TestGenius®: Online Pre-employment Testing Suite

Reflections on 2020: How Hardships Led to HR and Hiring Innovations

January 25, 2021 by Michael Callen

It’s safe to say 2020 was unprecedented for all industries, and HR professionals are no exception. In modern history, only the 2008 financial crisis compares in terms of businesses being thrown into uncharted territory almost overnight.

Similar to the events of last year, the financial crisis created widespread uncertainty in the economy and caused an economic collapse. It forced us to be creative, hone our skills, and figure out how to be better once the storm had passed.

There are many similarities between these two cataclysmic events, but there are also important differences. The shock to the global economy due to the pandemic has been significantly more severe and come much faster; in 2008, the effects took years to play out. But the most significant difference relates to how and where we work.

When everyone but essential workers could no longer go into physical offices to work, companies had to shift suddenly from on-site to off-site working arrangements. This overnight change resulted in major HR challenges, but the outcomes have been incredibly positive.

Leaders have continued learning from these challenges and putting those lessons to good use. The pandemic forced businesses to look outside the box and sometimes take drastic steps to keep things afloat amid unanticipated conditions and uncharted territory. As a result of these challenges, these same companies are uniquely positioned to build on these experiences in the months and years ahead.

Positioned for the Years Ahead

These changes are already playing out in several sectors. In the banking industry, for example, risk management teams have had to work to keep up with credit risk and payment management. Some companies have taken notes from big finance and are developing automated underwriting services to help retailers and small business customers reduce their losses.

Similarly, the healthcare industry has seen some potential long-term benefits of being forced to innovate so quickly. Telehealth (i.e., connecting with a physician by audio and video) is on the rise due to COVID-19. The success and potential cost savings of this form of meeting with medical professionals have caused a reimagining of how healthcare will be offered in the future.

For HR professionals, the pandemic has created an undeniable need to invest in nontraditional HR tech tools and infrastructure that enable employees to work remotely. This necessary innovation and transformation have provided a catalyst for HR leaders to reevaluate how other HR services are administered. Ultimately, some of these incredible changes might not have happened for decades had it not been for the pandemic.

Innovations in Pre-Employment Testing in 2020

One of the biggest shifts and HR challenges of 2020 came in determining how to leverage technology in the hiring process. For instance, one of the key elements of the hiring process for many companies involves pre-employment testing. When the pandemic restricted in-person interactions, the HR world had to adjust how it approached testing.

The solution for many companies and HR professionals? Cloud-based pre-employment testing.

As an example, one of our clients had to transition to an online testing model to accommodate the increasing demand for office and clerical staff. This client needed remote pre-employment testing capabilities, and it’s now able to test remotely using our online platform. Because the company was agile and implemented this new way of doing things, it has been able to navigate the pandemic quite well — and set itself up to approach hiring differently in the future.

COVID-19 forced countless companies to reevaluate the way they conducted pre-employment testing in the blink of an eye. As 2021 sees ongoing efforts to combat the pandemic, there has never been more of a need for online testing tools in the hiring process.

Our platform, TestGenius Online, enables companies to conduct their pre-employment tests remotely in a way that is both safe and seamless. To learn more, reach out today.

How to Approach Pre-Employment Testing in 2021 (and Beyond)

January 12, 2021 by Michael Callen

HR professionals have used pre-employment testing for years, but the pandemic has pushed its popularity to the next level. As layoffs soared and people reentered the job market at an alarming rate, employers needed standardized “filters” to narrow talent pools. When they no longer had the option of in-house, proctored testing, companies decided to turn to online screening tools.

To be sure, this was just one of the many challenges faced by HR professionals in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic radically altered business operations and the lives of employees everywhere. People were suddenly forced to work from home, care for their kids, and overcome other hurdles in the “new normal” — and most had no road map for how to do that.

Further, because it was much easier for HR professionals to monitor employee morale in the workplace before the pandemic, remote work made that task much more difficult. As a result, HR departments had to find new methods to ensure that team members were equipped to handle their workloads from home and be successful.

The widespread shift to remote work also means companies will spend more on remote working tools in 2021. HR professionals will have to embrace pandemic-related changes for the foreseeable future, reevaluating screening tools, pre-employment testing, remote proctoring, and technology in the hiring process as a whole to meet the moment.

Pre-Employment Testing Changes in 2020

When the job market boomed in 2017, remote proctoring options and online screening tools became more popular and widely available. They narrowed the applicant pool and decreased employee turnover. The pandemic has made remote proctoring an essential part of technology in the hiring process; many candidates either don’t feel safe working in an office at the moment or would rather work remotely on a long-term basis.

