Navigating Pre-Employment Assessments

iStockphoto.com | vectorikart

You may have noticed employers using pre-employment skills or personality assessments during the job application process. Why do employers use assessments, what role do they play, and how should you approach them?

Assessments from the Perspective of the Employer

At its most basic, a pre-employment assessment is used to gauge and predict a candidate’s personality, skills, and inclinations and help determine fit for the job or the company.

While Human Resources professionals would love to carefully go through each resume and meet each candidate in person, that is not a realistic expectation. In today’s market, a single job posting receives hundreds or thousands of applicants, and so many employers use technological tools to cut through the piles of applications. For better or worse, assessments often play an important role in the process.

Here are some reasons employers have stepped up their use of assessments to cut through the stacks of candidates:

• Assessments save time for everybody. During the hiring process, everyone involved on the employer side of the equation wants to save time and money by streamlining the process by determining fit. The candidate whose assessments determine they have the essential skills and traits will catapult to the top of the pile, letting recruiters focus on those individuals first.

• Assessments help the recruiter and hiring manager decide if a candidate is a good fit earlier in the process. Every company has its own way of determining “fit,” whether its personality traits or work history. A targeted assessment can help identify individuals who meet their unique culture.

• Assessments show how you deal with pressure. Most assessments are timed. Do not underestimate the power of that little clock counting down to zero while you try and remember an arcane formula in Excel. Job pressures are going to be more significant and more complex; for example, if you can't answer a question in an assessment within two minutes, maybe you can't meet the specific demands of the position.

• Assessments test your attention to detail. The clock is ticking, but if you don't take the time to read and understand the question, you may answer a whole series of questions wrong (just as a random example not based on personal experience). Read all instructions with care.

Assessments have drawbacks, too:

• Assessments are no substitute for human interaction. After the past year, this should already be on your mind. People are social animals who feed off each other's energy, professional settings included. No matter how many data points you can scrape together about a person, they're still just data points. 

•  People are not necessarily what their survey says. Assessments do not provide a complete picture of a person and may miss the value, skills, experience, background, or subtleties a potential candidate may bring to a position. For example, an assessment may determine that someone has introverted tendencies, but they might still be able to do well in a job for an extrovert – such as sales – by mastering interpersonal skills. People are complex, and you can’t predict with full accuracy what type of assessment results will translate well to a specific role.

• The survey's application is only as good as the end-users training. After you click the "Submit" button, then what happens? Somebody on the other end receives your results. Depending on the type of assessment, or other unknown factors, there is no guarantee that the person received the proper training to understand and apply the assessment's results.

As a candidate, how do you deal with these assessments?

Let's answer the obvious question – yes, if asked, you must complete any assessment the employer requires as part of the application process. Assessments are not optional (if you want the job), and there are a lot of them – Enneagram, Attention to Detail, Working with Data, Time Management, Verbal Reasoning, Excel, JavaScript, Technical SEO, Microsoft Word, HTML5, and many others.

Here are some tips for approaching your Assessments:

• When taking assessments, budget the time and place for them. These things aren't easy. You should be free from distractions and interruptions.

• Be honest in how you answer the questions.

• Even if you draw a blank, don't leave a blank. It would be best if you answered every question. 

• You will never figure out the psychology behind the questions of a behavioral or personality type of assessment. Do not try to out-think the questions. Be the same person on paper as you are in person.

---

Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.

The "I Just Got A Job" Checklist

iStockphoto.com | Ivan-balvan

Congratulations! You did it! You've accepted a job offer, your work clothes are at the dry cleaners, and you've circled your first workday on the calendar of your new life. It's time to celebrate – and tie up loose ends.

Do I add my new position to my resume? 

Unless you’re unhappy with your new job, you probably do not need to add your new position to your resume at the moment. Your resume serves you best when it focuses on your accomplishments and includes quantifiable metrics. Since you just started, it’s unlikely you have accomplished anything yet. With that in mind, don't forget to keep track of those accomplishments and metrics as they happen because at some point, you will add your current (current!) position to your resume, and if you have a bag of metrics to reach into and make it rain accomplishments, you will be happy you took the time to document your achievements.

What should I do about all the job boards (e.g., Indeed, Monster, Glassdoor, ZipRecruiter, etc.) where I have my resume posted?

It’s probably a good time to take down your old resume and make it not visible to employers. There is no reason to spend time deleting all these accounts, but make sure to change the visibility settings. You don’t want your current employer to risk seeing your resume still posted online and questioning if you’re already planning to jump ship. And you’ll probably want to go into your settings and deactivate the notifications and alerts about job opportunities.

What should I do about my LinkedIn profile?

