Customized Pre-Employment Tests, Built for Your Role

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Hiring can often feel like throwing darts, blindfolded. You hope for the best, but the end results can be hit….or miss.

A customized pre-employment test, based on your job description, removes that blindfold and shows you which candidates fit your exact job requirements. 

Customized Pre-Employment Tests? What’s that?

Pre-set assessments are still great tools, just like grabbing a new shirt in just the right standard size. They’re tested, convenient, and often just what you need.

But a custom test is more like a tailored outfit. It’s built with your goals, your jobs, and your candidates in mind.

• Preset = fast, proven, broadly matched
• Custom = precise, role-matched to your company, strategic

And you don’t need to choose one or the other. Many employers start with a preset and layer in customization as they refine their hiring process.

Two Paths to Test Customization

Custom pre-employment testing can focus on skills, behaviors, or a combination of both. Which abilities you test depends on the role and what “success” looks like.

Option 1: Behavioral Assessments (High for Entry-Level, Service Roles)

For roles where attitude, reliability, and soft skills matter most. For example, for caregiving, customer service, manager, or sales jobs, behavioral assessments are often the priority.

EmployTest’s behavioral modules can be customized to measure traits like:

• Reliability
• Stress tolerance
• Teamwork
• Customer empathy
• Achievement orientation

Based on their behavioral responses, you can use custom follow-up interview prompts from the score report. This helps your team dig deeper into candidate fit during interviews.

Example: Greystone Programs, a nonprofit supporting individuals with autism, customized a behavioral test to reduce turnover and improve candidate quality for direct support roles. It helped them weed out poor fits early, before a bad hire cost them time and resources.

Option 2: Skills-Based Assessments (Great for Admin, Tech, Legal)

When a role requires specific knowledge or on-the-job tools, a skills test might be a better fit. These can also be tailored to reflect daily tasks.

Popular custom skill categories:

• Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Outlook, etc.)
• General computer skills
• Reading comprehension and attention to detail
• Industry-specific knowledge or compliance

And remember, EmployTest’s customization features mean that you can mix multiple topics into a single assessment, so it matches what the job is actually like.

Customized Pre-Employment Tests Categories: A Detailed Look

Employers can customize tests based on:

Behavioral Strengths: Tests assess reliability, adaptability, customer service skills through realistic scenarios, leadership potential, and the tenacity needed in sales roles.

Job Skills: Customized assessments measure proficiency with essential tools such as:

• Microsoft Office: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Windows
• Basic Computer Skills: Passwords, tabs, file management, printing
• Administrative Basics: Attention to detail, language proficiency, reading comprehension
• Industry-Specific Knowledge: Medical, accounting, legal

By focusing on tangible skills, employers can move beyond resumes and understand how candidates might perform in a day-to-day setting.

Real-World Use: Greystone Programs Case Study

Greystone Programs is a nonprofit supporting children, adults, and families living with autism and developmental disabilities in New York’s Hudson Valley. They operate 16 residential homes and provide a wide range of outreach services.

The Challenge:
Reduce staff turnover in entry-level roles, where most of their hiring happens. Off-the-shelf tests weren’t cutting it, questions weren’t relevant, and results didn’t reflect the real demands of the job.

The Solution:
EmployTest helped Greystone build a customized test to screen for behavioral traits that mattered most. It also gave interviewers follow-up prompts based on test results.

The Result:
Greystone saw a higher-quality pool of candidates advancing to interviews and made hiring decisions with greater confidence, reducing bad hires and turnover. As Michele Lawrenson, Assistant Executive Director of Administration, put it:

“The EmployTest solution gives us more confidence in our hiring decisions. I’m certain we have saved ourselves some bad hires.”

Score Reports: Insights for Better Decisions

Customized tests include a detailed score report, which can show:

• Scores by individual skill categories
• Overall applicant ranking compared to similar roles
• Percentile ratings to quickly gauge candidate standing
• Tailored interview follow-up questions
• Visual graphs with easy-to-follow data

This helps hiring teams move the right applicants forward, without second-guessing.

FAQs on Customized Pre-Employment Tests

What specific skills can tests evaluate?
Assessments can measure skills like computer proficiency, administrative skills, communication skills, and specialized knowledge across various industries.

How do the score reports play into the overall hiring decisions?
Custom test results, just like any test results, can play a big part in the hiring decision, but they are not the only factor. Custom tests matched to your jobs may play a more significant role, than preset tests, because of their closer match to the job.

Make Hiring Easier and Smarter

Customized pre-employment tests streamline hiring by the key abilities specific to your company’s jobs. Instead of guessing, you’ll clearly know who will be successful. Custom tests make sure your hiring decisions are precise, effective, and simple.

Try a free sample test today!