11 best candidate assessment software (& why you need one)

Long gone are the days when an HR manager would sit down and read through a couple of CVs to find a suitable candidate for an open role.

Today, everything is more accessible, and that includes applying for open positions. The number of applicants for a given position has increased to hundreds. However, no HR manager can manually go through hundreds of CVs to find a good candidate. 

This huge volume of resumes places pressure on HR managers, who already have busy schedules. According to SHRM, recruiters look at CVs for an average of 7.4 seconds before deciding whether to toss them in the bin or keep them for the next step.

To deal with these overwhelming numbers of applicants, HR managers started needing help filtering applications and making the right hiring decisions, and that’s how candidate assessment software came into play. 

What is candidate assessment software? 

Candidate assessment software is pre-employment testing software that helps recruiters and HR teams make sound hiring decisions. This software allows you to assess candidates based on many different characteristics, such as their: 

• Skillset

• Mindset

• Personality

• Character

• Work experience

• Knowledge

• Culture

• Education

You no longer need to go through CVs by hand—with employee candidate assessment software, you have a higher chance of finding star players who will fit perfectly into your company.  

Why use candidate assessment software? 

There are many reasons why you should start using candidate assessment software. Here are the four most important ones: 

• Traditional methods like CVs no longer cut it. You could have assessed candidates based on their CVs back when you had 15 applicants per role. In those days, you could devote plenty of time to every candidate and analyze their CV in detail. Today, most CVs are looked at for only a few seconds, and it’s almost impossible to make an unbiased decision by looking at CVs only. On top of that, you need to go through hundreds of applicants. All this makes it impossible to rely on CVs.

• Predicts culture add. Using candidate assessment software can help you determine many things about a candidate. One of those things is culture add. It’s not enough to just hire a person who is technically skilled for the job—you need someone who will fit in with and enhance the team and the organization as a whole. That’s why it’s important to assess the candidate’s values and see if they match with your organization’s values and vision. 

• Creates diverse teams. Just looking at CVs during recruitment feeds into all kinds of biases. But when you use pre-employment tests, you evaluate candidates based on their skills and merit. On top of that, you use objective metrics to evaluate all candidates so that the process becomes bias-free. This, in turn, creates diverse teams that have different perspectives, massively improving problem solving and innovation.  

• Makes the collaborative hiring process easier as assessments provide objective metrics that the entire team can use. Candidate assessment software makes it easier to include multiple employees in the hiring process. Pre-employment tests help you structure and streamline the hiring process so that you can use a collaborative hiring process with ease (and without bias). It’s really hard to give out biased assessments when the tests provide you with clear, objective, and numerical results. 

Benefits of candidate assessment software in the hiring process

There are multiple benefits of using candidate assessment software in the hiring process. The following four benefits are the most impactful because they provide the biggest return on investment (ROI). 

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Cost- and time-effective

Using pre-employment tests is both cost- and time-effective. 

• It is cost-effective because you only buy the tests once, and then you can distribute them to hundreds of applicants. Also, you don’t have to create a test from scratch for each new candidate. 

• It is time-effective because candidate assessment software allows you to quickly filter unqualified candidates, saving time for both you and the applicants who aren’t a good match for the role. 

Scalable solution

Candidate assessment software can be scaled immensely. Whether you have 50 or 150 candidates, you can still send pre-employment tests with one click and receive the results later on.

Pre-employment tests can be scaled such that hiring managers can quickly go over hundreds of CVs—something no other method can match (at least not with the same level of accuracy). 

Bias-free when chosen correctly

Candidate assessment software can be bias-free, as long as you choose the right ones. They should give you clear, objective, and numerical values you can use to assess the candidate. 

If the test provides some sort of Likert scale, then you won’t gain much from it. All of TestGorilla’s pre-employment tests provide results in the form of numerical, quantifiable, and objective values to give hiring managers clear indications of how their candidates did on the test. And it’s important for recruiters to get results that are as clear as possible from their candidate assessment software.

Builds up employer brand by streamlining the hiring process

The marketplace has changed quite a lot in the past decade. Candidates are becoming more demanding, and employer branding has become one of the important facets of the hiring process. 