LinkedIn is more than a job board, and your LinkedIn profile is more than a marketing brochure. Your profile should be much more in-depth than your resume. LinkedIn is a unique ecosystem with its own recommended changes to consider once you've started a new job.

• If you've activated any of LinkedIn's "Open to Work" features, time to shut them off. That way, your new employer doesn't think you're looking for a new job, and neither will recruiters and hiring managers on the hunt.

• Revise and/or remove any language you may have added to your profile about searching for a new job or anything that makes it seem like you're actively seeking employment.

• Add your new position to your LinkedIn profile. Since you don't have any accomplishments yet, you're okay with a one-liner about the new company and a general description of your position.

• LinkedIn Premium (the paid subscription) is a great tool when you're looking for a job, but it also has other benefits for the happily employed, such as training as well as search capabilities and InMail messages that may be helpful for those in sales and business development. If you find Premium to be an unnecessary expense, this is a good time as any to cancel.

What should I do about other jobs for which I interviewed or am in the process of interviewing?

Contact the appropriate people and close the loop on any other positions for which you are a candidate. That is the professional way to handle it, and it is what you are expected to do. Email is acceptable, but if you're at the final stage of an interview process, it is better to get on the phone with those involved.

Am I forgetting anything?

Send out your thank you notes! A formal “Thank You” is appropriate for anyone who referred you, or aided you in any way during your job search, whether or not it's the job you accepted. Expressing proper gratitude is a polite and civilized way of handling your professional relationships and investing in your future.

---

Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.

7 Tips To Help You Effectively Manage Your Job Search

iStockphoto.com | photoschmidt

Looking for a job is a significant undertaking. The most straightforward job search isn't easy, and everyone must go through the same, sometimes painful, process. Whether you're fully employed or unemployed, landing a new job is time-intensive, emotionally consuming, and requires an advanced level of administration. Even if you already possess the personal discipline to manage your job hunt, it can become overwhelming at times, so it is advantageous to build discipline into your job search.

As the job market heats up, we present to you the following tips that may help you effectively manage your job search (and, hopefully, get the job!).

1. Block Out Time — lots of it. A single online job application can a long time, given all the uploading, job boards that require you to create accounts and detailed profiles, third-party skills assessments, third-party sites that process applications, and on and on (yes, the process is broken). Ideally, you should block out time. Your search should follow a routine and, if at all possible, in a place that is quiet and away from distractions.

2. Practice Effective Time Management. Time management is not just about blocking out time. It's about knowing what to do and when learning and employing the most effective methods for achieving your goal. Once again, discipline is the key. Plan out your activities and stick to them. There is no test at the end or a single right way of managing your time. Determine what works best for you according to your circumstances, and create a plan and schedule to accommodate your existing day-to-day responsibilities with the demands of a job search.

3. Murphy's Law Applies. Whatever can go wrong will go wrong. Fortunately, you're not steering a ship through a storm. You're just applying for a job. Tasks often take longer than you believe they will. Build-in cushions to absorb unforeseen delays. For example, let’s say you want to be one of the first applicants for a very appealing job – however, you've been in the same position for five years, and the application has a required section for professional references. Even if you have connections in mind, you might be in a position where you will need to hunt down current contact information and anything else required on the job application (not to mention verifying with your reference that they will give you a good reference – don't assume!). Be prepared for the unexpected.

4. Track Your Activities. By doing so, you’ll be able to monitor your progress and follow up as appropriate. Create your job search dashboard in a spreadsheet to track your applications, status updates, recruiter/hiring manager names, etc. LinkedIn and other profile-based job boards (e.g., Indeed) give you a head start by collecting that kind of information for you but is limited to applications submitted through their own platforms. The data is still there to pull into your spreadsheet, so you always have a complete panoramic snapshot of your job search.

5. Save Time With "Push” Activities. LinkedIn and the major job boards like Indeed, Monster, Glassdoor, and others all have job alerts you can set up that push alerts to your email or messages for specific job categories, job titles, or employers. Although going through all the push notifications and following potential leads takes time, it’s still faster than building searches from scratch every time you log in. Keep these activities in mind when creating your overall management plan.

6. Create Measurable Goals. It can be whatever metrics you want – number of jobs to which you apply, number of online job searches, number of recruiters/hiring managers to whom you can connect, number of hours per week, number of days per week, and on and on. Choose a set of relevant, measurable goals, and monitor your progress against those benchmarks to keep yourself on track.

7. Talk To A Human! One of the trickier parts of a job search is connecting with an actual person. There are so many technological roadblocks in your way. However, with a bit of research (or a Premium LinkedIn account), you can sometimes identify recruiters and hiring managers in your field. Making professional – and mutually beneficial – connections with people who find people jobs for a living is a long-term investment that may open up additional opportunities.

---

Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.