HR managers can use pre-employment screening tests to save time and find candidates with the right skills.
According to an eye-tracking study conducted by Ladders, Inc., recruiters spend an average of just 7.4 seconds looking at resumes. A few seconds may not be enough time to properly evaluate whether a candidate is a good fit.
This article compares TestGorilla and Modern Hire – two popular pre-employment testing platforms.
By reviewing the features of both in-depth, you will find out why TestGorilla is the right choice for your organization’s hiring needs.
TestGorilla is a pre-employment screening platform that saves you time and helps you hire the right candidate. Instead of reviewing resumes yourself, our SaaS platform helps you create bias-free, custom testing for candidates.
TestGorilla lets you understand every candidate’s skills and potential with more than 280 science-backed tests. You can combine different tests, too, so you can evaluate a candidate’s coding experience, their personality, find out whether they’re a good culture add, and more.
TestGorilla ranks candidates for you, so you can focus on the talent that’s the best match for an open position. You can also add notes for the hiring team and export data reports about candidates using CSV, PDF, or Excel.
Since TestGorilla lets you evaluate candidate skills rather than first impressions, you can work to reduce bias in recruitment and hire a diverse team.
Modern Hire focuses on its Virtual Job TryoutⓇ simulation. Candidates receive tasks and exercises related to their desired role, and they are available in 32 languages.
Modern Hire’s pre-employment assessments focus on three areas:
Drive: Candidates are tested on efficient work, the ability to follow rules, and results orientation
Social/Interpersonal: Candidates are tested on leadership, communication, service, collaboration, and related skills
Abilities: Candidates are tested on ability and problem-solving
Its Virtual Job TryoutⓇ simulation is integrated with pre-employment screening and AI-powered automated interviews. When candidates go through these three stages, Modern Hire automatically ranks the most promising candidates.
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Both TestGorilla and Modern Hire give hiring managers access to pre-employment tests. Modern Hire focuses more on pre-selection testing, while TestGorilla gives managers extensive choices.
TestGorilla currently offers more than 300 pre-employment screening tests, with more in development. These tests include coding exercises, situational judgment tests, job-specific tests, language proficiency tests, and much more.
With localized websites in 11 languages, TestGorilla makes it simple to hire a global workforce. TestGorilla also makes it easy to mix questions from different tests, so you can assess a range of skills in one testing experience.
TestGorilla even lets you choose how candidates answer questions. They can submit video answers, upload files, complete exercises, answer multiple-choice questions, and more.
Modern Hire doesn’t have a specific test library. Instead, the testing experience is meant to simulate a day on the job.
Based on a company’s open role, Modern Hire helps create a workday simulation to test required core skills. For example, Modern Hire can evaluate retail applicants for priority-setting, reliability, and service.
TestGorilla | Modern Hire | |
Cognitive ability tests | Yes | No |
Situational judgment tests | Yes | No |
Job-specific tests | Yes | Yes |
Software tests | Yes | No |
Programming tests (including coding challenges) | Yes | No |
Language tests | Yes | No |
Personality tests | Yes | No |
Culture-add test | Yes | No |
Motivation test | Yes | No (Other tests may help evaluate motivation) |
Your own custom tests | Yes | Yes |
Custom questions (with various question types) | Yes | No |
Test recommendations for each job role | Yes | No |
Hiring an expert developer means finding a professional who can code in different languages, understand mobile-development frameworks, and more.
TestGorilla and Modern Hire let you test these and other relevant skills, so you know exactly which applicant has the expertise you need.
TestGorilla has a library of programming and debugging tests, so you can find the perfect developer.
Tests include those for mobile- and web-development frameworks, problem-solving, popular programming languages such as Python and others, and even custom coding challenges.
TestGorilla enables you to customize tests. This way, you can see whether a candidate can complete the work that’ll be required of them in your organization.
Our tests were created by subject-matter experts, and they’re monitored and updated regularly. You always get relevant, bias-free, and accurate tests.
Modern Hire has an AI-enabled testing process to reduce redundant questions and to allow tech candidates to always be presented with questions at their skill level.
However, the platform doesn’t offer developer-specific challenges.
The Virtual Job TryoutⓇ simulation lets companies create a typical workday flow for a developer. This lets candidates complete company-specific coding work, solve problems, and more.
Modern Hire also enables companies to conduct interviews through text, web chatbot, phone, or video.
