Why Pre-Screening Employees Is Important

Although it seems like something of a no-brainer, many organizations fail to take avantage of the 100’s of assessment product that are available to them and which would help hiring managers identify the winners from the losers.

The statistics which follow are all examples of why pre-screening assessments are an indispensible resource for any Company that’s engaged in recruitment. Companies that don’t utilize employee testing are leaving themselves open to making costly mistakes and increase their risk of hiring someone else’s rejects.

Testing works. It levels the playing field, allows HR managers to compare apples to oranges and identifies the gaps between what applicants say they can do and what their actual capabilities are. Consider the following:

53% of all job applications contain inaccurate information. *Source: Source: Society of Human Resources Management, 2003

In a survey conducted by CareerBuilder.com, 49% of the 3,100 hiring managers surveyed had caught a job applicant fabricating some part of his/her resume. *Source: CareerBuilder.com Survey, 2008

34% of all application forms contain outright lies about experience, education, and ability to perform essential functions on the job. Source: Wall Street Journal, 2003

9% of job applicants falsely claimed they had a college degree, listed false employers, or identified jobs that didn’t exist. *Source: Resume Inflation: Two Wrongs May Mean No Rights, by Barbara Kat Repa, Nolo.com, 2001

11% of job applicants misrepresented why they left a former employer. Source: Resume Inflation: Two Wrongs May Mean No Rights, by Barbara Kat Repa, Nolo.com, 2001

HR Statistics: Bad Hires

Negligent hiring cases have had verdicts of up to $40 million. *Source: Gurtin vs. Nurse Connection, et. al., 2002

The average settlement of a negligent hiring lawsuit is nearly $1 million. *Source: Human Resources Management, 2008

Employers have lost more than 79% of negligent hiring cases. *Source: Fortune, 2/00

It costs $7,000 to replace a salaried employee, $10,000 to replace a mid-level employee, and $40,000 to replace a senior executive. *Source: Recruiting Times

The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that the average cost of a bad hiring decision can equal 30% of the first year’s potential earnings. *Source: U.S. Department of Labor

Replacing supervisory, technical and management personnel can cost from 50 to several hundred percent of the person’s salary. *Source: Society for Human Resource Management, Recruitment and Selection Presentation, 2008

If you’re not using tests when hiring new employees (or when promoting internal candidates) you’re only getting half the story on your applicants!

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