IQ tests for employment are obsolete – here’s what to do instead

IQ tests are popular for hiring, but there are better alternatives. Find out how to hire the best candidates with cognitive ability assessments and skills tests.

What is an IQ test?

An IQ test is an assessment that measures your candidate’s intelligence and intellectual potential on a scale of 60 to 145. It’s designed to test a range of brain functions such as problem-solving, spatial recognition, logical reasoning, and language comprehension.

The test usually has a series of questions that vary in difficulty. As your candidates complete these questions, their responses are scored and analyzed to generate an IQ score. This score is then compared to the results of a larger population to confirm where they rank.

According to the Personality Test Center, the average IQ score of the general population is 100. In adults, the average IQ score ranges from 100 to 130.

Scores greater than 100 are categorized as above average whereas those less than 100 indicate the opposite. Below are the different IQ classifications from highest to lowest and their test score ranges:

1. Very superior (130 and above)

2. Superior (121-130)

3. High average (111-120)

4. Average (90-110)

5. Low average (80-89)

6. Borderline (70-79)

7. Extremely low (below 70)

Most IQ tests assess some or all of the following cognitive skills: 

• Verbal reasoning and comprehension

• Mathematical skills

• Logical reasoning and problem solving

• Visual, spatial, and perceptual ability

• Short-term and long-term memory

• Processing speed

However, the use of IQ tests for recruitment and candidate selection remains controversial – IQ tests are a poor predictor of job success and can introduce bias into the hiring process. Thankfully, better alternatives exist. 

Explore IQ test alternatives.

Are IQ tests suitable for recruitment? 

While hiring for smarts can sometimes be effective, IQ tests are not a strong predictor of a candidate’s future job performance. 

IQ tests focus on a narrow range of cognitive abilities. This means that they fail to measure the whole range of human intelligence and skills, including creativity, emotional intelligence, social skills, and practical problem solving. Additionally, job IQ tests don’t evaluate role-specific skills, which are essential for many roles. For those reasons, IQ tests are usually a poor indicator of job performance. 

Standard IQ tests may also be biased towards specific cultural or educational backgrounds, which makes them potentially disadvantageous to candidates from diverse backgrounds, resulting in an unfair hiring process. This could expose companies to legal risks.

To build an accurate and fair recruitment process, we advise using other forms of cognitive ability tests. 

Cognitive ability tests are the key to a better hiring process

Assess cognitive ability more accurately

Recommended reading

• Job IQ tests are obsolete: Why we don’t recommend using them for hiring

• How accurate are IQ tests for hiring: Understanding the limitations

• Cognitive ability tests for employment: The ultimate guide

Alternatives to job IQ tests 

IQ tests cannot measure communication abilities, practical problem solving, role-specific skills, motivation, and more. As a result, they’re a poor predictor of a candidate’s future job performance. 

Pre-employment skills tests are a better alternative to IQ testing, because they enable you to assess a wide range of skills and zero in on the ones that are most relevant to each role. 

Instead of using IQ tests, consider a mix of: 

• Cognitive ability tests, which evaluate specific cognitive skills, such as problem solving, critical thinking, spatial reasoning, and more

• Role-specific skills tests, which assess applicants’ suitability for a particular job

• Personality and culture tests, which evaluate applicants’ extraversion, conscientiousness, motivation, culture add potential, and more.

Explore the test library.

Recommended reading:

• Top 11 pre-employment assessment tools you can use to hire the best talent

• Cognitive intelligence: 6 types of cognitive tests for candidates

The benefits of using cognitive ability tests for recruitment

Cognitive ability tests and IQ tests overlap in some ways, but when it comes to predicting job performance, cognitive tests are often significantly more effective, especially when used in combination with role-specific skills tests. 

Cognitive ability tests:

• Assess skills that standard IQ tests cannot evaluate: IQ tests focus on a narrow set of skills but cannot assess an applicant’s full range of abilities, including communication skills, emotional intelligence, practical problem solving, and more.

