Pre-Employment Pigeonholing

Unless you are applying for a position with a very small firm, you will probably be required to take some pre-employment tests. These can range in complexity from simple 24 question exams to complex, 3-4 hour analyses (a la Myers-Briggs). Regardless of the test given, when completed the tester will know you better than you know yourself.

So, it will benefit you greatly if you understand these tests, their methodology, and their results.

Most firms do pre-employment screening. Most of the larger ones do it with their own HR people. Many have the testing done on-line and are given the results. While the stated motive for administering pre-employment tests is to get employees who fit the job and the company culture, the underlying motives are not quite as pure.

Two Types of Test

In-house background checks and drug testing have become more necessary than ever. These are done to verifying that prospective employees do not have skeletons in their closets that can create problems for the employer in the future. Pre-employment screening and drug testing companies can help employers discover these hidden secrets about potential employees and their services are not cheap. But, in our litigious society, pre-employment screening tests like these are vitally important, especially to companies that have dealings with the public.

For most companies the hiring of one employee will cost in excess of one month’s wages. So, every attempt is made to pre-screen the applicant in advance of testing. Thus the importance of a résumé continues to grow in disproportionate degrees. But, in reality, what does your résumé tell your future employer about your potential liabilities and/or the contribution you will make?

In addition to the first group of background tests, there is another class entirely, psychology tests. Psychologists have proven that human motivations are consistent. We humans desire to avoid loss more than we desire to have potential gain. So, safe candidates are more often chosen than optimal ones.

While screening tests are there to filter out the potential “bad actors,” psychological tests are of an entirely different breed.

Psychological testing or profiles once began as simple aptitude or IQ tests. The assumption behind them was that anyone could do any job, as long as she was bright enough. The theory that a smart person would excel and a mentally challenged one would never become a strong performer was the basis of the industrial age. And now, as we move well beyond the industrial era into an age of information, communication, and customization the old theories have been radically challenged themselves.

Stepping up to the plate with new “instruments” have been dozens of firms. Each measures tendencies, aptitudes, and strengths against performance and aptitude metrics of present and former employees. Since these professionally designed tools are in place to further filter and sift the huge numbers of job applicants that most companies have it is worth your while to understand what these tests tell employers about you.

So, what does your pre-employment testing say about you? And, how can you give it the proper spin?

First: Unless you have gone to the trouble and paid the expense of having yourself tested, the employer and his agents know the results of the test before you do. They also have a basis of comparison upon which to judge your suitability, this being the dozens (perhaps hundreds or thousands) of individuals whom they have tested before you. This gives them a distinct advantage. And you may well be excluded from an interview because of the test results. And, you won’t be given the results of their test!

Second: You cannot change the results of the tests by preparing for them in advance and you should not attempt give the “correct” answers. Just answer them honestly. The tests are designed by experts to catch inconsistent answers. And, since the tests are timed, your deliberate answers will be skewed against you. Be honest, even if you don’t get the job. It’s better to be excluded from a position for the right reasons than to get an interview and the job for the wrong ones.

Third: The results of the “profiles,” as these tests are called, is a psychometric evaluation of your strengths and/or suitability to the position offered. Specific positions within a firm require certain measurable attributes. These have been determined by experience over time and are based upon past performance of others who have held similar positions.

Remember, the ONLY purpose of the test is to provide a feeling of security on the part of the employer (or their HR department). They are not interested in the best hire, just on not making a mistake in hiring.

Before we talk about the strategy you must take to properly spin the pre-employment psychometric tests, it is best to put yourself in the employers’ shoes by understanding their necessity.

Employment facts:

• On average it costs in excess of one month’s pay for each new hire
• Once hired 67% of employees would rather work elsewhere
• 2/3 of all new hires will disappoint in the first year
• 95 of 100 applicants will "exaggerate" to get a job
• Most hiring decisions are made in haste - during the first five minutes of an interview
• 1 of 3 businesses will be sued this year over an employment issue
• Turnover costs thousands of dollars for every departing employee
• According to a USA Today report, absenteeism cost employers $757 per year per employee in 1998.

This leads to the ultimate conclusion on the part of most companies. They believe that employee turnover is avoidable if accurate pre-employment testing is done.

Pre-employment strategy

Since there is no way to “beat the tests” all you can do is understand them in advance and apply for positions that match your strengths.

Employers are in the unenviable position of needing help and having to select the “right” candidate from a huge field of applicants. Often a job opening will yield hundreds, if not over a thousand applicants. Since most job seekers are told to throw the résumé against the wall to see if it sticks, about half of all applicants significantly lack the qualifications stated in the ad or job posting.

So, unless your qualifications significantly match the job opening you’re better off not applying. Don’t think you’re going to get interview experience, so apply anyway. The pre-employment screening and testing are designed to screen you out before you get to speak with a real person. All you’re doing is wasting time and résumé paper.

Also be aware that employers are smart enough to realize that people’s talents are transportable from field to field. It may be quite common for you to be told that your experience is in accounting and now you are applying for a marketing position, why not stick to your field. But, if your accounting experience had been strongly involved with new account acquisition and if your experience within your former employer(s) had more to do with making presentations and expanding the presence of your former employer’s firm with clients, then you may well be a sales person with an accounting degree and accounting experience, just what they need.

If you have taken the time in advance to be tested and have reviewed the test in depth, you will see your pattern of performance over time and the ways in which your natural strengths have led to your history of past successes. This may well be your most powerful tool in getting the job you want. But, like any tool, you have to know how to use it. (These are the skills we teach in the 24 Hour Job Change program.)

All these steps are reactive, however. They are in response to an ad or posting for an opening with a firm that you may or may not have adequately profiled in advance. You are applying for the position based upon extrinsic factors, having little to do with your own particular strengths or most suitable career. This type of job search usually ends in disappointment, even if you are hired, as you know deep within yourself that you could have done better elsewhere.

If you’re in doubt as to how to approach an employer that may use a pre-employment profile, then you should be tested in advance by an individual who can help you debrief and will assist you in approaching an employer from your strengths.