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Design Pre-Employment Assessments That Improve Hiring Success

Go beyond the interview to better assess for competencies specific to the organization’s culture and unique needs.

  • The cost of making a bad hire is high, even for entry-level positions.
  • Lack of skilled interviewing is intensified by the fact that over half of job applicants don’t meet the basic requirements of the role.

Need Extra Help?
Speak With An Analyst.


  • Get on-demand project support
  • Get advice, coaching, and insight at key project milestones
  • Go through a Guided Implementation to help you get through your project

Our Advice

Critical Insight

  • Increasing the quality of pre-employment assessments beyond an interview improves objectivity and the quality of hiring decisions. Designing them in-house allows for greater alignment with the organization's unique needs.

Impact and Result

  • Create a pre-employment assessment to accompany an interview so that you can better assess the on-the-job competencies of your candidates.
  • Create a scoring rubric for the assessment to improve hires' objectivity and mitigate bias.
  • Test the assessment to ensure that it is valid and reliable before integrating the assessment into your talent acquisition process.

Design Pre-Employment Assessments That Improve Hiring Success Research & Tools

2. Design your in-house assessments

Choose an assessment method to develop and create scoring for the assessment.

3. Ensure assessments are valid and reliable

Test the assessment design for alignment and bias.

4. Create an action plan for implementation

Integrate the assessment into the TA process.

Design Pre-Employment Assessments That Improve Hiring Success preview picture

About McLean & Company

McLean & Company is an HR research and advisory firm providing practical solutions to human resources challenges via executable research, tools, diagnostics, and advisory services that have a clear and measurable impact on your business.

What Is a Blueprint?

A blueprint is designed to be a roadmap, containing a methodology and the tools and templates you need to solve your HR problems.

Each blueprint can be accompanied by a Guided Implementation that provides you access to our world-class analysts to help you get through the project.

Need Extra Help?
Speak With An Analyst

Get the help you need in this 4-phase advisory process. You'll receive 5 touchpoints with our researchers, all included in your membership.

Guided Implementation 1: Determine priority areas
  • Call 1: Discuss pain points and determine priority roles.
  • Call 2: Review competency framework.

Guided Implementation 2: Design your in-house assessments
  • Call 1: Design your in-house assessments.

Guided Implementation 3: Ensure assessments are valid and reliable
  • Call 1: Discuss and determine validity and reliability methods.

Guided Implementation 4: Create an action plan for implementation
  • Call 1: Develop an action plan for implementation.

Contributors

  • Nicole Bonenfant, Adjunct Professor, Recruitment & Selection, Humber College
  • Matt Burns, Founder & CEO, Global HR Collective
  • Glenda Fisk, PhD, Employment Relations Program, Queen’s University
  • Chris Frame, Partner, Operations, LiveCA
  • Tom Haak, Director, HR Trends Institute
  • Chris Hodge, AVP, Talent Acquisition, RoundPoint Mortgage Servicing Corporation
  • Angela Hountalas, VP People, Rangle.io
  • HR Professional, a U.S. Insurance Organization
  • Ernest Mistica, HR Consultant, Enterprise Communications Company
  • Lucy Norman, Senior Manager, Talent Acquisition, Info-Tech Research Group
  • Poonam Ramkhelawon, HR Professional
  • Joanne Roth, Director, Talent Acquisition, Special Projects, Sun Life Financial
  • Sebastien Savard, CEO & Co-Founder, Sourcinc
  • Wes Winham, Founder & CEO, Woven

Several anonymous contributors were also interviewed.