TestGorilla | Modern Hire | |
Coding languages | JavaScript, Java, Python, PHP, C, C#, C++, SQL, Kotlin, Ruby, TypeScript, Go, R, Scala, and Swift | None |
Web-development frameworks | Yes | No |
Mobile-development frameworks | Yes | No |
Algorithmic-thinking challenges | Yes | No |
Debugging challenges | Yes | No |
Language-specific concept challenges | Yes | No |
Your own custom coding challenges | Yes | Yes |
Code-playback function | Yes | No |
Code originality check | Release in 2023 | No |
Automated scoring | Yes | No |
Live peer coding | No | No |
Video interviews let you evaluate a candidate’s communication skills, personality, and interpersonal skills. They’re also a solution for remote applicants.
Choose from one-way video recordings, custom video questions, and live interviews to create the right video interview experience for your company.
TestGorilla lets you fully customize the video interview process.
With one-way video interview tools, you can limit the recording attempts of candidates and set the answer length from 60 to 120 seconds. You can also create up to 20 custom questions per interview.
With TestGorilla, recordings of all candidates’ responses are saved, enabling you and your hiring team to evaluate them at any time. You can rate and comment on video responses to filter out the best new hire.
Modern Hire offers voice, text, video, and in-person interviews.
On-demand interviews begin when a candidate gets an email or text invitation with instructions and a link to start.
The applicant can complete the questions via video in their own time, and your hiring team can review the replies at any time in the application process. However, team members can’t rate or comment on video answers.
Modern Hire lets companies create live interviews in real time, too. Modern Hire can also schedule live interviews through third-party platforms, such as Microsoft Teams or Zoom.
TestGorilla | Modern Hire | |
One-way video interview | Yes | Yes |
Custom video questions per assessment | Yes (Up to 20) | Yes |
Record the number of candidates’ attempts | Yes | No |
Restrict maximum answer length | Yes | Yes |
Recording and playback on any device | Yes | Yes |
Rate and comment video answers | Yes | No |
Live video interview | No | Yes |
Candidates want a mobile-first pre-employment test that is user-friendly, reasonable in length, and with the right support to help them complete it.
If a test is professional-looking and provides a positive experience, applicants are less likely to abandon it.
TestGorilla enables you to create professional, customized pre-employment assessments with your company logo, colors, and language.
Candidates can complete pre-employment tests from anywhere, using their favorite device. However, coding tests work best on desktop computers.
Accessibility features and speed enhance the candidate experience, too.
TestGorilla’s pre-employment tests are easy to navigate, with clear, intuitive instructions, and support is always available through an FAQ section. Applicants can also submit a support request if they need more help.
Modern Hire screens applicants so qualified candidates can be moved to a job-specific workflow exercise and interview.
At every stage of the process, you can put your logo and colors on the screens applicants see. However, further personalization, such as adding your company’s intro and outro video, isn’t supported.
If candidates need help, they can check out the FAQs in the online support center or troubleshoot via chatbot.
TestGorilla | Modern Hire | |
Your company’s intro or outro video | Yes | No |
Assessments branded with your company logo and colors | Yes | Yes |
Customizable invitation and rejection emails | Yes | No |
No login required for candidates | Yes | Yes |
Mobile friendly | Yes | Yes |
Help and support for your candidates | Yes | Yes |
Typical assessment length | 30-60 minutes | 5-15 minutes |
Knockout questions prior to assessment | Yes | Yes |
Pre-employment tests should stay relevant as your business grows. They should also be customizable for your organization’s needs.
ATS integrations let you use your applicant tracking system with your internal communication tools and other apps, so you can share data across platforms. API access lets users share data between organizations or apps securely.
If you’re hiring globally, GDPR compliance ensures you adhere to EU rules.
TestGorilla offers cost-effective and user-friendly pre-employment screening tools for large enterprises, medium-sized businesses, and small startups alike. We help you hire dozens of candidates for multiple locations or one new hire for your small office.
TestGorilla works for your specific needs with a variety of pricing packages, ATS integrations, API access, GDPR compliance, rights management, and more.
For example, Singapore-based company TruTrip found that after partnering with TestGorilla, there were fewer mis-hires, and better candidates were found more quickly.
Modern Hire is used by high-growth companies, international organizations, and startups.
The platform is GDPR compliant and offers API access and ATS integrations to enable companies of all sizes to scale.
