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As if there aren't enough hurdles these days to getting a job I was told I need to take a pre employment test before getting an interview. So I googled these to get a feel for them and am discouraged at how difficult it was. Has anyone come across this and did you find it difficult? What did you do?
A Google search discourages you from taking a pre employment test? It seems pretty simple - you want the job, you take the test. You pass the test you made it to next base.
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Unless the specific test was mentioned, you have no way to know what to expect. It could be a personality test, a general knowledge test, or a test specific to the required skills and requirements. Many years ago I had to take a written test and a typing test for my first job after graduate school. It was meant to verify the ability to communicate in written form, with some spelling and punctuation challenges. When I hired a new utilities analyst I included a "sample work project" with a fictitious situation presented, for the candidates to demonstrate their ability to solve the simple problem. Most did fine, but a few had no idea what to do.
It's not uncommon for occupations that require specific software skills -- i.e., drafting skills with Autocad or Revit for engineers or architects, houdini, nuke, and maya for special effects designers and animators. Not every employer does it, and certainly not at every career level (at some point, it will be evident in your resume if you don't know what you are doing).
No reason to be discouraged--take the test. The worst you can do is not 'pass', in which case you are no worse off than if you didn't try. And maybe you'll learn about some things you need to work on to get the job you want. And maybe you'll prove you are perfectly qualified and get hired.
And it could just be a character test, the likes of which have been around for ages "have you ever stolen from your employer?" "Do you think it is important to arrive to work on time?" and stupid questions like that.
As if there aren't enough hurdles these days to getting a job I was told I need to take a pre employment test before getting an interview. So I googled these to get a feel for them and am discouraged at how difficult it was. Has anyone come across this and did you find it difficult? What did you do?
I'm a hiring manager and I'm against testing applicants. Because the job in software and IT which I hire for isn't about passing some tests. We have real problems to work on which must be solved and giving a coding test I think it a waste of time and useless. Asking questions during the screening process of how you go about solving a real problem we have dealt with is very important. Some people are making a living designing these tests to give applicants, but I don't find them to be useful. Sure someone can write more perfect lines of code a day than someone else, but many times the solution to a problem isn't to write any lines of code at all. In a large software development environment very few people actually spend their time writing code all day and when they do it is for a short period of time. We don't have anyone doing that 40 hours a week all year. Anything that intense in 2022 would be outsourced anyway.
I don't know the job you are after and the situation, but if you can find prospective employers that doesn't make you go through those tests I would favor them. What HR and hiring managers would be doing is networking to find good applicants for the positions they have to fill, but screening people with tests because that gives no real indication if they are going to be a good employee, but the people designing the tests for a living try to convince HR types it is.
From what I gather, there are multiple kinds of "pre-employment" tests.
-- There's the "personality test," which I can't stand. Ugh.
-- The multi-part test for critical thinking, where you have sections about math, vocabulary, writing, and problem solving.
-- A "test" for subject matter knowledge and expertise, like maybe for an engineer or IT person.
-- And...the "test" that's really an assignment for you to turn in "free work" for them.
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