A job assessment test is something that a potential new employer may request that you take before making a job offer. This type of test can help employers find out what type of employee you are likely to be before hiring you.
What Is a Job Assessment Test
It is important to distinguish between a career assessment test, or career aptitude test, and a job assessment test. In the first, you will be taking a question and answer quiz that can be used to help determine what type of career you are best suited for. On the other hand, a job assessment focuses on your job skills and other relevant factors that may indicate how you can be expected to perform in the workplace.
This type of test can provide an employer with critical information about how you might be expected to perform on the job. You may be asked to complete an assessment after an initial interview. Alternately, assessment tests may be used to help gauge how well a person fits into a job long before that person's interview. Some employers actually include pre-employment testing as part of the process part of completing out an application to work with the company. For example, some companies will require you to complete an assessment when you fill out a paper or online application. Test scores are used to determine whether or not you will be invited to interview.
Questions on Assessment Tests
Companies that use assessment tests choose the instruments they used based on their particular hiring needs and concerns. Some companies purchase standardized assessments, while others create their own tests, based on the working situations actual employees may be faced with. The following are a few types of questions you might expect from this type of quiz.
- Responsibility: Questions here trend towards understanding how you might react in certain situations in terms of responsibility. For example, you might get a question such as, "You are sick with a fever of 100 degrees on the day of your shift. What do you do?" You may then select that you would call off at the last minute, find someone to cover your shift, come to work or do something else. The answer helps the employer to know just how responsible you will be.
- Honesty: A question to assess your ability to be honest is usually included on such tests. An example might be a question about finding money, what you would do if a customer left behind a wallet. What would you do?
- Respect: When it comes to respect, employers want to know if you will respect others you are working with as well as their company. They may ask questions about helping other employees, responding to criticism about the company as well as how you would handle if told what to do by a manager.
- Skills: Can you demonstrate the skills and aptitude necessary to perform the essential functions of the job that you are applying for.
These basic questions are just examples of the questions you might be asked. Many companies are looking to see how well you will fit within specific positions or they may be looking for specific attributes in your answers. They are trying to determine whether or not you are you the best person to fill the job vacancy.
Why Assessment Tests Matter
Job fit is an important aspect for companies. They spend time an money recruiting and screening applicants. Putting new employees on payroll also costs money. Businesses spend more money paying for new hire training. There is no question that hiring is expensive. Taking the steps necessary to find the right employee -- such as pre-hire assessment testing -- is a sound investment.
- Behavioral testing is one of the most common forms of assessment testing. How you react to specific situations is important information.
- Background checks and formal interviews are subjective. Through these employment tests, businesses can get a clear understanding of who you are and how you will react on the job.
- Leadership skills, management potential and customer service skills are all a focus of many of these quizzes. Do you have what it takes to move up within a company? Can you handle difficult customer service situations?
The good news is that you do not have to do anything to prepare for such tests. Relax, sit back and answer them as truthfully as you can. Try not to guess what the employer is looking for, but instead to answer the questions on a job assessment test honestly.
