Recently I’ve been mentoring some new employees. I realized that by engaging them in their job, our company culture, and their own success, the Story of Employment Technologies was foundational.
Part of my mentoring was distilling the primary components of our story so our new team members could understand Employment Technologies’ journey and incorporate those components into their own story.
In recognition of Employment Technologies’ 30th anniversary, this blog celebrates our milestones and the significant accomplishments our team has made along the way.
Discovering a Better Way
Our story is unique. Thirty years ago, employment tests were little more than words on a page. Little attention was given to the applicant experience – and results for employers lacked precision.
With a strong background in Industrial / Organizational Psychology, our Innovation Team decided to try something new and unique in employment testing – the addition of simulation technology. Even our team was surprised by the overwhelming results. This early research quickly revealed the clear superiority of simulations in reducing test bias, improving the candidate experience, and delivering unparalleled accuracy in predicting job success. By combining simulation technology with assessment science, we launched a whole new category of employment tests:
How are job simulations different from other Tests?
Predictive Accuracy
No other employment test predicts job performance better than our simulations. In fact, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management has ranked Simulations and Work Samples #1 in accuracy in comparison to other test types. We pioneered job simulation technology, disrupting the testing industry, and delivering hiring tools far superior to anything that existed before.
Positive Experience
What words come to mind when you think about employment tests? Stressful, tedious, invasive, or boring are typical terms associated with traditional testing. Employment Technologies’ job simulations were the first assessments to place the human experience at the center, revolutionizing the applicant journey and creating an experience candidates actually enjoy. Our people-centric tools consistently outperform other types of tests, receiving 98+% positive satisfaction ratings from applicants, recruiters, and employers!
Realism and Authenticity
Prior to Employment Technologies, most employment tests were text-based assessments presented as self-report surveys. Faking was a primary concern, knowing that applicants tend to provide answers they believe employers want to see. In fact, these tests often include extra questions in an attempt to verify the honesty of other answers. In the testing industry, this is referred to as a “lie scale” – and for good reason. The quantum difference between traditional employment tests and our simulations is that only simulations provide a direct and objective measure of performance. You can’t fake a simulation. The performance is real, and the results are real.
Immersive and Engaging
When you are part of the action, you feel invested and engaged. A major contribution of our simulation-based approach is delivering a “test drive” of the job. Context matters! Job relevance is paramount for both predicting job performance and creating realistic expectations. By immersing candidates in key aspects of the job, they gain a realistic preview of the work to see if the job is right for them, and employers gain a realistic preview of the applicant to see if they are right for the job.
Skills Based
Many pre-employment tools are marketed as “behavioral” assessments or “behavioral” interviews. Behavioral is a psychological term that describes inferences between what a person says and what that person might do. As an employer, do you want to base your hiring decisions on inferences, or on what people can actually do? Performance is skills based (you either can swim, or you can’t). The reason skills-based tests are gaining popularity is because they are objective, fair, and highly predictive of future performance.
Why It Matters
In today’s high-tech world, we believe people are still our greatest asset. That’s why we create our pre-employment tools with people in mind – delivering stellar experiences for candidates, recruiters, and employers.
How Candidates React
“Other tests have a tendency to put you to sleep. This was lively and I really enjoyed it!”
“Compared to all the other tests like this I have taken, this by far relates more to the job.”
“This was my first time doing anything like this, and I truly did enjoy it.”
“It was fun! This is much better than a written test.”
“I thought it was actually the best assessment I have taken.”
What Recruiters and Employers are Saying
“I was amazed at how ‘right on’ the results were with the performance of the individuals… We’re finding candidates who can actually do the job.”
“It measures so many important skills in such a short amount of time.”
“Candidates find the simulation engaging and helpful in understanding what [the job] is really like … Since implementing the simulation, we have cut our turnover in half.”
“We can already see a huge improvement in the quality of candidates that we select.”
“I love how much our participants enjoy using the simulations. Every group says that the simulations are really fun—and we’ve used them with people from ages 18 to 56!”
“By using EASy Simulations, applicants are able to get a real-life look at specific job responsibilities in a number of industries, including bank tellers, collection agents, customer call centers, and workplace competencies … The real-life scenarios and easy-to-follow tests give users a “test drive” feel for the job.”
– Editors, Human Resource Executive
In celebrating 30 years of innovation, we reflect on how Employment Technologies has revolutionized pre-employment testing – by creating a better experience for candidates and delivering better results for employers. As we look ahead, we remain committed to continuously advancing our solutions to ensure both employers and candidates benefit from an experience that is immersive, fair, engaging, accurate, and impactful.
WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT SIMULATION-BASED TESTING?
Reach out to talk with any member of our Innovation Team by calling 888.332.0648, or by clicking here to arrange a time.