The best pre-employment assessments test candidates on the skills necessary to do the job and help streamline recruiting by ensuring you interview only the most qualified candidates. Some assessment tools can test hard job skills like programming, while others handle soft skills like dealing with customers. There are also those that offer personality testing to find the best-fit applicants for your company culture.
We evaluated seven of the most popular that suit a small or midsize business’s budget and test needs to bring you the four best pre-employment assessment tools.
- TestGorilla: Best pre-employment assessment tool for assessment variety
- Testlify: Best for businesses with distributed teams
- Vervoe: Best for assessment grading efficiency
- Toggl Hire: Best free plan option
- Pre-employment Assessment Tools Compared
- TestGorilla: Best for Assessment Variety
- Testlify: Best for Businesses with Distributed Teams
- Vervoe: Best for Assessment Grading Efficiency
- Toggl Hire: Best Free Plan Option
- Tips for Choosing the Best Pre-employment Assessment Tools
- Best Pre-employment Assessment Tools Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
- Bottom Line
Pre-employment Assessment Tools Compared
| Our Score (out of 5) | Pricing | Free Plan | Key Features | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 4.28 | $0-$6,000 per month |
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| Visit TestGorilla | ||||
 | 3.86 | $99-$1,499 per monthHeavily discounted for the first month (71% to 90% off). Starting price for first month is $29 to $149. Pricing also available for Testlify's unlimited plan, see rates below. | 7-day free trial |
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| Visit Testlify | ||||
 | 3.63 | $300-$5,000 (one-time payment) |
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| Visit Vervoe | ||||
 | 3.31 | $0-$670 per monthDiscounts available for annual plans. |
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| Visit Toggl Hire | ||||
If you are interested in creating your own in-house assessments, consider our free Excel test for interviewing candidates.
TestGorilla: Best for Assessment Variety
Testlify: Best for Businesses with Distributed Teams
Vervoe: Best for Assessment Grading Efficiency
Toggl Hire: Best Free Plan Option
Tips for Choosing the Best Pre-employment Assessment Tools
When determining which pre-employment assessment tools are right for your business, consider the following:
- Business size: If you are a small business with limited hiring, a provider that offers a free plan may work best for you. Consider TestGorilla or Toggl Hire, both of which offer free assessments for 5 candidates.
- Budget: Your budget plays a big factor, however, if you need more than just a handful of assessments per month, consider a provider that offers a paid plan that is still affordable for small businesses.
- Industries served: The best assessments are those that are role-specific. Choose a provider that offers a variety of tests related to your specific industry.
- Reporting capabilities: Reporting is important and the best providers allow you to compare candidates side-by-side. It’s important to look at score distributions and question-by-question reports.
- Languages available: Especially when hiring globally, assessments that are available in other languages can help focus on skills.
- Anti-cheating protocols: Candidates trying to get a job may embellish their skills. This can lead to cheating during testing when a candidate doesn’t feel confident. Consider a provider, like TestGorilla, that takes webcam snapshots during the assessment to ensure answer validity.
Methodology: How We Evaluated the Best Pre-employment Assessment Tools
In our collaborative evaluation of pre-employment assessment tools, a new rubric was created and objective scoring was added by Irene Casucian, one of Fit Small Businesses’ expert research assistants. From there, I evaluated each provider. I looked at pricing, what users thought, and the support offered. Additionally, I looked at each product for an intuitive interface, the availability of a wide range of assessment tools, and the integrity of its testing and grading. Click through the tabs below to see how each category was evaluated.
This criterion was based solely on third-party review sites. Providers were favorably rated for average scoring above a 4 out of 5.
For pricing, I looked at how it compared to other pre-employment assessment tools on our list. Extra points were awarded to those that were affordable for small businesses (the cheapest plan less than $200 per month).
Our support score was determined by looking at whether each provider offered live phone support, live chat, and/or email options. Providers scored extra points if they offered a knowledge base or community forum.
For this review, scoring was determined by customization options, how easy the platform was to navigate, the effectiveness of a mobile app, and total third-party integrations.
For this category each provider was judged on their ability to offer specialized templates and if they offered pre-built, soft skills, role-specific, personality, culture, cognitive ability, and emotional intelligence. Special award was given for providers that offer assessments in multiple languages.
Grading bias eliminators, like blind hiring tools and removing PII tied to a candidate’s testing during grading, can ensure accuracy and fair evaluation of scoring. We also looked at pre-built reports, automatic grading, anti-cheating tools, and test time limits to determine scoring.
Best Pre-employment Assessment Tools Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
The most popular pre-employment tests are cognitive assessments. Also referred to as aptitude tests, these assessments evaluate a candidate’s learning abilities, how they think logically, and their problem-solving skills. While these are usually general questions, they can be customized to fit the job description.
A good assessment test will be consistent and accurate, have an educational impact, and measure the validity of all answers. Those that allow customization options and grading capabilities are ideal and promote fairness and transparency.
Depending on the type of assessment taken, questions generally follow a pattern of asking logical, abstract, numerical, and verbal questions. Certain assessments, like those that offer coding tools, will ask questions specific to the job duties and offer real-world simulations for testing skills.
Bottom Line
A resume and application alone cannot tell you how good a candidate will be for a job. Hiring the right employee involves much more. The best pre-employment assessment tools can give you a stronger picture of the candidate’s capabilities and suitability for a job—and the right one can be an excellent tool for applicant screening.
This is not a comprehensive list of pre-employment assessment tools, as there are hundreds of hiring assessment tools available to you. Our goal is to help you narrow the field and select a tool that best meets your needs. Using any of the above options will help you hire faster and more efficiently.