Using candidate assessment software shows that your company is staying up to date with the latest trends and innovations in your industry. If your company is unwilling to change and adapt quickly, it might indicate to candidates that it isn’t a fast-moving company that knows how to innovate to improve its position in the market. 

So use pre-employment software to build up your employer brand, and show candidates that you’re staying in the race with other industry leaders. 

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11 best candidate assessment software

We discussed what candidate assessment software is and why you need one — we’re only missing the how. With that in mind, here are the 11 best pre-employment assessment tools that will help you evaluate your candidates: 

1. TestGorilla

TestGorilla provides you with the best pre-employment assessment tools so you can hire the best possible candidates without stress and bias. 

The platform offers over 150 scientifically validated tests. And there are multiple test types and categories on TestGorilla’s library: 

• Cognitive ability

• Language proficiency

• Personality and culture

• Programming skills

• Role-specific skills

• Situational judgment

• Software skills

The platform also provides you with the option of conducting video interviews and allows candidates to upload their resumes, portfolios, and CVs. 

An example of a question from TestGorilla’s Communication test

The user experience is strong and intuitive for both the employer and the candidate. And it’s customizable — you can add your own questions, videos, and new assessments.

2. Harver

Harver is a pre-employment assessment tool that uses an AI algorithm to help predict the quality of hire. They measure the applicant’s culture fit, soft skills, and ability to succeed at the job. 

Harver prides itself on being the assessment tool you need for volume hiring. By using Harver, you will: 

• Drastically decrease employee turnover

• Get rid of the manual tasks in your hiring process by using end-to-end automation

• Hasten your application process and make it more fun, which results in a higher application completion rate

• Receive valuable data which is critical for your business intelligence

3. ThriveMap

ThriveMap is the assessment tool that helps you with high-volume hiring. ThriveMap uses a virtual “day in the office” as a part of their assessment toolkit — they lead the candidates through a simulation of the day in the office to see if they’re a good fit for the company.

Some of the core features of ThriveMap are: 

• ATS integration

• Feedback scores you receive for every candidate

• Fair and automatic screening and scoring of your applicants 

• Automated generation of interview reports

• Enhanced candidate experience through their unique “day in the office” simulation

4. The Predictive Index

The Predictive Index Talent Optimization Platform blends psychometrics and technology to help you assess, evaluate, and find the best candidates during your hiring process. PI has a four-step framework that they use to ensure that a company’s business strategy matches its people skills: Design, hire, inspire, and diagnose. 

Their assessment tools focus on behaviors that matter the most on a job and you get the data from their assessments in a matter of minutes. PI’s assessments are: 

• Fast and accurate

• User friendly

• Scientifically based

• Versatile — the platform provides tests in more than 70 languages 

5. Codility

Codility is a remote hiring platform that is used mostly by engineering teams. The platform has been around since 2009 and businesses use it to predict real-life skills of technical candidates during the hiring process. 

Codility can help you: 

• Screen candidates with online code tests

• Host tech interviews 

• Improve on your time to hire by finding top talent quickly

• Score your candidates in a fair, reliable, and unbiased manner 

Codility also has a couple of downsides: 

• It’s not that versatile — it doesn’t include a broad range of tasks

• It’s not very user friendly

6. Pymetrics

Pymetrics uses behavioral science and AI tech to help companies build an effective hiring process and create more diverse teams 

Pymetrics uses behavioral assessments to evaluate candidates, collecting behavioral data that measures the true potential of a candidate. It also uses neuroscience games to accurately predict the potential of a candidate at the workplace. 

When using Pymetrics, you will get a tool that: 

• Measures unique attributes of your candidates

• Uses custom algorithms that specifically measure success at your role in your company 

• Is bias-free

• Uses AI at the highest ethical standards with information privacy in mind

7. Workable

Workable is a global recruiting software platform that is quite easy to use, has a global presence, and is available in multiple languages. The automation tools and processes allow Workable to be a good tool for companies that hire big (like 200 employees in a year), but the platform also provides support for companies that hire small throughout the year. 

