Best Practices for Assessing Job Candidates

 What is a "candidate selection assessment"? When I moved to Philadelphia about ten years ago, I was surprised to find that many companies had never heard of a "selection assessment". Instead, they were using only traditional candidate screening methods such as interviews and reference checks. I found this to be especially interesting given that surrounding cities like New York and Washington, DC were saturated with management consulting firms, and many of the best companies nationwide require a selection assessment for any candidate seeking to be hired or promoted into an important role.

Put simply, a candidate selection assessment uses certain "tests" or other evaluative measures to gauge how effective an applicant will be in meeting the demands of a role. These assessments can take many forms, ranging from "paper-and-pencil" questionnaires, to online surveys, or live simulations where candidates are observed while engaging in staged scenarios that reflect job duties (e.g., like coaching an underperforming employee or responding to an inbox full of emails).

The idea of using psychological assessments to screen candidates has been around for much longer than most people think. Many textbooks cite the United States Military during World War I as being one of the first to use personality assessments to screen out applicants unsuitable for combat. The benefits of implementing such a practice (e.g., saving thousands of lives and countless other resources) goes without stating. If you have any questions concerning where and how to use Quality Training And Assessment Resources, you can make contact with us at our site.