Use the Cognitive Test for Predicting Natural Learning Aptitude and Job Performance

The cognitive ability test focuses on two of the most critical competencies required to perform well in any role. This test assesses an individual's ability to assimilate information and apply that learning to solve problems and take prompt actions. These abilities are assessed through abstract reasoning questions and critical thinking problems. This cognitive test is designed to help gauge a candidate's ability to understand ambiguity and formulate new concepts when faced with novel information. It includes questioning assumptions and making fair and accurate evaluations and requires the skills to identify and focus on relevant information when reaching conclusions.   

Designed by subject matter experts, this test contains 44 questions to be completed in 60 minutes. 

Prominent Use Cases:

Identifying the high potential: Abstract reasoning and critical thinking are "must-have" skills for roles involving strategic thinking, creative problem solving and decision making. These skills require high levels of clear and accurate thinking, problem identification, holistic situation assessment, and evaluation of tentative solutions for consistency with all available information.

Hiring and Succession Planning: You must consistently identify the best candidates who check all the boxes to hire and promote the best. You can use this cognitive assessment to assess if a person has a logical way of thinking and focuses on how ideas are approached with clarity and precision. 

Training and Development: Training and development managers can leverage assessment reports to help employees develop their skills to become more effective and productive in their jobs, enabling them to improve their decision-making and strategic thinking ability.

Overview

A cognitive assessment is a pre-employment test that employers use to assess the candidates' cognitive skills. These tests make for an excellent screening tool to identify the most suitable candidates and accelerate and streamline the hiring process. Since these tests are reliable predictors of general intelligence, they found favor with most employers who use them to gain a comprehensive overview of each candidate's strengths and weaknesses and the likelihood of success in their new roles.

Cognitive assessments, in general, are about assessing mental agility, which can be as specific as solving a numerical problem or as broad as understanding an individual's general intelligence. They can help determine an individual's problem-solving and logical thinking through questions based on mechanical, spatial, verbal, logical reasoning, etc.  

These tests focus on an individual's

• Competencies that will vary in the extent to which they are inherent or acquirable  

• Logical reasoning approach, whether it be inductive or deductive, and problem-solving skills  

• Knowledge acquisition and application, sensory perception, retention, etc.  

Importance of cognitive tests 

Helps in predicting work performance 

Cognitive ability tests allow recruiters to determine how capable an individual is of thriving in a continuously changing work environment, indicating how agile they are at learning new skills at work. Hence, we have ample reasons to believe that a person with high cognitive ability is: 

• able to learn new skills faster 
• adapt to change more quickly 
• find unique, innovative solutions to unfamiliar problems 

Helps identify the diamond-in-the-rough talent  

There is only so much that CVs and qualifications can narrate about a candidate's potential. However, cognitive ability tests help identify the best talent with skills needed to thrive in any organization.

Helps save time and money

Cognitive ability assessments are cost-effective and efficient tools for recruiting the best talent. Prescreening candidates for cognitive skills can help recruiters speed up the interview process, helping them refrain from meeting too many candidates at once. Moreover, these tests are efficiently conducted online using advanced platforms like Mercer|Mettl, enabling recruiters to save time and money.

Helps improve organizational retention 

Cognitive skills tests are instrumental in improving organizational retention by enabling employers to hire and engage the best candidates from the beginning. However, the exorbitant cost associated with losing employees can pose problems for organizations, so employee retention is one of the crucial KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) for HR (Human Resource) managers. Furthermore, with underlying costs that add up to the hiring costs (such as the advertising cost, expenses pertaining to interviewing, prescreening, onboarding, induction, and training, impact the bottom line due to poor hiring decisions, job errors, lost customers etc.), employee retention becomes a matter of utmost importance.

Why is it so beneficial for employers?

The cognitive test is a fail-safe process to determine a candidate's suitability for a particular job. It considers various facets of cognitive performance before ascertaining an individual's suitability for a given job/role. For example, it measures an individual's general aptitude, assesses whether a person can work under challenging situations, and is flexible enough to address various challenges or questions. In addition, it can delve deeper into all those skills that all employers might consider invaluable in candidates, such as the ability to think on their feet, etc.  

It is incontestable that cognitive ability tests are used across various industries as multifaceted as finance and the defense forces. These tests are equally helpful for assessing candidates for challenging domain-specific roles, such as engineers, doctors, pilots, lawyers, etc. The reason is that cognitive test scores are strongly predictive of a candidate's overall job performance. Administering a cognitive assessment can give employers several advantages: better talent decisions, identifying training needs, improved retention, and a plethora of financial benefits.