The purpose of pre-employment tests

Pre-employment tests are being used more and more by companies hiring new employees. These tests ensure that the applicant has the necessary skills, abilities, and personality traits to succeed at the job.

The first of these tests is the aptitude test, or test of maximum performance. The tests tell an employer how quickly a person may be expected to learn to do any tasks required. It is important to employer to hire someone they feel is competent in the field and a hard worker.

When employers are selecting aptitude tests, it is important to find a test-form which can rank applicants in order of percentiles. If applicants answer a majority of questions correct, the test may be too "easy" to measure the individual accurately. An applicants' abilities could be higher than the test could measure.

Personality tests could be included in pre-employment testing. This looks into an applicants' honesty and reliability, as well as, their customer service and sales capabilities. However, most personality tests are administered by psychologists.

Here are some tips to keep in mind when taking these tests:

• Read instructions and each question carefully.
  
• Read all parts of the test question.
  
• Avoid over-analyzing the questions, they aren't meant to be tricky.
• Look at each test as a separate set of questions.
• Don't spend too much time on problem questions. Move on and then come back.