In a tough competitive business environment, companies today have to be selective about the candidates they hire.
Before hiring a candidate, they need to have a general idea as to how the selected candidate can deliver better ROI and productivity. Instead of blindly believing everything written on a resume, HR teams and recruiters have to come up with various methodologies that would allow them to attract, assess and acquire the best candidates they can find.
On the other hand, businesses also have to think about how they can cut down the overall hiring expenditures and costs, which would result in more savings and profit for the business.
With a cost-effective HR process, companies can ensure better results and profit at the same time.
This is why recruiting teams make use of post-offer employment testing or POET.
This would allow them to know which candidates would be the ideal ones. However, different businesses and companies conduct POET programs in different ways to help them get the results they want.
This test ensures the physical capabilities of future employees and how they will contribute to business productivity.
What is a Post Offer Pre Employment Test?
Simply put, post-offer employment tests are physical and aptitude tests that focus on specific skills of the prospective employee to ensure that the employee can perform essential job functions.
Hence, the test’s purpose is to ensure that the chosen employee clears all the physical requirements needed for the hired role, especially when the position involves physical work. These tests also help the organization get an idea about the candidate’s personality and cognitive abilities.
Generally, these post-offer employment tests are conducted only after the employer makes an official job offer. Most of these tests include physical characteristics like body fat and weight measurements. It also includes measures of how much weight a candidate can lift safely, along with a range of motion and limb strength.
However, these tests are different from pre-employment testing.
The overall idea of conducting this comprehensive pre-employment post-offer test is to measure the physical and medical characteristics required for the job and the employee’s capability to keep up with the job’s demand.
5 Benefits of Post-Offer Pre-Employment Test
Many businesses today conduct these POET programs that allow them to hire skilled workers to provide them with the proper productivity and performance.
Conducting these post-offer employment tests would let employers decide on the quality of employees they have hired for the vacant position.
Let’s take a quick look at the benefits of POET programs.
#1 Ensuring Your New Hire is the Best Fit
Hiring a good prospective employee can make a massive difference to a company’s performance and profit. HR teams and recruiters, therefore, have to ensure that they hire candidates that are ideal and meet the physical demands of the job.
With the help of a compelling POET, the program company has all the details and information about the employee’s physical endurance and skills required for the specific job.
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#2 Better Workplace Safety
One of the benefits of post-offer employment testing is that HR teams and recruiters can prioritize the company’s bottom line without compromising workplace safety. Exertion injuries and job injuries can increase the company’s compensation costs and make it unsafe for the other employees working for your company.
Post-offer testing allows HR teams and recruiters to determine the right fit for the job and the physical tasks it requires. This limits workplace accidents and injuries, preventing human resources-related issues.
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#3 Increased Productivity
Hiring employees who are efficient and fit for the job increases work productivity and ensures better results. With the right post-offer employment testing, companies can focus on employees that can contribute to the overall growth of the firm.
Reducing the number of injuries and workplace accidents can ensure a better positive work environment which helps the company in the long term.
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#4 Improve Retention Rates
Post-offer testing also improves retention rates. HR teams and recruiters today understand the importance of employee retention as it can promote higher levels of engagement, increase revenue and decrease training costs, medical costs, and hiring expenses.
Injury prevention can reduce employee turnover and provide profitability to the company in the future.
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#5 Minimize Unforeseen Costs
Excessive worker compensation claims due to physically demanding jobs can impact compensation costs.
With an effective POET program, you can make better accommodation decisions and hire future employees who meet essential job functions.
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4 Tests You Can Do Post-Offer Employment
HR teams and recruiters today prefer to conduct a wide range of post-offer tests that would allow them to decide the skills and capabilities of their future employees. These employment tests are designed to know more about these employees and what they can do and their cognitive function.
#1 Personality Tests
Employment personality tests are conducted to know more about the prospective employee as a person. This test focuses on certain traits of the employee and if they are an ideal fit as per the company’s work culture and the requirement of the job.
#2 Cognitive Tests
Hiring employees that have excellent cognitive function can directly influence the productivity of the company. HR teams and recruiters, therefore, focus on cognitive tests that measure the memory, reasoning, speed, accuracy, and arithmetic and reading comprehension required for a particular job position.
#3 Physical Ability Tests
Certain jobs are physically demanding, and therefore recruiters must ensure that they hire employees who are fit for these jobs. Physical ability tests are conducted to measure the physical strength and stamina of the employee.
Also, these tests consist of certain tasks to measure the strength of specific muscle groups required for the given job.
#4 Talent Assessment Tests
Various HR teams and recruiters also conduct talent tests that allow companies to look into the various skills and talents of the employees. This allows the company to know how they can utilize the skills and talent of the employee within the organization in the future.
Conclusion
In most cases, post-offer employment testing is a medical examination. These tests focus on the employees’ strength, stamina, and cognitive function. However, various HR teams and recruiters also conduct talent assessment tests to know more about their future employees.
These tests are conducted to know if the employee can effectively perform the physical duties required for the job. On the other hand, these tests also ensure workplace safety and efficiency of the employees within the organization for better business growth.
FAQs on Post Offer Pre Employment Testing
What if the in-house HR team cannot conduct post-offer testing?
In that case, companies can hire an experienced post-offer employment testing firm to ensure that all the tests conducted measure your employee’s tasks.
What happens if the prospective employee fails to clear physical tests?
If a prospective employee is unable to perform physical requirements for the job, like climbing, pushing, lifting, and carrying, employers can rescind the offer. However, reasonable accommodations are made for employees with a disability.
Is it necessary to conduct these tests?
These tests are generally conducted for job positions requiring physical exertion, strength and stamina, and quick cognitive thinking and reflexes. Hence, not all companies would conduct these tests.
