Frequently Asked Questions
If you find that your question has not been answered here, please call 800.330.2020 or fill out our contact form and we’ll get back to you within a business day.
What is pre-employment testing?
Pre-employment testing is a tool used by thousands of companies across the world to hire more efficiently and accurately. Job applicants complete an assessment to evaluate certain behavioral traits like cognitive ability, personality, and motivation, or hard skills like Microsoft Excel and coding in a certain information technology language. Pre-employment tests can vary widely in the traits assessed, quality of the questions used, and length, among other elements. The Optimize Hire pre employment tests are customizable and can assess whatever traits or skills you’d like to see in your employees.
How much does it cost?
Optimize Hire sells its service as an annual license, which allows your hiring managers to assess an unlimited number of applicants for all of your job openings each year. Give us a call at 800.330.2020 to get more specific pricing information for your organization.
How many applicants can I assess with pre-employment testing?
The more the better. Like with any scientific study, you'll get better results with a larger sample size. Optimize Hire is a science first company, so whether you assess 1,000 or 100,000 applicants per year, the annual license cost is the same. Instead, the annual license cost is based on the number of people you expect to hire over the next 12 months.
How long does it take to complete a pre-employment test?
That depends on the provider. A longer pre-employment test could get you accurate results, but it probably won't help your applicant completion rates. Optimize Hire tests take applicants approximately 8-10 minutes to complete and the national completion rate is 96%. Our tests have been validated dozens of times by experts from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Is pre-employment testing better for small or large organizations?
Pre-employment testing is good for any company. Optimize Hire clients range from multi-billion dollar companies who hire thousands of people per year to small businesses hiring only a handful of people per year. Regardless of the size of your company, our pre-employment tests are strong predictors of job performance.
Can I find pre-employment testing specific to my industry?
Yes. Decades of research support the predictive validity of behavioral pre-employment testing across all industries. The Optimize Hire Industries page explains more about our assessments and specific results related to your industry. If you don’t see your industry, send us an email by filling out this form, or call us at 800.330.2020. In our ten-year history, we’ve likely worked with a company like yours, even if your specific industry isn’t currently listed on our website. We’re happy to share our results from your specific industry.
Does Optimize Hire cover the posting fees for 3rd party sites?
No, Optimize Hire does not cover the posting fees for 3rd party sites like CareerBuilder®, Craigslist®, and Monster®. Clients are responsible for 3rd party posting fees.
How does pre-employment testing work?
The most useful way to use pre-employment testing is to assess all of your applicants right at the initial step of the application process. Optimize Hire ranks each applicant by their score, and recommends the top scorers for interviews and resume review. It's kind of like the SAT - on average, the higher scorers will perform better, but it should still operate as a small part of the larger selection process.
How long until I can start using pre-employment testing?
It usually takes a couple of weeks for us to complete an integration with your applicant tracking system. If you use the iCIMS Prime connector, that timeline is reduced to one day.
Does Optimize Hire have a pool of applicants?
Optimize Hire does not have a pool of applicants. Instead, we help you evaluate the applicants who apply to your job openings using our scientifically proven pre-employment tests that are tailored to your industry and the given job. We leave it up to our clients to recruit applicants.
Where does Optimize Hire store candidate information?
Optimize Hire stores basic candidate information (e.g. name, email) from your Applicant Tracking System. We do not collect sensitive information from candidates (e.g. social security number, etc). Optimize Hire servers and network are located in Class A data centers in Chicago and Dallas which are secured by 24x7x365 security, controlled access, and egress to registered parties only, and software firewalls and user passwords. We utilize HTTPS server certification, customer authentication and authorization, and encryption.
Optimize Hire monitors its systems 24x7x365 through a combination of third‐party tools to provide early detection and notification of potential issues, with technical personnel available to prevent issues or correct an issue quickly if it arises. We conduct a backup at least once per day and maintain seven days of daily backups.
How do I validate my pre-employment testing tool? How do I make sure it’s compliant with government regulations?
Validation studies can prove empirically how accurately pre-employment test scores predict job performance outcomes. Validation should always be conducted by psychology experts.
Optimize Hire most commonly validates our assessments to prove improved turnover and job performance outcomes. Experts at the Wharton School who complete our studies hold them to the accepted scientific standard of 95% confidence, also known as statistical significance.
There are two ways to conduct a validation study depending on what’s easiest for your HR team:
Option 1: Validation study with your current employees
Several hundred of your current employees take an Optimize Hire Pre-Employment Test.
You send Optimize Hire any job performance data that you collect on individual employees (e.g.sales revenue, supervisor ratings, etc).
Researchers at the Wharton School analyze the links between your employees’ test scores and job performance data and report back their detailed findings.
Option 2: Validation study with your new hires
Your applicants take an Optimize Hire Pre-Employment Test over the next 12 months.
You hire several hundred new employees over the next 12 months.
At the end of 12 months, Optimize Hire and experts at the Wharton School will compare your new employees’ test scores with their job performance data to prove how well the test predicted job performance.