Pre-Employment Screenings

1) Basic Skills Assessment:  
Basic skills assessment looks at your 

a.  Understanding of written directions
b.  Identifying correctly spelled words
c.  Use of correct punctuation in sentences
d.  Close attention to details
e.  Solving arithmetic problems, including those with decimals or money
f.   Math problem solving

Often jobs to be a cashier, wait staff, or to work in sales require a basic skills assessment.    

2) Situational Test:
 A situational test looks at how you would handle certain situations that may occur in a job setting.  

Some companies may require a situational test for positions where you work directly with customers in situations that may be challenging.  Examples of jobs that might require a situational test include floor supervisor, management, sales, customer services, and medical or personal care positions. 

3) Occupational Personality Questionnaire:
An occupational Personality Questionnaire is a series of questions to see how you would think and react to different life situations.  Companies use the personality questionnaire to see how you would fit within their expectations for the position in the work place environment. 

Some companies may require an occupational questionnaire for positions where you work in teams or groups or just to see if the setting may be right for you.  Some positions that require an occupational personality questionnaire include sales floor, cashier, or deli counter.

*Some companies combine different types of assessment questionnaires into one or two tests.

Example of Job Type with company assessments   

Companies use these assessments to screen their applicants.  "Screen" means to filter out or quickly examine something.  Many companies receive hundreds of applications per week, so they need a quick way to filter out unqualified applicants.  Companies use these tests to determine if applicants have the basic skills, abilities, attitudes, behaviors, and qualities needed for employment. 

Some small, privately owned businesses do not use these screening tools. Many large companies use pre-employment screening assessments. However, not every position requires you to take a test. It will be important to check with the company and the job you are applying for to see if you have to take the test. Here are some companies that require one or more pre-employment assessments for some positions. 

Here are some companies that often use screening assessments for certain jobs:

• Walmart
• Target
• Best Buy
• McDonalds
• Home Depot
  Refer to the above table for more detailed examples. 

The majority of these tests are online.  They use a multiple choice format and a rating scale format. 

• Here is an example of a multiple choice question:
  
  You have noticed that many of your co-workers come to work late and leave early.   The supervisor does not seem to be aware of this problem.   For two days in a row, you decide to come to work late because you are tired.  Your supervisor asks to meet with you, and she is obviously frustrated by your behavior.  How should you handle this?

  a) Apologize to your supervisor, but also inform her that your co-workers are not following these rules either.

  b) Apologize to your supervisor, and tell her that it will not happen again. 

  c) Ask your supervisor to meet with the entire staff.

  d) Quit your job because this situation is not fair at all.
  
  

• Many of these tests also require you to use a rating scale to answer a question.  Here is an example:
  
  Rude customers should be avoided. 
  (5) Strongly Agree     (4) Agree    (3) Neither Agree nor Disagree    (2) Disagree (1) Strongly Disagree.

The tests ask a variety of questions that usually are related to the following main topics:

1. Your social judgment and coping skills
2. Your customer service skills
3. Your dependability and reliability
4. Your understanding of right versus wrong
5. Your general ability and productivity levels
6. Your basic math skills, functional reading skills, and visual-spatial skills (i.e. reading charts, calendars, maps)
   

The test difficulty varies from company to company.  Some tests contain many challenging questions that require you to carefully read paragraphs and choose the best response, to indicate your level of agreement with a certain idea, or to solve basic math problems. 

Here are examples of relatively difficult questions: 

• Paul and Jessica work together.  Jessica regularly breaks a safety regulation while they work together.  She has never hurt herself or anyone else, and the safety regulation seems to be a minor one.  In this situation, Paul should:
1. Report Jessica’s safety violations to their supervisor.
2. Address the situation with Jessica and teach her the proper way to do the task without violating safety regulations.
3. Ignore the Jessica’s safety violations since she is not hurting anyone.
4. Talk to other employees about the situation.
   
   
• I tend to sacrifice speed over quality when working. 
  a.  Strongly Disagree b. Disagree c. Neither Agree nor Disagree d. Agree e.  Strongly Agree
  
  
• What number should come next in this series?     15, 8, 14, 9, 13, 10, 12, ….?
  a. 11  b. 9  c. 10  d. 13

Some assessments are timed while others are not.  In some cases, you may not know that you are being timed as you complete the assessment.  If you are concerned about your test-taking skills and pace, you may need to find out whether an assessment is timed before you start it.   You can contact the Human Resources Department of the company and ask this question.  However, some companies may keep that information private.  Our best recommendation to you is to practice taking assessments ahead of time so that you are ready for the real thing.

These assessments are considered part of the application process.  In most cases, applicants take these assessments right after they have completed the application form.  So for instance, after you complete an online application form, the company will then direct you to the online assessment.  An applicant usually has to complete the assessment before they can be considered for an interview or for employment.

The test length varies from company to company.   Most tests contain between 35 and 65 questions. 

Most assessments take between 20 minutes and 75 minutes to complete. 

We at JobTIPS are not certain what the "magic number" is for each company’s screening assessment.  We can only speculate that an applicant needs to select the best response for at least 85% of the questions. 

Each company is different. You could receive your scores in 24 hours, or it could take weeks. Sometimes you will need to contact them directly for your results.

In most cases, you will not be eligible for a job interview or a job offer if you fail the assessment.  However, some companies may make exceptions for certain individuals.  You may need to contact the Human Resources Department of the company to discuss the issue.  We also recommend that you understand disclosure topics before you begin the application and assessment process.

Each company has their own rules about this.  Some companies will not allow you to re-take their assessment for at least 3 months.  Other companies will allow you to re-take their assessment right away.

Some individuals with disabilities are provided with accommodations (in school and/or on the job).  A testing accommodation is a change in the way a test is administered or responded to by the person being tested.  If you feel that you might need certain accommodations in order to take these assessments, you may need to contact the Human Resources Department of the company.  If you do seek testing accommodations, you may have to disclose to the company that you have a disability.  You may also have to provide proof of this disability (i.e. school records, psychological evaluation results, recent I.E.P. or 504 plan, etc...).  Go to the Disclosure section for more information.

Here are some accommodations that you might request:

• Extra time to complete the assessment
• A paper version rather than an online version
• Read aloud /audio version of the test

• Pre-employment screening assessments are online or paper tests that some companies require applicants to complete during the application process. 
• Companies use these tests to determine if applicants have the basic skills, abilities, attitudes, behaviors, and qualities needed for employment. 
• Some large corporations are using Pre-Employment Screening Assessments for certain jobs.
• The majority of these tests are online.
• They use a multiple choice format and a rating scale format. 
• The tests ask a variety of questions that usually relate to your social, coping, customer service skills.  They also assess your understanding of right versus wrong, and your general ability and productivity levels.
• Some assessments are timed while others are not. 
• Applicants take these assessments right after they have completed the application form. 
• Most tests contain between 35 and 65 questions. 
• Most assessments take between 20 minutes and 75 minutes to complete. 
• Some companies might allow the use of certain accommodations, while other companies might not.