How Job Candidates Can Prepare for Pre-Employment Assessments

If you have applied for a job and have been asked to appear for an aptitude or a pre-employment test, this guide will help you understand what to expect of it and how to prepare for it. Pre-employment tests usually help the recruiters assess the candidates’ cognitive skills as well as certain personal and professional characteristics necessary for a certain job role.

This guide consists of two parts where the first part will make you aware of the things you should be careful about before appearing for the pre-employment test while the second part will help you understand what you should do while taking the test.

What to Do Before the Pre-Employment Test?

• Ask about the Test Type

You must understand what kind of test you will be taking part in beforehand. There are generally four broad types of tests having further categories, which include aptitude tests, personality tests, skills assessment tests and job knowledge tests. If possible, you should call the recruiter a few days before the interview date and ask about the type of pre-employment tests they will employ. This will help you prepare for specific and relevant questions regarding the test type.

• Relax and Reduce Your Anxiety

You should keep in mind that a pre-employment test may be only a part of the assessment process to determine whether or not you will fit the job role you have applied for. Thus, this may not be the only thing that the recruiters may base their decision of hiring employees on. Apart from the tests, the recruiters may have several other things to consider, including your CV, references, interviews and other background checks. Some of the companies may arrange pre-employment tests only for those candidates who have applied for senior positions but not for the juniors. Moreover, when you will get a call from the recruiters to appear for a test, try not to get nervous or frantic because it won’t leave a good impression on them. Prepare yourself and get to the assessment centre with confidence to do well in it.

• Practice

You may be asked to take any kind of psychometric test based on the job you have applied for. Remember that practising regularly is the best way through which you will be able to score well on the test. Whether it is technical or mechanical, or it intends to assess your decision-making skills or presence of mind – everything requires a lot of practice.

Practising for your test will not merely make you answer them in the shortest possible time during the test day but it will also hone your skills and you will be confident while taking the test. You can find various online test samples that you can make use of to practice for the test.

If it is a knowledge testing assessment, you may be assessed based on your applied knowledge and understanding of the concepts. This means you should have proper knowledge of the subject matter, which can only be possible through a lot of practice.

• Make Time

Pre-employment tests may be taken either on-site or online. In both cases, you should keep track of time before the test starts to avoid rushing for it. Remember not to keep any important meetings or discussions before your test so that your mind stays free of any other matter.

In case, you have to take the test on-site, be sure to reach the test location at least 30 minutes in advance so that you have enough time to settle down and relax. It is a good idea to relax before attempting to take the pre-employment test, since it may help in lowering your stress level.

What to Do During the Pre-Employment Test?

• Read the Instructions Carefully

Once you have been given the questions, read each instruction carefully because there may be important details in it that will help you pass the exam. For instance, they may contain information on the rating of each question or the way you will be scored. Instructions may also contain some hints of what approach or method you should use to solve a particular question. As a result, do not rush into the questions before you read the instructions carefully.

• Be Wise With the Time

Pre-employment tests are generally timed and so you will have limited time to attempt each question. Aside from reading the questions and instructions carefully, you should dedicate a certain amount of time to each question to cover all the questions given in the test. Once you have divided your time as per the complexity level and significance of each question, you should stick to that division. If you think a specific question is taking longer than it should, move on to the next one and come back to this later if possible.

• Don’t Cheat and Stay Focused

Some recruiters may employ tools and software to look into the way the candidates are answering the pre-employment tests. If they identify any kind of inconsistency in your answers, they may disqualify you or it may leave a bad impression of you on the company. Thus, be honest while answering and never try to cheat. If you try to cheat, it will only divert your concentration, which will further waste your time and increase the chances of your dishonesty being detected.

• Cross Check

Once you are done with your answers, the best way for you to be confident about their correctness is cross checking them, if this is possible, by going back to previous questions before submitting your answers. This will help you identify if you have made any careless mistakes and so you will have an opportunity to make corrections whenever necessary. 

How can Assessment-Training.com help you ace your job interview, assessment and aptitude test?

Assessment-Training.com is your number 1 online practise aptitude test and assessment provider. We aim to help you ace your assessment by providing you with practise aptitude tests that mimic the tests used by employers and recruiters. Our test developers have years of experience in the field of occupational psychology and developed the most realistic and accurate practice tests available online. Our practise platform uses leading-edge technology and provides you feedback on your scores in form of test history, progress and performance to your norm group.

The Assessment-Training.com data science team found that candidates increased their scoring accuracy through practice and went into their assessments more confident. Remember, you need to practice to make sure you familiarize yourself with the test formats, work on your accuracy and experience performing under time pressure.