What are the best Interview Tests?

If you’re involved in recruiting for your organisation, you may well have used interview tests as part of your hiring processes. Interview tests are commonly used by the automotive industry organisations that Copeland work with and I am often asked for advice on what the best interview tests are. There are numerous factors that influence what the right tests or tasks are for interview candidates. In this article I will share some of my learnings on interview testing – gleaned over the 25 years that I’ve been recruiting for automotive industry businesses.

Why use interview tests?

Whilst Q&A or competency based interviews are appropriate for the early stages of an interview process, there comes a point where you should be testing your candidates to substantiate their claims. Can they do what they say they can? This is where interview tests come in. You can use tests to establish a wide range of skills and competencies, for example:

Market Knowledge
Technical Skills
Presentation skills
Management/leadership ability
Analtical skills
Working style
Personality traits

In short, good interview tests will help you narrow down your candidates and select the best person for your vacancy. An interview process that does not include any tasks or tests risks you hiring the wrong candidate.

When should you test your interview candidates?

The best stage of the interview process at which to test your candidates will vary – depending on the type and level of position you are recruiting for. Businesses who are hiring for graduate schemes or other positions with a high volume of applicants will often use tests as front end of a recruitment process. These tests will help narrow down the number of candidates to a manageable number to take through to interview.

If you’re hiring for mid to senior level positions with a smaller number of candidates, I’d recommend including interview tests at the second or third stage of your interview process. You want to properly asses your candidates – without putting them off. I believe it’s best to ensure that senior level candidates are fully invested in your business and vacancy before asking them to complete tests.

What are the best interview tests to use?

To determine the best type of interview test to use, firstly decide what you need to discover from the test. You can then select how and when to test your candidates. There are a wide range of interview tests at your disposal. Below, I’ll take you through some of the most commonly used interview tests, and what you can use them for:

Presentations

Presentation tasks can help you assess your candidates’ ability to communicate clearly and formally. However they are also very useful to assess subject knowledge, analytical skills, creativity and working styles. For executive and senior roles, presentation tasks are a great way of assessing your candidates on a number of different factors all at once. For example, many automotive industry businesses I work with will use presentation tasks to simultaneously test for:

Presentation skills
Ability to work to a brief
Specific automotive industry knowledge/understanding
Technical skills and knowledge
Analytical skills

So when and how should you set a presentation task? Some organisations like to give candidates a presentation task brief at the interview – allowing them a set amount of time to prepare and then present immediately. Most businesses I work with prefer to set presentation tasks ahead of their interviews. In this case I usually recommend they give candidates at least 1 week to prepare. There are pros and cons of both approaches – the former removes the risk of candidates seeking outside help, however the latter is more akin to a real life working situation. Whenever you brief your candidates there are a few rules of thumb I recommend:

Give clear instructions of what you’d like them to present on – possibly test your brief on an existing employee.
Set parameters on how long you’d like the presentation to last – possibly giving he maximum number of slides.
Make sure you clearly explain any dummy data you provide.
Inform candidates of technical equipment that will be available. To avoid any issues on the day – its a good idea to ask candidates to email them the presentation ahead.

Skills tests

You could incorporate skills tests (for example analytical skills) into a presentation task or give them as stand-alone tasks. The requirements and type of role you’re recruiting for will determine how important this type of test will be. My main recommendation is – don’t take a candidate’s word on their skills – be it analytical, technical, specific software, typing or even written English. If it’s important for the job – test it. This could be a simple typing test or Excel test – there a numerous tests available online.

Psychometric tests

Psychometric tests can help you assess personal characteristics such as behavioural style, personality traits, intelligence, beliefs, attitudes and mental capabilities. The 2 most common types of psychometric test are Aptitude Tests and Personality Tests.

Aptitude tests

Aptitude tests measure candidates’ intelligence, logical reasoning and cognitive abilities. Employers would normally conduct them under timed, exam-style conditions with multiple choice answers. There are numerous online suppliers of Aptitude tests both free and paid options, for example Finding Potential or Assess.ly Types of aptitude test you may wish to use are:

Verbal reasoning – assessing your candidates’ ability to understand concepts and information expressed through language
Numerical reasoning – assess numerical skills
Error checking tests
Written communication tests – test a person’s ability to communicate effectively in writing. Will also test spelling, grammar and punctuation.
Situational judgement tests – outline a scenario and then assess how the candidate would act in that situation

Personality tests

Personality tests are a useful tool to asses what type of character traits a candidate possesses. They can help predict how well someone might fit into your business and organisational culture. Personality tests can examine your candidates’ values, motivations and interests. They can also analyse emotions, behaviours and relationships in different contexts. Again, there are numerous types of personality test available. Here are a few examples you could use:

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator – a widely used test that categorises individuals into 16 personality types based on preferences for for dichotomies: exteraversion v introversion; judging v perceiving; intuition v sensing; and thinking v feeling.
DISC Tests focus on Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Conscientiousness. They provide insights into candidates’ behavioural style and communication preferences.
Caliper Profile – an assessment that measures an individual’s personality characteristics and individual motivations in order to predict on-the-job behaviors and potential.
16 Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF) – this test asks questions that get to the heart of how people react in real situations at work. It measures the 16 traits that we all possess and will give empoyers a snapshot of how people would react in certain situations.
HEXACO Personality Inventory measures six key areas of personality: honesty-humility; emotionality; extraversion; agreeableness; conscientiousness; and openness to experience. It can help hiring managers better understand how candidates will approach their work.

Group exercises

Employers with a high volume of applicants or who are running an assessment centre may find group exercises useful. I would only recommend using Group Exercises for more junior positions. Use group exercises to assess a group of graduates for example. You would provide your candidates with an industry or workplace-related problem to solve together.

You can use group exercises to assess candidates against key competencies. These might include teamwork, leadership, problem solving and communication. Examples of typical group exercises include:

Icebreakers – will help relax and bond the team. You could include simple tasks such ask asking them to find out facts about other candidates.
Discussions – provide a business scenario for your candidates. Ask them to reach a logical conclusion. Try asking each candidate in turn to contribute.
Roleplay – Give your candidates a particular role, background information and a brief.

Including appropriate testing to your interview programmes creates a much more watertight process that will help you identify the best candidates for your vacancies. You can then confidently employ your chosen candidate(s) in the knowledge that they have the required skill and knowledge for the job in hand.

If you’re an employer in the automotive sector and need help finding quality candidates for a vacancy in Sales, Marketing or Operations, I can help. Get in touch for an initial chat: [email protected] / 07973 286342.

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