As recruiters increasingly turn to the web as a way of testing candidates, the opportunity for job applicants to ‘cheat’ by putting friends or family in their place is increasing.

Some candidates who go online from the privacy of their homes to complete online questionnaires to test their numeracy, verbal ability or knowledge may also resort to Googling to find specific information.

Paul Englert, director of international marketing at Psytech, told Recruiter that the integrity of testing was “a big issue” when so many tests
were now carried out remotely. “The testing industry has changed a lot with the advent of the internet, and in many ways there has been a drop in standards as you don’t know who is sitting the test, when the test is unsupervised.”

Englert says this realisation has resulted in “huge interest” in the use of the company’s iSupervise product, which allows Psytech staff to supervise candidates taking psychometric tests at their PCs anywhere in the world. A photograph can also be taken, which can be compared against the candidate at a later stage in the selection process. Englert says the service has been used by New Zealand police forces hiring police officers from the UK.

Allison Phillips, recruitment manager at residential energy efficiency solutions provider EAGA, which uses Prove It!, a skills testing package provided by Kenexa, also takes the security of the candidate testing process seriously. “We can measure the length of time it takes each person to answer a particular question, and occasionally we find that somebody is taking far too long over a particular question, suggesting they may be Googling the answer,” she says. Occasionally, they have asked people to do the test again.

Jeremy Pemberton-Pigott, managing director of pre-employment screening solutions provider Previsor, says his company has come up with other ways to counteract dishonesty. One way is through the use of adaptive ability tests, he says. “People who do the tests can’t tell their friends the answers because they [their friends] get different content [questions], although the results are comparable,” he explains. Similarly, the company provides an adaptive personality test, where candidates get a completely different set of questions.

While suppliers are responding to the requirement to safeguard the integrity of the testing process, they are also responding to the needs of clients affected by wider changes in the labour market. Perhaps the biggest challenge for recruiters is the enormous increase in job applications caused by the downturn as more jobseekers chase fewer jobs, says Chris Small, managing consultant of candidate assessment solutions provider Saville Consulting.

One answer is giving candidates greater opportunities to select themselves out, he says. In this way, candidates who fail to reach a reasonable level in numerical, verbal or logical reasoning tests are less likely to progress their application. These tests are usually carried out on employer’s own websites before CVs are submitted or job applications are made.

“This is becoming more popular because organisations are having to deal with larger applicant pools,” says Small. Rather than receiving 10,000 CVs, they want 6,000 that have the required aptitudes before they start investing in assessment centres and sifting CVs. It’s a very cost effective way of managing their candidate numbers.”

Small says the use of testing at this preliminary stage helps candidates to take “insightful decisions” about whether to continue with their application.

Jane Owen, sales manager at Prove It!, told Recruiter: “In the past it was more likely that employers assessed candidates from shortlists. Now people are struggling to sift, and we are helping them with the assessment of those ones who shouldn’t be invited in for interview. Sifting out rather than selecting in has become more prevalent than before.”

Owen says that Kenexa is testing more people, with interest in call centre skills testing particularly strong.

“The call centre industry was arguably perceived as ‘bums on seats’, but now they realise that if they don’t get the right people they are going to churn them and it’s going to cost them more.”

Phillips says that using Prove It! the company would expect a 30% drop-out rate after the initial skills testing stage.

Pemberton-Pigott says he has seen an increase in demand for abstract reasoning testing as employers look to hire people who can adapt to the increasing pace of change in business today. “Employers want to hire people who are going to come up with new ideas and think outside the box in delivering products and services,” he says.

Previsor also provides situational judgement questionnaires, which present applicants with different scenarios, and ask them to choose from a number of options. Their responses are rated, according to the value that a particular employer attaches to that behaviour. An example might be decisiveness.

Laurie Dobson, managing director of skills testing software provider ISV, says he has seen an increase in demand for bespoke products, which clients can adapt for their own use. For example, employers who wish to test a medical secretary’s spelling ability can include words specific to that area of medicine.

Martin Reed, chief executive and chairman of Thomas International, told Recruiter that the company’s latest version of its skill testing product (due to be launched at the end of September) will allow clients to build their own questions rather than rely on those provided by Thomas.
Thomas is also responding to the needs of its customers by providing tests in the most up-to-date version of software, such as Microsoft Office 2007, Word and Excel, says Reed.

Pemberton-Pigott agrees that more clients are looking for tailored rather than generic products, with an emphasis on solving particular business problems. One example might be how to improve staff retention, he says.

Pemberton-Pigott says Previsor achieves this by measuring certain traits (scales) -; for example, conscientiousness, and consistent behaviour that are often correlated with employee loyalty. However, he emphasises that using the same scales will not work equally well for all organisations and that new ones will often be used to meet individual client needs.

Mike Blair, strategic staffing leader at US telco company Embarq, says that being able to predict future performance from candidate test results is hugely important. He says that by using Previsor, the company has been able to increase sales and reduce staff turnover. This has produced an impressive return on investment. “For every $1 we have spent on this product, we have got a $230 [£140] return,” he says.

In the final analysis, the need to skills test candidates is fundamental to many recruitment professionals. As Toni O’Flaherty, managing director of Select Recruitment in Jersey, whose company uses ISV software, says: “Anybody could sit here for half an hour and say ‘how great they are’, but delivering is a different ball game. We use skills testing every single day, and without it I don’t think this business could run properly.”