Humans are complex beings. And recruiters are handed the difficult task of assessing them. They have to ensure whether an applicant would be a good fit for the role and their verdicts have a long-lasting impact on an organization.
One could make mistakes while reviewing a candidate’s CV or interviewing them with bias. Also, past performances and experiences alone cannot be used to gauge their potential.
Pre-screening tests help recruiters avoid such issues and decide objectively without any inaccuracy while hiring. Cognitive ability tests are one of the most important among them.
What is Cognitive Ability?
In simple terms, cognitive ability represents a person’s capacity to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly, and learn from experience.
For an employee in a workplace, this translates as their ability to:
- Plan ahead on anticipated issues
- Perceive a problem or a situation quickly
- Understand the cause of a problem
- Learn about the issue at hand to solve it or identify when it recurs
- Be aware of the why, what, who and the how
- Judge the gravity of the situation and take immediate action
- Reason on the pros and cons of the possible solutions
- Think of consequences, draw conclusions and act on the correct course
- Use intuition to tackle dilemmas
- Efficiently communicate the problem, solutions and learnings
Seems like a lot to evaluate? Fret not. Cognitive ability assessments measure all the above skills quantitatively and keep the hiring process simple and seamless for you.
Importance of Cognitive Ability Tests
Earlier, employers hired individuals who were capable of only working hard.
But in today’s competitive environment and growth-centric culture, companies need employees who have the capacity to think a step ahead and possess critical analytical skills. They are expected to delve deeper and provide innovative solutions for complex workplace problems.
And so, it is worth noting that according to multiple studies, cognitive ability among candidates is a significant contributing factor to their successful job performance.
Pre-screening tests make it easier for the recruiter to assess each candidate’s general and technical knowledge. The General Intelligence of a candidate (not to be confused with IQ/ emotional intelligence/ personality traits) can be measured precisely using cognitive ability assessments.
When cognitive ability tests are a part of your screening process, you select individuals who are capable of identifying a potential problem well in advance thereby avoiding disasters.
Benefits of cognitive ability tests
Cognitive ability tests help filter employees who can raise your company standards. Hiring people who possess greater awareness about the work and what it requires can minimize crisis situations and spend more time moving forward instead of constantly fixing problems.
By selecting applicants who score well in our cognitive ability assessments, you can ensure:
- Better job performance
- Enhanced problem-solving skills among the employees
- Elimination of bias
- Decreased expenditure of money and time in the hiring process
- Retention of selected candidates
- Improvement in current work methodologies for fast growth
- Good employer branding
Different aspects measured in a Cognitive Ability Test
Typically, cognitive ability assessments comprise simple questions with multiple choices for answers and last only around 30 minutes.
At Testlify, we broke measuring cognitive ability down to the following. You can customize your test from these based on what skills the job role you are looking to fill deems necessary.
Here is a list of all the tests along with what job skills each measures.
- Numerical reasoning:
- interpretation of numbers
- identification of numerical patterns, tables, charts, graphs, and diagrams
- Critical & independent thinking:
- solving problems independently
- finding new solutions to complex problems
- Spatial reasoning:
- spatial visualization skills
- using memory to solve visual problems
- Problem-solving:
- creative skills for innovative solutions
- analytical skills for a systematic approach to solving problems
- Attention to detail:
- careful examination of situations
- analyzing data for minute variations and information
- Verbal reasoning:
- comprehensive reading
- detailed report writing
- presentations
- product pitches
- Following instructions:
- interpreting instructions presented in the written, visual, or oral form
- processing the instructions and performing required tasks
- Intermediate math:
- fundamental mathematical skills such as calculating rates, percentages, ratios, and time durations
- making business decisions based on numbers
- Basic triple-digit & double-digit math:
- elementary level understanding and perception of numbers
Take a detailed look at our question samples and answers to more FAQs about Testlify’s cognitive ability tests here!
Final Thoughts
Cognitive ability assessments are an excellent tool for saving time, cost, and energy and improving hiring efficiency. A candidate with good cognitive ability can prove to be highly beneficial and using cognitive ability tests is the best way to identify such talents.
Also, check out how a cognitively diverse workplace improves a company’s culture and helps shift its focus to innovation and development.