When using Workable, you get a platform that has: 

• An easy integration process with more than 70 other apps

• Global, constant, and consistent customer support 24/7

• A mobile hiring app 

• More than 1000 hiring templates and guides

8. Interview Mocha

Interview Mocha, or as you will often find it iMocha, is a skill assessment platform that helps companies hire candidates that are fit for the open role. 

iMocha has quite a big skill library, covering more than 2000 skills — this helps the hiring managers screen their candidates more effectively by giving them specific tests that measure just the right skills for the job. 

With Interview Mocha, you get a tool that: 

• Has more than 2000 unique skill tests that cover everything from IT skills, coding, and software skills, to aptitude tests and business intelligence tests. 

• A large pool of questions that you can use, as well as the option to use your own custom questions

• Video and image options that allow for detailed reports for each applicant in the process

9. Vervoe

Vervoe is a candidate assessment software platform that helps companies hire candidates that can do the job well, instead of appearing great on paper. Some candidates master writing their CV or their interviewing skills, but with Vervoe you can skip all of that and simply assess candidates according to their skills — what they will actually bring to the vacancy. 

With Vervoe, you get an assessment tool that: 

• Hires people based on their merit, not their background

• Uses machine learning models to rank candidates in a fair and reliable way

• Saves you time in the hiring process by removing the unqualified candidates at the top of the hiring funnel

• Allows you to write your own questions and customize assessments 

Looking for a different option? Discover the best nine Vervoe alternatives.

10. Toggl Hire

Toggl Hire is a skills assessment platform that helps you identify top talent and automate your hiring process with smart skill tests. 

The skill tests at Toggl Hire are focused on the most relevant skill for the most relevant roles in the current job market, and they cover areas such as marketing, sales, development, and software.

With Toggl Hire, you get a tool that has: 

• Over 180 different skills that are required for more than 100 job roles

• More than 15,000 questions that you can use in your skills assessment 

• An option to create your own custom tests

• Templates that assess for the roles of sales, marketing, customer support, design, and many more

11. Criteria Corp

Criteria Corp is an online candidate assessment platform that allows companies to include pre-employment tests into their hiring process. 

Criteria Corp’s assessments cover a wide range of tests such as: 

• Aptitude tests

• Personality tests

• Emotional intelligence tests

The tests are user-friendly and data-driven, and the results of the tests are provided in the form of objective, fair, and reliable scores. Their tests are backed by science and are multidimensional: the results you receive are the summary of multiple different data points for your candidates. This is useful because, well, people are multidimensional.

Elements you need to think about when using candidate assessment software

Now that you’ve decided that you want to use candidate assessment software, it’s time to look at some details. First of all, there are some things you need to think about when you start using candidate assessment software.

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The types of tests you want to use

When you’re implementing pre-employment testing, you should know what kinds of tests you want to use. TestGorilla has seven different types of pre-employment tests: 

• Cognitive ability tests

• Language tests

• Personality and culture tests

• Programming skills tests

• Role-specific skills tests

• Situational judgment tests

• Software skills tests

Candidate experience

Good candidate experience is crucial when it comes to your hiring process. Did you know that almost 50% of candidates that were surveyed declined a job role because of bad candidate experience? 

Good candidate experience is crucial, and you need to choose a pre-employment test vendor that provides clean and streamlined tests that offer a good candidate experience. No candidate wants to spend three hours doing a test that assesses skills they won’t even need for a job, has constant errors, and isn’t relevant for them. 

Integration with your ATS

Integrating your candidate assessment software with your ATS (applicant tracking software) is a must today. You need to pick a candidate assessment software vendor that provides easy integration with your ATS. 

ATS integration will allow you to connect the data between your pre-employment test results and your tracking system. This means that when the data is created, uploaded, and updated in one system, you can immediately see it in the other system because of the integration. 

This improves your hiring process in multiple ways, such as: 

• Enhancing candidate engagement

• Improving employer branding and adding credibility to your hiring decisions

• Accelerating the hiring (and onboarding) process

• Ensuring consistency in the hiring process by not allowing any data to get lost through the use of multiple separate multiple platforms

The kinds of metrics you need from the assessment tool

And last but not least, you need to think of metrics when selecting candidate assessment software. When picking out a vendor, you need to decide what kinds of metrics, reporting, and analytics you need from the software so that you pick the software that’s most relevant for you and your company. 