Although Modern Hire enables hiring teams to send assessments to multiple candidates, the platform doesn’t support multiple users and role-based rights management.
TestGorilla | Modern Hire | |
ATS integration | Yes | Yes |
Multiple users and role-based rights management | Yes | No |
GDPR compliant | Yes | Yes |
Multiple candidate invitation options | Yes | Yes |
Public link to invite candidates | Yes | Yes |
Track candidate stages from invited to hired | Yes | Yes |
Enable anonymous candidate data for bias-free recruiting | Release in 2023 | No |
Chrome extension to invite candidates directly from LinkedIn | Release in 2024 | No |
White labeling | Release in 2024 | No |
API access | Yes | Yes |
Pre-employment tests need to be clear, accurate, and up-to-date. A thorough quality-control procedure is one way to make that happen.
Quality-control features can include:
Collecting and reacting to feedback from recruiting teams and candidates
Having subject-matter experts create and update test questions
Completing quality checks before tests go live
TestGorilla has a rigorous 28-step quality-control process to offer high-quality pre-employment tests that include, among other things:
Peer reviews
Sample testing
Professional copywriters to write test questions
Reviews by psychometricians and subject-matter experts
TestGorilla replaces questions regularly and uses algorithms to improve test questions. In addition, customer and test-taker feedback is also used for continual improvement and development of test content.
Modern Hire bases its pre-employment assessments on two decades of research into job roles and industries. The AI-driven platform uses tests developed by subject-matter experts.
Modern Hire also considers customer feedback. However, it doesn’t report using psychometricians or peer reviews, or retiring test questions.
TestGorilla | Modern Hire | |
Proprietary algorithms that continuously improve the quality of each test | Yes | No |
Extensive quality check before tests go live | Yes | No |
Questions replaced after reaching exposure limit | Yes | No |
Customer feedback used to improve tests | Yes | Yes |
Test-taker feedback used to improve tests | Yes | No |
It’s relatively easy to be dishonest on a resume, but pre-employment testing ensures accuracy by evaluating specific skills.
Anti-cheating measures provide an extra layer of protection. Features, such as enforcing time limits and randomizing test questions, prevent applicants from looking up answers or working with others to pass.
TestGorilla wants to make hiring fair for all candidates and help organizations avoid mis-hires, which is why we implement anti-cheating measures, including:
Blocking screen switching
Capturing screenshots
Enforcing time restrictions on tests
Disabling copy and paste
Having a large pool of tests and questions
Retiring questions after they have been used 10,000 times
Preventing candidates from registering as new users (so they can’t practice ahead of time)
IP-based location tracking
Modern Hire doesn’t have specific anti-cheating measures. However, it does offer job-specific tryouts. These are individual for each company, reducing the risk of cheating.
Modern Hire also lets you customize questions for your job-specific exercises, enabling you to create a unique assessment your candidates can’t easily study for.
TestGorilla | Modern Hire | |
IP address logging (to avoid multiple attempts by the same candidate) | Yes | No |
Logging of candidate location | Yes | No |
Webcam snapshots (with the option to turn on/off) | Yes | No |
Full-screen mode detection (to avoid research during the test) | Yes | No |
AI proctoring; voice detection, face recognition, object recognition | Coming in 2024 | No |
Randomized questions per test | Yes | Yes |
Large question pool for each test | Yes (100+) | No |
Questions and answers not visible to employers to protect test integrity | Yes | No |
Time limit on tests | Yes (typically 10 minutes) | No |
Copy-paste disabled | Yes | No |
The recruitment process is ultimately about comparing different applicants, and reporting and analytics tools help you achieve this effectively.
They enable your hiring team to find trends in applicant data, even from past applicant cohorts, which can help you reduce bias in hiring.
TestGorilla lets you review current and past candidates, so over time you develop a large pool of hiring data. You can benchmark talent against each other, enabling your hiring team to focus on top candidates.
TestGorilla helps you create user reports which you can download in Excel, CSV, or PDF format and share with your team. These reports summarize the results of pre-assessment tests and let you add and share your own notes about each candidate.
Modern Hire doesn’t have customizable analytics and reporting features. The platform uses AI to rank and benchmark talent automatically, so you can see which candidates are the best fit.
