Interviewing Testing

Tests for proficiency testing: what are they? What candidates are they offered to? What questions can you ask? And how do they influence the employer's final decision?
Risk Group

“If you are applying for a position that“ at the entrance ”implies the presence of special knowledge and skills, and it is difficult to identify them during the interview, wait for professional tests,” warns Olga Kryuchkova, head of the personnel department of the Corpus Group company. - For example, in our company, professional candidates are tested for positions: “economist”, “accountant”, “assistant manager”. ”

Accountants can be called the most tested in interviews. Testing the examination of professional knowledge is often arranged for other financial specialists, lawyers, translators, IT specialists (programmers, developers), less often logisticians, engineers. In principle, almost no candidate is insured against such a check, from whom special knowledge is required.

For example, Marina Eliseeva, who was looking for a job as a secretary, was tested for knowledge of the Russian language with the help of a peculiar test from the series “underline unnecessary, insert necessary”. The tasks were: “put commas in the sentence”, “how to say it correctly: cakes or cakes”. It took a “test” for about five minutes, and Marina says that, on the one hand, it was unexpected, but, on the other, interesting.

There are also tests for knowledge of a foreign language, they usually check those candidates who are required to excel at an intermediate level. If we are talking about English, the recruiter can conduct part of the interview on it, then offer to complete a written assignment. By the way, if you are going to a meeting with a large recruitment agency, be prepared that your English is sure to be checked - in the SC they are strictly treated, and recruiters with good knowledge of the language are definitely there. Recruiting staffing agencies is, of course, more difficult to test knowledge of other languages ​​- from French to Chinese - to recruiters of recruiting agencies, therefore, in such cases, written assignments invented by the customer himself are often used.

Plus 40 minutes to interview

Candidates, to put it mildly, do not like testing interviews. The reasons are clear: an interview is not easy, and so there are additional experiences, time spent, an incomprehensible result. Recruiters know about the ambiguous attitude of applicants to testing and try not to overload them specifically. Tests that are conducted directly at the interview most often take from 15 to 40 minutes, less often an hour or more. Although there are companies (for example, in the IT sphere) that, on the contrary, are famous for their multi-stage selection, which includes hours-long tests. But these are market leaders.

Where do the tests come from?

Quite often, companies and recruitment agencies prepare the tests themselves, and they can be either universal (for example, knowledge of accounting in general), or clearly oriented - in accordance with the activities of the company, tasks that will need to be performed in a particular position. In small firms, tests are simply downloaded from the Internet. It is clear that in this case the quality may be lame, but it is easier to prepare for them - by looking at the most common options on the Web.

Some companies still have testing in the form of questionnaires or questionnaires in paper form, but more and more often the verification takes place on a computer. This is convenient for both the candidate and the employer. Questions in tests can be closed (you need to choose the right answer from several options), or open - you need to write your own solution.

Selection or corvée?

Another fairly common type of tests is creative assignments for editors, journalists, designers, who are asked to show their skills and abilities by doing a little work. The key word is small. Otherwise, the discussion will no longer be about the normal method of selecting candidates, but about the desire to cash in on the applicants, forcing them to “work” for free on the employer.

In general, there is such a problem with test tasks: the candidate is asked to write a program, make a translation, calculate indicators, and he thinks: are they trying to use me as a free labor force? Here, of course, it is worth analyzing the situation as a whole, learning more about the company, and looking at reviews of other candidates and employees.

Do not be afraid! Testing isn't everything.

Even if you couldn’t answer all the questions of the test or at the end of it realized with horror that you made several mistakes in it, you shouldn’t be upset - no one expects you to get a 100% result, the main thing is to give at least the minimum number of correct answers. You can use a universal strategy: start the tasks from simpler for you, and then move on to more complex ones. If something does not work out - do not go in cycles, pass to the following questions, and only then come back to unresolved. “If you are confident in your abilities, you have nothing to be afraid of,” emphasizes Elena Polyakova, Deputy General Director for Human Resources, Centripchat Network. “If you doubt your knowledge, declare it openly, do not engage in writing when passing the test.”

Should I get ready for the tests? At a minimum, you can look on the Internet the most common options, refresh some knowledge. By the way, some companies even post examples of tasks that they offer candidates on their sites. Of course, there will be different questions in your test, but at least you will understand the general direction.

“Testing can be very entertaining or long and painful,” says Olga Kryuchkova. - Opponents of tests can always refuse to fill them. Refusal of testing or its unsatisfactory results cannot serve as an official reason for refusal of employment, but in this case it is hardly worth counting on an offer from the employer. ”

Most recruiters emphasize: test results are far from everything. No less, and sometimes more important, how you prove yourself at the interview.