The worst thing you can do is pick a vendor that doesn’t provide the data that is most crucial to your hiring process—this will only limit your options. 

This is why you need to plan out what data you need for your hiring process and choose a vendor accordingly.  

Problems with candidate assessment software 

You need to consider a couple of problems you may run into when implementing candidate assessment software, especially if you’re using pre-employment tests for the first time. 

Objective scoring

The first problem that might occur with pre-employment tests has to do with objective scoring. Choosing candidate assessment software that doesn’t provide objective and quantifiable results leaves room for bias to creep in.  When picking out a vendor, make sure that their reports on test scores are quantifiable and as objective as possible. 

Assessing video responses

When implementing candidate assessment software with video responses, you need to make sure that the recruiter or an HR manager assesses the videos. There’s a limit to what AI can do, and assessing video responses is one of those things that should still be done by a human.

When you receive a video response from your candidate, you want to see many different aspects of their character, including: 

• Energy level

• Motivation

• Charisma and communication skills 

• Creativity

This is why when you are assessing a video response, you need a recruiter or an HR manager to look at the video, gather data, and gain insights into the candidate who applied for the role. 

Automation problems

Some first-time implementers of candidate assessment software start thinking that they can automate everything. Automation can’t replace hiring managers altogether. That said, there are elements in the hiring process that can be automated so that the recruiter has time to focus on things that matter. Usually, they are logistical in nature, such as: 

• API for ATS integration (so that the hiring manager doesn’t have to manually insert data into the applicant tracking system)

• Distribution of pre-employment tests (so that the hiring manager doesn’t have to manually send the test to every candidate)

• Calculating the grade/result of the pre-employment test (so that the hiring manager doesn’t have to spend hours and hours manually going over every single answer and grading it)

You automate things so that you can focus on what matters the most—people.  

Having a feedback process in place

We spoke about good candidate experience and how important it is for employer branding. One thing that can help ensure that the hiring process is really great for candidates is to have a feedback process in place. 

When automating your candidate assessment process, make sure to include an option for your candidates to leave feedback. This will improve the entire hiring process. 

Questions to ask candidate assessment software vendors 

When picking out a candidate assessment software vendor, there are a few questions you should ask them to learn as much as you can about their software:

• Pricing. What’s the vendor’s pricing model? 

• API integration. Can their candidate assessment software be easily integrated with your ATS and other software solutions?

• Implementation process. What does the implementation process look like, and how difficult would it be to implement the software for your company?

• Setup time. How long does it take to set up their candidate assessment software?

• Ease of use. How many hours of training are needed to learn how to use their candidate assessment software?

• Best practices. What are some best practices for using their candidate assessment software?

Why you need TestGorilla’s candidate assessment software 

There are a lot of candidate assessment software vendors, but not all of them are the same. Some provide more detailed data, can be set up quickly, and are easy to use, while others have a clunky design and provide incomplete reports. With that in mind, here’s why you should use TestGorilla’s candidate assessment software:

• Made by subject-matter experts. At TestGorilla, we utilize subject-matter experts (SMEs) to create our tests. First, one SME creates the test, and then another gives feedback on it. After that, the test goes through a long testing phase in which it’s iterated until the best possible version of the test is created. Only then is it added to our Test Library. 

• Bias-free and objective measurements. Our candidate assessment software provides bias-free results. The results that you get from our pre-employment tests are quantifiable, numerical, objective, and immediately actionable.

• Data-driven approach. We are data-driven in our approach to everything. With that in mind, our reporting system is backed by data, and we provide you with multiple statistics in our reports. 

• Video response option. You can use TestGorilla’s video response option to set up a question and ask your candidates to answer it via video. 

• Custom questions. We have plenty of questions in our library, but since our system is easy to use and flexible, you even have the option to create your own questions and ask your candidates to reply to them via the video response option.

Conclusion: Improve your hiring process with candidate assessment software 

Candidate assessment software is cost- and time-effective, scalable, bias-free, and helps you build your employer brand. But it’s important to pick the right vendor if you want to bypass some of the problems you can encounter when using candidate assessment software. 

Ready to assess your candidates? Check out the seven test types you need for a strong pre-employment assessment.