Pre-employment testing rapidly evolved with clients’ needs, and we have been proud to be part of that change. A major city in the western U.S. depends on a pre-employment testing system that allows it to create hundreds of custom tests for different positions. These tests are administered electronically to hundreds of thousands of job applicants. Before the pandemic, the city used Scantron tests or paper-and-pencil exams, but this was no longer viable due to concerns about virus spread. TestGenius’ online platform met the city’s needs with cloud-based screening tools and remote proctoring.

The Newest in Pre-Employment Screening Tools

While 2020 was unexpected in numerous ways, several trends are emerging for the future of pre-employment testing. Here three key developments in the world of screening tools and testing to keep an eye on in the coming year:

1. Hybrid proctoring models

When COVID-19 vaccines become more widespread and allow restrictions to loosen, hiring systems may rely on both online and in-person proctored tests to identify qualified candidates — a sort of hybrid model. TestGenius provides its clients with remote proctoring systems (AI and human) that allow them to verify an applicant’s identity online while documenting and upholding the integrity of the pre-employment testing process.

2. Custom content and remote delivery

With TestGenius, clients can create their own custom content and deliver it remotely throughout our online platform. In addition to more than 75 off-the-shelf tests, clients can build an infinite number of custom tests that are tailored to specific skills. Custom tests allow companies to hire the best candidate for a position by ensuring that the content of the test accurately measures each candidate’s ability to succeed on the job. Additionally, custom tests give employers a complete picture of candidates beyond their résumés or job interviews.

3. Data and item analysis

When evaluating online pre-employment testing options, clients prioritize accuracy and consistency. Put simply, they want proven results. Online screening tools offer extensive data and item analysis to help clients uncover the additional information they need to create custom tests. Better information yields better candidates over time, which means overall business success.

Companies face an incredible amount of uncertainty in 2021, and they can’t afford to lose employees perfectly suited for their teams. Even after the pandemic subsides, it will be important for HR professionals and employers to keep online pre-employment testing in mind. That way, both applicants and employers have multiple options for finding the right fit.

To schedule a demo today, click here.

Why You Should Continue Restructuring Candidate Screening

October 26, 2020 by Michael Callen

The COVID-19 pandemic caused firms to restructure candidate screening. While HR departments initially were concerned about being exposed to the virus by hosting on-site testing and interviews — or being responsible for exposing others — it wasn’t long before they shifted to an entirely virtual approach.

Now, job applications are almost universally handled online. Pre-employment assessments are taken and conducted remotely. Interviews happen courtesy of Zoom and Skype. Digital communications like AI job outreach programs enable recruiters to reach out to candidates, and texts and chatbots connect some job seekers with HR representatives. Some firms are even leveraging analytics tools to identify key applicant information.

Ultimately, the role technology plays in the hiring process has gone from an exciting new option to an absolute necessity. Everything has changed, and it will likely keep changing well into the future. So what’s next?

Candidate Screening in the Future

As we move forward, firms will continue to find ways to innovate with regard to their candidate screening processes. Adopting cloud-based software that functions both internally and externally should be a major focus, and so should casting a broader net and engaging with more applicants. As always, analyzing the results of this new approach to see what is effective and what has room for improvement is vital at every stage.

How can HR teams build on these changes for the future? Here are three ways to spark further innovation:

1. Gain a better knowledge of your candidates.

By making technical assessment tools a focus point of your hiring processes, you’ll ensure you’re never in the dark about a candidate’s potential performance or abilities. These pre-employment assessments let you understand candidates’ strengths and weaknesses and then compare them to one another. Ultimately, you can make data-driven hiring decisions based on performance-related metrics.

2. Offer an improved candidate experience.

Creating a positive candidate experience is an essential part of business success. Because the hiring experience is the first interaction most applicants have with your company, you want to offer an excellent first impression and engage them well. By positively welcoming candidates, you compel them to care about your brand — and perhaps become brand ambassadors and high-quality hires.

3. Cut costs.

Using different types of pre-employment tests can also help you cut hiring costs. Candidates can take these tests from anywhere they have an internet connection (and at basically any time). As a result, internal resources that you would typically use for every step of the hiring process — from application to testing — can instead support other initiatives.

To be certain, the pandemic has caused extensive devastation and disruption. But by learning from the changes and focusing on the positive possibilities ahead, we can break away from old paradigms and create new ways of operating that are more effective than ever before.