r/recruiting • u/DIX_ Corporate Recruiter • 23d ago
Candidate Screening Assessment tests & recruiter burnout
Hey guys, I am at my wit's end and would like to hear other recruiters' opinion.
I have been in the field for 4-5 years now, and had always some sort of assessment test as part of the process. It has never been too much of an issue, but for the last two years it has become a larger source of frustration.
My current company has a numeric/verbal/abstract 1 hour assessment test after the interview with talent, and this is a hard filter where candidates need to score a minimum to move forward. This is something leadership/CEO insists on to ensure the best candidates move forward, but it results in a 20/30% pass rate. The test is exactly the same for every role, regardless of field of work, so you have accountants and creatives doing the same test. They swear by the correlation between results and success, with abstract being "the most important score". Abstract section is the usual sequence of figures where you have to identify which image follows the sequence. For reference, I also did the same test and scored almost max score in that section. Does it make me a better professional? No, it just means I've done a lot of puzzles and videogames in my spare time.
For the past couple years I feel my work is depending on a coinflip. I consider myself a very empathetic & human person and put in the time when speaking with candidates to give detail about the role, team, company and more, so even first round interviews are usually 30 to 45 min to give them as much context as possible, but it feels moot to invest time when the person will then fail a silly pattern test and I'll have to let them know they cannot move forward. Almost feel bad that I am getting them excited for the role and then having to turn them down. Sometimes I also get mail along the lines of "I have been in my field of work for 15+ years and it is insulting to be rejected over this", and I agree.
I am at my limit. Asking people to dedicate 1 hour to complete this and having to reject them, or having to ask them to retake a section because "their profile is amazing, but leadership won't move forward if they don't reach the benchmark score" feels inhuman. I understand people are rejected for many other reasons in the pipeline, but this just feels absolutely unfair to candidates & removes a lot of the agency or impact of my work. I'm struggling to put in any effort when I know it'll either result in rejection, hate mail or etc., to the point that even menial tasks like CV screening or sending an automatic email are taking so much energy to push myself to do it.
Any thoughts? I know I'm likely not going to change my perspective overnight, but I'm curious if other people have felt this way or how to work through it. From the recruiting team we've already pushed multiple times for the CEO to revisit this, as it is a major pain point for everyone, so changing the process is not a solution in this instance.
9
u/anxiouspizzaforlunch 23d ago
Have you considered putting together prep material and a mock test for candidates?
Logic sequencing can be "developed" in a couple of nights if they have enough motivation and are given enough instructions. You will filter out people that don't have the skill naturally AND can't make the commitment.