How good are your pre-placements tests?

Significance of good pre-placement tests

Pre-placement tests are conducted to assess the problem-solving ability, analytical skills and technical knowledge of potential candidates, and based on these scores of the individual students, the company filters the best performers for further rounds such as a face-to-face interview and more. They are candidate-screening criteria followed by companies to shortlist suitable candidates who could convert to hire. Pre-placement assessment rounds include aptitude, analytical and logical thinking, verbal and reasoning tests, group discussions to assess communication skills, and technical tests for candidates.

When companies do not put enough efforts to craft these preliminary tests appropriately, talented candidates often get filtered out in the assessment rounds and do not make it to the interview rounds. Such discrepancies lead to missing out on the right talent for the hiring position and shortlisting those who may not be the best fit.

Why are pre-placement  tests required?

Pre-placement tests play a significant role in aiding the hiring company find the right candidates. Following are the main reasons why these tests are required in a campus recruitment drive:

1. Standardise the selection process: Pre-placement tests help in standardising the selection process through strategic planning and implementation of assessment rounds designed by the talent acquisition team of a company.
2. Eliminate prejudice: These tests help to eliminate any prejudice in the assessment cycle such that the hiring team filters the right candidates with good individual scores and overall satisfactory performance in these tests.
3. Assess the skills:  A well-crafted assessment test analyses the knowledge and skills of the candidates, making it easy for the hiring firm to finalise on the best candidates.
4. Provide equal opportunity: Such tests provide an equal opportunity for all the eligible students to attempt them and check for the top performers who could move on to attend the interview round.
5. Assist in final decision making: Pre-placement tests provide a well-assessed list of students whom the hiring team can interview to come up with a final list of selected candidates. If these tests are made too simple or too difficult, the HR team will find it hard to decide on the final list of candidates.
6. Time saving and proper evaluation: The HR team cannot spend long hours interviewing all the candidates to evaluate their skills and knowledge. They require a preliminary elimination mode to focus on understanding the psyche of the candidates and decide whether they are suitable for the position. Thus, the absence of placement tests burdens the HR with additional responsibilities of screening the candidates at the initial level and then evaluating them for the desired skills.
7. Build company brand: Assessment and interview questions are the way by which students draw their conclusions on a company’s brand value.  If these questions are not of a good standard for evaluating their skill set and knowledge, the candidates tend to reject the offer with the current company and join the competitors with good brand value in the market.

How effective are the pre-placement tests?

The pre-placement tests help in the initial elimination of unsuitable candidates. These tests should be so designed that they not only assess the students for their grasp on the subjects but also evaluate their problem-solving ability, a skill significant in today’s job scenario. Below are some significant points to ponder while designing these assessment tests for a campus recruitment drive:

• Whether candidates clearing the tests clear the interview: The HR team should take note of the percentage of students qualifying these tests and compare it with those clearing the interview. This provides an insight into how good or bad the pre-placement tests were.
• Check for correlation among candidates: The HR team should check for a correlation between candidates who clear the assessment rounds and those who qualify in the interview to evaluate their skill and knowledge. This helps the hiring team understand whether the shortlisted candidates possess the skill sets required for the job profile or not.
• Online mode or offline mode: Companies today conduct tests in both online and offline modes. But with access to a good internet connection, candidates can opt to  take tests online, rather than using pen and paper. Companies should decide on the mode of these tests from the students’ point of view and schedule them accordingly at the campus recruitment drives.
• Time-consuming tests: Companies must not design lengthy assessment tests that consume too much of the candidate’s time leaving very little for the HR team to conduct interviews and shortlist the final candidates.
• Evaluation parameters: Lack of sound evaluation parameters, such as minimum qualifying score for pre-placement tests and interview, leads to discrepancy in candidate screening. Evaluation parameters help the HR team to understand the real potential of the prospective candidate and base their selecting and rejecting decisions based on these parameters.
• Evaluation of the right skill sets:  The technical teams of the company should come up with a set of sound assessment test questions that not only evaluate the technical expertise of the candidates but also check their thought angles. Also, they must set a specific evaluation parameter to base the selection and rejection process of the candidates. In this way, the HR team ensures that the candidates are evaluated for the right kind of skills. Participation of the technical team in designing the tests improves the overall quality of the recruitment.
• Ensuring all skills are evaluated: For some profiles personality, behavioural and communication skills have to be evaluated to zero in on the right candidate. Crafting the assessment tests and interview questions with this in mind eases the recruitment process for the HR team and ensures the hiring of a suitable candidate for the profile.

In Conclusion

Good pre-placement tests lift the burden off the shoulders of the HR team and ease their interviewing process as they have to evaluate only the qualified candidates to understand their thinking ability and base their final recruiting decisions. Also, appropriate evaluation parameters remove discrepancies in the candidate selection and ensure that the best member joins the team. To know more, visit https://pod.ai/employers