Skillcheck Online Testing has become the premier way for progressive employers to pre-screen prospective employees and benchmark existing staff
New Zealand
The appointment of a New Zealand distributor occurred in 1998. Hope-Cross Consulting Ltd, Managing Director Kris Hope-Cross quickly built a strong and loyal customer base, accounting for over 40% of the New Zealand recruitment consultancies as well an impressive list of corporate, government and education customers.
The Case for Pre‐Testing Candidates Prior to the Interview
Testing candidates remotely can make your life easier. You can pre‐screen the candidates before they step one foot into your office.
This means fewer people to interview, a more efficient process, a quicker time to hire, and using your SkillCheck Online Testing Service resources to “capture” the best candidate before another employer.
It would be a no‐brainer if only you could be sure that it’s not your candidate’s cousin’s uncle’s sister’s plumber’s spouse actually taking the test. And who’s to know if the candidate is looking up answers. Surely your candidates wouldn’t do that, would they?
It can be tough to decide whether or not to allow remote testing, but here are a few thoughts to help you navigate those rough waters. These are not “set in stone” rules by any means but you can use these thoughts to help make the decisions.
- You can administer cognitive and behavioural tests remotely and then administer skills and knowledge tests within your offices. Candidates might be more likely to cheat on skills tests (i.e. Excel tests) and knowledge tests (i.e. accounting tests) than they are on behavioural tests, where the answers are less clear‐cut.
- Tell candidates about how much time it should take to complete each test. If you don’t, the candidate might initially think that, after starting the test, he/she will have hours to complete it, which may lead them to research possible answers.
If a candidate knows that the Microsoft Word 2007 test should take about 30 minutes, then they will usually complete it in a similar time frame ‐ around 30 minutes, not three hours.
By using the timed version of Microsoft Word 2007, Excel 2010, etc, you may limit the opportunity for a candidate to research an answer. - Tell candidates that you will be re‐testing final candidates in your offices before the job offer is made. And then do so. This will reduce the temptation to cheat because the candidates know that they will have to test again.
None of these are foolproof ways to eliminate cheating but can provide some peace of mind that you are getting an accurate picture of the candidate’s abilities.