• Enable you to zero in on the most important skills for each role: Unlike general IQ tests, which measure a fixed range of cognitive skills, you can tailor cognitive ability tests to assess competencies that are directly relevant to a specific role.

• Predict job performance more accurately: Because they enable you to focus on the most relevant skills for the job, cognitive ability tests are a more accurate predictor of a candidate’s performance potential than IQ tests.

• Help eliminate bias: By tailoring your pre-employment assessments to each role and focusing on skills that are truly essential for success, you minimize bias in the recruitment process. 

Assess skills that standard IQ tests cannot evaluate

Try our platform for free

How to hire the best talent with cognitive ability tests

Cognitive ability tests enable you to evaluate candidates’ skills in depth and hire the best talent, especially when combined with role-specific tests. 

With TestGorilla, you can build an assessment of up to five skills tests, enabling you to get a 360° degree evaluation of applicants’ strengths and weaknesses and predict job performance accurately and objectively. You can use our platform to assess cognitive ability, role-specific skills, communication, motivation, leadership skills, and a lot more. 

You can also use our free problem solving skills test that enables you to evaluate applicants’ ability to define problems and analyze information to make the right decisions in complex situations. 

To get started, sign up for TestGorilla's free plan today.

Recommended reading:

• 12 problem solving interview questions and answers

• The ultimate guide to pre-employment skills testing (+ 8 types of tests)

• Why are problem solving skills in the workplace so important? Subskills, benefits, scenarios

IQ tests for employment: FAQ

1. Can you use IQ tests for recruitment?

Yes, although we don’t recommend it. Not only do job IQ tests often result in an unfair hiring process, exposing you to legal risks, they are also a poor predictor of job performance.

Cognitive ability tests are a better way to assess candidates’ skills and hire the best talent.

2. Are IQ tests for employment legal? 

While job IQ tests aren’t strictly illegal, they can result in discriminatory hiring practices, which, in turn, are illegal in the US and in most countries. 

According to guidelines by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in the US, any employment test must be non-discriminatory and should be a valid measure of an applicant's ability to perform the job.

Therefore, when using IQ tests for employment, an organization needs to be able to demonstrate the business necessity of using such tests and prove that they aren’t discriminatory towards specific groups of people. With standardized IQ tests, that’s nearly impossible to do. 

3. Should I use IQ tests during hiring?

While in theory you could use IQ tests for hiring (and some companies do), it’s not a good idea. Standardized IQ tests:

• Don’t evaluate the specific range of skills for any particular role

• Might lead to unfair hiring practices 

• Could expose you to legal risks

4. Do IQ tests predict job performance?

While IQ tests might be helpful in assessing some cognitive abilities, their efficiency in predicting job performance is limited. They don’t measure many skills that are essential for success in the workplace, such as:

• Role-specific skills

• Practical problem solving

• Time management

• Communication

• Emotional intelligence

• Leadership skills

• Moral and ethical judgment

• Motivation and cultural competence

For this reason, we advise using cognitive ability and skills tests to hire the best candidates. 

5. What are the alternatives to IQ tests for employment?

Cognitive ability tests are an excellent way to evaluate applicants’ cognitive skills and see whether they’re able to use them in real-life situations. 

You can combine them with role-specific skills tests to get a more accurate idea of a person’s skills and suitability for a specific job role – and use personality tests to gain a deeper understanding of each candidate’s behavior, motivation, and personality traits.

6. Why are cognitive tests a better predictor of job performance than IQ tests?

IQ tests don’t measure a lot of the most important workplace skills, such as communication, time management, or practical problem solving. With our cognitive ability tests, you can measure any of those skills – and many more. 

TestGorilla enables you to build your own customized assessment to evaluate the skills that are most important for any specific role and evaluate problem-solving abilities accurately. 

Sign up to our free plan to start using our free problem solving test today.

IQ tests don’t work. TestGorilla does. 

An IQ test can result in painful mis-hires and harm your company’s reputation. To hire the best talent and minimize hiring bias, use cognitive ability tests.

Sounds good? Sign up for our free plan, and start evaluating candidates’ skills today.

Let TestGorilla show you the ropes