Pre-employment questionnaires have become an essential part of the hiring process. Employers must always strive to compile as much pertinent data on their candidates as they can during the hiring process. The issue is that the conventional approaches to screening candidates—resumes and interviews—frequently fail to provide the most useful information. Research shows that up to 78% of resumes contain deceptive statements, and 46% contain outright lies, which is a well-known problem with resumes. Similar to this, interviews—particularly unstructured ones—are subjective and, in the end, poor indicators of job performance.
In contrast, well-designed and verified tests offer a trustworthy and impartial way to learn about candidates for a position. By delivering definite results that can be standardized across all candidates, pre-employment examinations add a level of objectivity to the hiring process. To weed out unqualified applicants and hire the best of the best, take advantage of a pre-employment questionnaire.
What is a pre-employment questionnaire?
Businesses use pre-employment questionnaires (PEQs) as a screening tool to weed out unqualified applicants. You can review candidates a little more thoroughly thanks to pre-employment screenings. After screening applicants, you can schedule interviews with those who stand out the most.
A PEQ’s main objective is to assess a candidate’s qualifications prior to conducting an interview. You can use questions to determine whether an applicant would fit in well with your workplace culture and be a good fit for the position.
You can learn a lot about your applicants using PEQs, including their flaws. You can learn more about the writing and communication abilities of a candidate. Did they make any effort to capitalize their name on their PEQ? Did they frequently spell things incorrectly in their responses?
You have a few alternatives when it comes to how to distribute PEQs. You could:
- Online questionnaire delivery (e.g., Google Form)
- Requesting an in-person interview with the applicant
It may take a bit longer to complete an in-person questionnaire than an online PEQ. Not to mention, face-to-face questionnaires enable you to get the same data from applicants. Smaller firms with fewer candidates perform better with in-person PEQs.
What to include in a PEQ
What then is asked for on a pre-employment questionnaire?
Once again, use your pre-hire questionnaire form to sift out the bad hires and hire the best. Write good screening questions prior to starting to distribute PEQs to your prospective workers.
Employees may be asked behavioral questions, skill ratings, and open-ended inquiries, among other questions.
Here are a few illustrations of PEQ questions you could use with your applicants:
- What would you do if you had a conflict with a co-worker?
- How would you rate your interpersonal skills (scale of 1-10)?
- What would you like to be doing in five years?
- How would you describe your work style?
- What makes a job fun?
Benefits of a pre-employment questionnaire
If you have never filled out a pre-employment questionnaire, it could sound absurd to you. You might be thinking, “Why should I add an additional step to the hiring process? ” Are these questionnaires actually helpful? The truth is, PEQs can be extremely helpful for small businesses.
Pre-employment tests have many advantages that not only speed up the hiring process but also boost the whole company by raising the possibility that new hires will succeed in their roles.
Pre-employment questionnaires can help with:
- Narrowing down applicants
- Identifying key qualifications
- Predicting employee behavior
Narrowing down applicants
Pre-employment surveys can provide you with a practical means to eliminate prospects before you start a round of interviews, rather than reading through dozens of resumes or calling several individuals.
PEQs can aid in locating people who meet particular requirements. Not to mention, they might highlight any concerning information about a candidate.
Identifying key qualifications
PEQs reveal a lot about your candidates. Strengths, weaknesses, and qualifications are just some of the things you can pinpoint using a pre-employment screening questionnaire.
In many cases, employers use PEQs to ensure an applicant is a good fit for the position. If an applicant’s qualifications don’t match up with the job description, get rid of them.
Bottom Line
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