TestGorilla | Modern Hire | |
PDF and CSV reports of assessments and individual candidates | Yes | No |
Comprehensive overview for all current and past candidates | Yes | No |
Scoring benchmarks for candidates (including percentile rank scoring) | Yes | No (AI automated interview scoring) |
Add your ratings and personal notes for candidates | Yes | No |
Reporting by candidate source | Yes | No |
Candidate anonymization | No | No |
Detailed funnel and candidate analytics | To be released in 2023 | No |
To make the most of your pre-employment testing software, you need to know how to use all the features effectively.
Customer support by web chat, live chat, phone, online forms, or email can help. Some providers also offer onboarding training or tours to show you exactly how to use the software. Plus, FAQ pages help to quickly look up answers to any questions you have.
TestGorilla makes it easy to reach for help, thanks to our live chat option, phone support for Business plan users, email support, and robust FAQ section.
If you’re new to TestGorilla, our training and onboarding tour gives you hands-on training so you can start using all the features of the platform.
You can also check out the help center for step-by-step guides, product roadmaps, and other resources.
Customer support options are limited to a web form and chatbot. Modern Hire doesn’t offer support via email or phone, nor does it offer training or onboarding.
Candidates have access to a help center, and hiring teams can access webinars and a blog containing information about Modern Hire’s services.
TestGorilla | Modern Hire | |
Live chat | Yes | Yes |
Help center | Yes | Yes |
Email support | Yes | No |
Training and onboarding tour | Yes | No |
Phone assistance | No | No |
Pre-employment testing software providers usually price their products with a fixed rate per user per month. Some providers have a pay-as-you-go model, free plans, or an annual rate.
How much you pay can depend on the features you choose and the size of your organization.
TestGorilla has three plans (billed annually or monthly) with no hidden costs:
Free forever at $0: Full access to 10 free tests, including all personality tests.
Depending on the size of your company, paid plans begin with:
Starter from $75 USD per month ($900 per year paid upfront) - start with skills-based hiring for all roles. There is also the option to pay monthly, starting from $85 USD per month.
Pro from $115 USD per month ($1,380 per year paid upfront) - maximize your hiring with advanced features. There is also the option to pay monthly, starting from $130 USD per month.
Modern Hire charges a subscription fee. You can’t sign up for a free trial or get a free plan. Details about pricing aren’t disclosed until you contact the company for a custom quote.
TestGorilla | Modern Hire | ||
Plan | Price (billed annually) | Plan | Price |
Free | $0 | No free plan | |
Starter | From $75 USD per month ($900 per year paid upfront) The pay monthly plan starts from $85 USD per month | Other plans | Contact Modern Hire for pricing |
Pro | From $115 USD per month ($1,380 per year paid upfront) The pay monthly plan starts from $130 USD per month |
A pre-employment testing platform needs to be easy to use for both candidates and hiring teams. You must be able to create and share tests quickly, and candidates want to complete pre-employment assessments easily.
User-friendly features such as smooth navigation, clear instructions, and a clean design make software easier to use for everyone.
TestGorilla has created a platform that’s easy for hiring teams and candidates to use.
Candidates get clear instructions and can take pre-employment tests on the device they’re most comfortable with, and individual tests take only 10-15 minutes.
TestGorilla helps you to create assessments quickly by guiding your test selection, ensuring it’s relevant and appropriate to the open job position.
A clean design and fast report generation let you compare candidates with accuracy.
Modern Hire has a mobile-ready platform. Its accessibility features allow candidates to take tests in different languages or to choose text, in-person, or voice interviews.
Modern Hire uses AI to make some processes automatic. For example, candidates are automatically ranked based on their individual test scores.
TestGorilla and Modern Hire are both robust pre-employment screening platforms, but when we look closely, TestGorilla offers more transparency and more features.
For example, Modern Hire has few anti-cheating measures, and it also discloses little in the way of pricing.
Another challenge is that Modern Hire offers job-specific workflow exercises rather than a library of tests. This makes it harder to hire for a still-evolving position.
In contrast, TestGorilla has a library of more than 300 tests, so you can create a custom applicant experience. With extensive support, reporting features, and a free-for-life plan, TestGorilla is a clear choice.
Pre-employment screening tests help you hire the right talent. They can accurately review an applicant’s qualifications and prevent unconscious bias.
There are many pre-employment screening platforms to consider. TestGorilla makes it easy to test before you commit with a free-forever plan and a free 30-minute live demo.
Are you ready to stop reading endless stacks of resumes and start hiring the right candidates fast? Start your free plan with TestGorilla today.
Why not try TestGorilla for free, and see what happens when you put skills first.