Are Candidates Who Resist Doing Pre-Employment Assessments Red Flags?

Candidates don’t like doing assessments, especially if they are applying for a job. They want to be interviewed, not assessed by technology. Right?

Yes and No.

Candidates like interviewing. It’s personal, and it connects them to their would-be peers. However, assessments allow employers to gain unbiased insights that they might not otherwise know from a standard 1-on-1 interview. As a result, candidates can be reluctant to trust the assessment process.

However, no one benefits if the wrong candidate is in the wrong job, so if the assessment process is explained to them and the value it adds to the hiring process for all concerned, they are generally more accepting, especially if it is at the post-interview stage.  

Our Pinsight hiring process informs candidates at the job advert and application stage that they must take an online assessment. In the initial HR interview, we explain the purpose of the online assessment, how the assessment competencies link directly to the job competencies, and the value we place on the assessment results. We also explain the benefit of only being selected to move forward if they are a good match for our culture and the position.  We then send assessment invitations to the short-listed candidates.

If candidates, after all this awareness, resist doing the assessments: there’s your red flag. It potentially indicates a lack of trust in the process and interest in the role or company. Here’s our process to ensure your candidate’s do believe and trust the process:

5 Steps to Ensure Your Candidate is Eager to Take an Assessment & Trust the Process

1. Tell candidates when they apply for the position that they will be required to do assessments.
2. Invite candidates to do the assessments after the initial interview. This gives them an opportunity to experience some of your company culture and people prior to doing an assessment.
3. Prior to scheduling their assessment:
   • Explain the value of the assessment experience to the candidate and how they are likely to learn about themselves and enjoy the experience.
   • Explain the value of the assessment results to the company as they are predictive of job success and company culture fit.
   • Explain what competencies will be assessed and link these to the job competencies.
   • Remind them that if they are the successful candidate, they will receive their assessment results.
   • Share with them what successful candidates, now employees, gained from the assessment. An example from one of our employees is:  
     • “The assessment and hiring process told me about the company culture, that people and team-fit mattered”.
4. If possible, offer all short-listed candidates assessment feedback.
5. For unsuccessful candidates, ensure that they have a positive experience of the company, not only to reward them for their time and effort, but also as they could be future clients/customers.  Keep them informed and let them know if they were unsuccessful in their application. A recent unsuccessful candidate wrote this to us:

“It is so seldom that potential employers take the time to send non-acceptance letters or emails, so thank you for letting me know about my application, it would have been a pleasure to work for your company”.  

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