach has evolved, and becoming a high-performing HR professional who makes more informed decisions means using the right assessment tools for recruitment and selection.
Assessing candidates using pre-employment tests can be considered challenging yet significant in today’s business-changing world. These tools save you time and money.
As talent leaders, identifying the ideal assessment tool accompanied by other in-depth methods to recruit graduates capable of driving optimum results in the workplace is very crucial. You want to ensure you attract and retain diverse young people by providing unique experiences, appropriate hiring tools, and actionable analytics, all supported by Workforce Group’s unmatched science.
Suppose you ask questions such as what assessment tool is highly-valued for graduate trainee recruitment? What assessment reduces the tedious and long-winding selection process? What criteria should you look out for to select a suitable assessment tool? Then this article is for you.
What are Assessment tools?
Assessment tools are psychometric instruments, methods, and techniques used to evaluate a candidate’s suitability for a role. They offer valuable insight to recruiters and help them make informed hiring decisions. Assessment tools also enable direct observation of an individual’s skills, personality, and other behavioural tendencies in action, allowing for a better understanding of how they would behave in a real-life setting.
Projections and reliable data show that 82 percent of companies use pre-employment assessments for recruitment and selection. The most accurate approach to determining an individual’s suitability and prospective future performance on the job is through administering well-designed and organised assessment tools.
While assessment tools have numerous advantages and are unavoidable in recruiting graduate trainees, HR teams must nevertheless ensure that they secure and engage the right talent by using the appropriate assessment tools and partners, not simply the first tool or partner they come across. Combining too many assessment tools may also defeat the purpose of an assessment.
If hiring top talent and graduate trainees is your priority, Workforce Assessment solutions will get you the right recruitment assessment tools, and answers to your most critical assessment needs.
What are the classes of assessment tools?
There are many hiring assessment tools out there but they are better classified in line with the different areas of an individual they are suited to assess. Here are the three main areas and the respective class of assessment tools;
Class 1. Cognitive Ability – Ability/Aptitude Testing
Class 2. Behavioral Tendency – Behavioural Based Assessment Tools such as those deployed in an Assessment & Development Centre
Class 3. Personality Traits – Personality assessment
These assessment tools, which can be deployed to help recruit competent graduate trainees, are further explored below under the different classes;
Class 1 – Ability Testing
Ability tests (also known as aptitude tests) are designed to evaluate a candidate’s cognitive ability which they will be expected to be able to apply in a work setting. It is not just a test of knowledge of topical areas or academic performance, but an evaluation of such skills like analytical thinking, problem solving, ability to make sense of data/information in a meaningful way.
Some of Workforce Group’s generic first-level testing tools include;
Numeral Reasoning Ability: The numeral reasoning ability test consists of questions that assess candidates’ understanding of the relationship between sets of numeral information. This kind of test serves as a good predictor of performance and an indicator of a candidate’s ability to solve problems.
Scenario-Based Exercise: This instrument uses scenarios to test participants’ ability to carry out tasks from the simplest to the most complex. It serves as a good predictor of performance and an indicator of an individual’s ability to solve problems.
Verbal Reasoning Ability: This consists of a series of questions that assess candidates’ comprehension skills, which they are expected to continue using and developing as they proceed through their careers. Verbal Reasoning Ability tests are designed to measure communication skills and the ability to extract and evaluate ideas from various sources across job functions.
Critical Reasoning Ability: This test consists of questions that measure the ability to deduce or extrapolate conclusions by logical reasoning; they also serve as a good predictor of occupational level and a valuable indicator of the ability to understand complex issues to develop and make informed conclusions.
Class 2 – Assessment Centres
An Assessment Centre is a process driven activity, not a location, employed by recruiters to probe candidates’ quality and competency further. It shows other traits and characteristics that Ability tests and Psychometrics testing alone cannot detect and help to gather behavioural evidences related to the role the candidates are likely going to be performing. You may further use Assessment centres to see areas of strong ability in candidates. Exercises used in assessment centres include:
- Analytical exercise / Presentation
- Competency-based interview (Behaviour-Based Interview)
- Focused Group exercise
- Role Play
- Case Study Analysis
Read about how these exercises are administered below.
Five Common Assessment Centre Exercises and How to Administer Them
Class 3 – Personality Assessment
Personality tests are an excellent fit for the selection of graduate trainees. They differ from an aptitude test in that they examine personality traits rather than just intelligence. They also assist in evaluating how well a candidate will work based on interpersonal skills, interests, values, motivation, and how they fit into the organisation due to their behavioural tendencies. Personality assessments or tests are validated by science and can help people understand themselves and those around them. Below are some of the top personality tests recommended for the selection process;
- Personality Profiler
- Identity Personality Profile (IPP)
- Personality Map
- Personality Inventory
Why do you need to use the right Assessment Tools for your graduate trainee recruitment?
When it comes to selecting the top talent from many others, no organisation should make a selection decision without assessment. This is because they provide a more scientific way of grading your candidates based on what you expect them to be able to do in the organisation. Apart from this, you might also need assessment for many other reasons such as;
- Informed decision: You need the right assessment tools for recruitment selection to make more informed decisions and determine candidates’ likely organisational and role fit.
- Increase efficiency: Assessment gives you time to screen more candidates and expand your talent sourcing pool.
- Cost-effective. It saves time and reduces the cost of the hiring process especially when you factor in the cost of wrong hires.
- Great Candidate Experience: You need it to create a seamless candidate experience for candidates.
- Retention: Well-designed assessment tools help you build an employer brand that excites candidates
- Improve quality: they also improve candidates’ quality at the final stage of selection.
- Bias-free selection: It helps you manage high volumes of applicants efficiently without bias
- Build leaders: It helps you quickly spot candidates with outstanding leadership capabilities.
How We Can Help You
At Workforce Group, our experience is complemented by our ability to bring multiple testing tools and assets that deliver the best candidates in the market. For over 17 years, we have been able to help organisations of various sizes solve their people and business problems. We have designed some first-level testing tools and solutions to empower talent leaders and HR professionals to make the right hiring decision and expand their talent pool.
We also host a Graduate Trainee Programme, called the Top Talent Graduate Trainee Programme where we deploy our assessment tools and embark on rigorous screening exercises, using qualified assessors, that ensure we produce the best talent available in the country.
You can excite your candidates, drive efficiency and maximise diversity using the solutions Workforce Group has established and tested among various institutions and businesses. Discover how we can help you accomplish your assessment needs, questions and concerns today.
