Testing an applicant’s ability to do the specific job you're hiring for may be the best way to determine if he or she can really do the work. If you feel testing is required, test only those applicants you're still considering after you've conducted interviews.
Warning |
Consult your attorney before you proceed with any type of testing; it’s a subject that has generated a lot of litigation. Testing opens up plenty of opportunities to get accused of discrimination and creates recordkeeping duties. If you have 15 or more employees, you're subject to specific federal antidiscrimination laws. An unhappy applicant can charge that you picked an unfair test, administered the test unfairly, interpreted the results incorrectly, or whatever else a clever attorney can think up. |
If you're going to test an applicant’s skills, you need to choose the right test. Or you can hire someone else, perhaps a human resources consulting firm, to do it for you. A good test is one that measures the criteria, behavior, or skills needed for particular job, and whose results are an accurate predictor of employee performance:
Warning |
Be aware that any test that measures an applicant's physiological or biological responses to performance would constitute a medical examination according to the EEOC’s interpretation of the ADA and cannot be given until after a conditional job offer is made. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is the agency charged with enforcing the rules barring discrimination against the disabled. |
Therefore, employers with 15 or more employees must be mindful of what constitutes a test of health and what constitutes a test of ability to perform a task. The distinction isn't always clear.
Example |
A messenger company could reasonably ask each applicant to walk one mile in 20 minutes or less before a conditional offer was made to an applicant. However, the messenger company should not measure each applicant's heart rate and blood pressure after the test. It would be considered a medical procedure and shouldn't be performed, if at all, until a conditional offer is made. |
Administer any test to all applicants in a fair and even-handed manner. Here are some tips for doing just that:
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