Pre-employment screening is essential to ensure intelligent and effective hiring and build a strong team.
What is pre-employment screening?
Pre-employment screening is a crucial step of recruitment, where the employer does the background check, which involves screening information provided by the candidate while applying for this job. This step involves verification of educational details, past employment, criminal records, etc.
Pre-employment screening is essential to protect the organization from wrong hiring and avoid the situations that come with bad hiring.
Pre-employment screening is not just about uncovering potential problems related to candidates but is also about finding the best fit for your organization. The company can get better candidates if the pre-employment screening is done in an effective way.
Types of pre-employment screening test
After following the various steps of screening, it is also essential to identify if the candidate can perform as per the company’s desire or not; here are some standard tests to validate the same:
- Cognitive ability tests check the candidate’s ability to develop problem-solving and critical thinking skills and how quickly they can learn new things.
- Job knowledge tests: These tests assess how much knowledge a candidate has regarding the post he is applying for.
- Personality tests: These tests look at a candidate’s personality, how they work, and whether they fit in with the company culture.
- Integrity tests check if a candidate is honest and reliable and will not work against the company.
- Physical ability tests: Since some jobs require physical strength or some physical perfection, this test ensures the same.
Why pre-employment screening test is important
A pre-employment screening test is vital to assess the different attributes of the candidates that are relevant for the efficient delivery of the work allotted. This assessment serves many purposes, such as
- Skills assessment: This assessment will check if the candidate has the required skills to perform the job.
- Behavioral evaluation: This assessment will analyze the behavioral aspect of the candidate in different situations, for example, how the person deals with a panic situation, whether it involves patience or anger, or a problem-solving approach.
- Cognitive ability testing measures problem-solving skills, critical thinking, and reasoning abilities.
- Culture fit and compatibility: This test will evaluate the ethical behavior of the candidate toward the organization.
Tools of pre-employment screening
- Identity Verification: It is essential to verify the identity of the candidates; the company should verify if the identity submitted by the candidates belongs to them or not.
- Educational & Qualification Verification: At this point, the company will contact the educational institution to verify the accuracy of the degree and its credentials.
- Work history: It involves connecting with previous employers to know whether the provided data on work, designation, skills, etc., is correct.
- Criminal records check: It is essential to know if the candidate has any criminal history and, if so, how severe it is.
- Medical history: Some jobs demand outdoor work, which requires a healthy body, so it is necessary to check medical history to ensure if the candidate is fit for the job or not.
- Credit history check (in some cases): When the job position is related to finance, this check will give a glimpse of the candidate’s responsibility towards financial obligation; it helps the company avoid theft, embezzlement, etc.
- Reference checks: When the candidates provide references to verify their information, the company should verify the same to determine the authenticity of the information.
- Social media screening (in some cases): Nowadays, social media is a mirror of everyone’s lifestyle. More or less, everybody shares the information on their social media account. Although it cannot be considered a decision-making step, a recruiter may choose to screen social media handles such as LinkedIn, Twitter, etc., to analyze the behaviour of the candidates.
Pre-employment screening checklist
Since we know about the types and steps of pre-employment screening, it is also essential to prepare a checklist for pre-employment screening as every job needs different candidates, and all the screening can only be performed on some candidates.
It is essential to determine which set of skills and qualifications is required for the current opening, and as per the required skills and qualifications, resumes must be screened and shortlisted for the next step. Once the resumes are identified, it is essential to find out about the candidates’ approach towards a job in the interview, and if the candidates look efficient for the job, the employer is required to conduct pre-screening tests to make the final decision.
Conclusion
Pre-employment screening is a crucial step of the recruitment process, not just to appoint suitable candidates but also to ensure the candidate’s credibility towards organizational growth and to build a strong workforce for better performance throughout the journey.
Deepvue also believes in this and does the required pre-employment screening for the company’s growth and to provide the best services to its customers.
FAQs
How do organizations choose the proper pre-employment screening tests?
Companies can pick tests based on the job needs, legal rules, and how reliable the tests are. Tests should match the job’s requirements and filter the unwanted resumes.
What are some standard pre-employment screening tools?
There are multiple tools in the market such as applicant tracking system (ATS), agencies offering screening services etc.
What questions should be asked during pre-employment screening?
Questions related to skills, education, or past work experience should be verified during the pre-employment screening.
What are the critical steps in a pre-employment screening checklist?
The checklist includes preparing checkpoints, reviewing applications, conducting interviews, giving tests, and checking backgrounds. It also involves keeping records, making a final decision, and checking references.
