Do you feel content? Do you get enough sleep? Are you buddies with numerous people? Are you constantly working? These are some of the questions that 27-year-old Katelin Eagan claims she recently had to respond to during her job application process.
In the employment process, she consented to take a personality and cognitive test, although she was a little confused. Many of the questions were unrelated to the engineering post, for which she got rejected after passing the tests and waiting for several months.
According to Eagan, she has been actively seeking employment since the beginning of the year. Her efforts haven’t paid off yet, which she partially explains by pointing to the increased competition in her industry and the latitude employers have to be particular.
“I think there’s definitely a lower amount than I thought there would be,” she mentioned in reference to the number of open positions. However, it may not be the whole story. Employers are becoming more selective, in part because they are witnessing an influx of apparently excellent candidates, many of whom are accused of using AI to manipulate their applications, according to recruiters and recruiting assessment providers.
What solution have many businesses adopted?
Everyone should take the test to discover the true identities of applicants, regardless of what ChatGPT advised them to include on their resumes.
Companies that had hired in the 12 months prior to April reported using skills tests to assess a candidate’s suitability, up from 55% in 2022, according to surveys by TestGorilla, a company that provides talent assessments for employers.
According to Wouter Durville, CEO of TestGorilla, employers are mostly interested in testing for soft skills, which include amorphous traits like leadership and communication, as well as general aptitude and personality assessments. Over 100,000 people took TestGorilla’s Critical Thinking test in the first quarter of this year, which is 61% higher than the same quarter in 2024.
Additionally, the company provides a Big 5 personality test, which was completed over 127,000 times in the first quarter, a 69% increase over the previous year. In particular, demand from US businesses has been “massive,” Durville said, adding that as a result of the deluge of job applications, many companies have resorted to testing. The company is situated in the Netherlands, and its biggest market is the US.
The main issue is that employers only want to hire the top candidates. Durville remarked, “It’s okay, but it’s really selfish.”
Another company that provides hiring assessments, Canditech, reports that it has had tremendous growth in the past 12 months. Guy Barel, the CEO, told that the assessment’s usage increased by 135% in 2024 over the previous year. According to his projections, the use of assessments is expected to increase by 242% annually.
According to Barel, the increase can be partially attributed to the labor market shifting more in favor of employers. Companies he deals with are frequently inundated with “tons of candidates” and want to “move forward as fast as possible,” he added.
The use of tests has more than quadrupled in recent years, according to Criteria, another provider of skills-based assessments.
Since anybody may and does enter their resume into ChatGPT, artificial intelligence is perhaps causing an authenticity dilemma in the hiring process. Josh Millet, CEO of Criteria, told, It all comes down to objectively showcasing your abilities, skills, or personality in a way that is a little more difficult to fake.
The AI job market
The CEO of Recruit Rockstars and seasoned recruiter Jeff Hyman thinks that within the past 18 months, his customers’ demand for testing has climbed by around 50%.
He said there are a number of causes for this, but the fact that companies are receiving a large volume of applications is close to the top since applicants are using AI more to get an advantage and send out resumes in large quantities.
According to Hyman, a normal job he attempts to fill for a client receives between 300 and 500 applications; but, he has spoken with businesses that are seeking to fill positions with over 1,000 applicants in a matter of days after they are put online.
In the first half of 2024, the US had a fourfold increase in job applications compared to job requisitions, according to a WorkDay analysis.
As remote work becomes more popular, companies also want to examine candidates’ soft skills to make sure they’re hiring the correct individual, Hyman says. According to a 2016 CareerBuilder poll, a poor hiring may cost a business anywhere from $11,000 to $24,000, depending on the size of the firm.
50% of companies that administered tests this year stated they were interested in evaluating a candidate’s cognitive abilities, while 69% of businesses stated they were interested in evaluating soft skills, according to TestGorilla. Employers mainly want emotional intelligence, followed by analytical thinking, according to a different Criteria poll.
Durville stated, “It’s about their personality and to see if they are a good fit to the organization, if they share the same DNA,” but he also pointed out that, frequently, businesses find the test findings to be unreliable when used as a means of evaluation alone.
Employers say they’re appreciating the time and cost savings of conducting exams, according to TestGorilla, Canditech, and Criteria.
82% of companies that reported using skills-based hiring, a general phrase for recruiting based on demonstrated abilities, expressed satisfaction with new recruits, according to TestGorilla, compared to an average of 73% of US firms.
However, Canditech’s website states that its tests may help firms decrease “unnecessary interviews” by up to 80% and hiring time by up to 50%.
However, Hyman believes that there are certain problems with the hiring tests. He claims that, among other reasons, businesses “always” reject applicants who don’t score high, even if they are otherwise suitable for the position.
Additionally, the tendency seems to be alienating job seekers. Approximately 10% to 20% of candidates, according to Hyman, would flatly refuse to take a test if it is required as a first step in the recruiting process. However, Barel of Canditech claims that this practice is become more widespread.
Hyman claims that because test findings might lead to a mishire, he often talks with employers and advises them not to place too much importance on them.
“To tell the truth, that is lazy hiring. That’s not the proper approach, in my opinion,” he remarked.
