What makes CORE special?

There are a vast number of psychometric tests on the market. Tests, that assess candidates’ personality or cognitive ability. We have in an earlier article touched upon how to evaluate if a test is psychometrically sound, and actually measures what it is designed to measure (read more). This is extremely important, as it is a necessity for recruiters to easily take un-biased decisions and match candidates and jobs efficiently. But once you have identified and evaluated a test to be of high quality, what makes a test stand out compared to others? We will in this article address where CORE differentiates from other high-quality cognitive tests.

High quality for the company

CORE is a non-verbal test designed to assess General Mental Ability (GMA). GMA is the level at which an individual understands, reasons, learns, and solves problems.

A quality of many tests, that measures GMA, is that the tasks are quite different in nature from tasks we would expect to encounter in a workplace setting. However, the essence of a good GMA test is that it taps well into the general factor of intelligence (GMA) that is applied and relevant across all kinds of tasks and taps less into task-specific aptitude only relevant to certain tasks. In other words, to avoid introducing undesirable task-specific and culture-specific measurement error, a good measure of GMA is free of job-relevant tasks or tasks with work-related elements.

Relevant output

In the development of CORE, the focus has been on creating reports and output relevant in organisational settings. This can be seen in the reports, where a full page is dedicated to “Job Perspectives”, where the reader receives insights on the candidate’s potential in Job Performance and Job-Related Learning.

The CORE Interview Guide contains business relevant questions, moduled after the individual score. The Interview Guide is thereby fitted for the candidate, and will support the interviewer in conducting a relevant structured interview, with high value for both hiring manager, HR, and the company,

Optimised candidate experience

The CORE test and its subsequent reports are developed with a focus on transparency with a vision of supporting a positive candidate experience. A positive candidate experience of an assessment test is essential for the company administering the test, as it has an immediate effect on the employer brand of the company.

Supporting the candidate

A way to ensure a great candidate experience, is supporting the candidate when completing the CORE test. The candidate receives an easy-to-understand introduction to the test and has the possibility to go through a variety of practice items. This helps the candidate get familiar with the logical patterns of CORE.

During the test, the candidate has the possibility to skip a task, and revisit it at the end, if there is still time remaining. This allows for the candidate to avoid frustrations and getting stuck while completing the test. Overall, it should be a fun and positive experience completing the CORE test.

Positive language

After completing the test, the candidate can immediately download their own report (a recommended feature). Here they can see their result and read the interpretation of their score. The CORE Score Report is written in a self-explanatory language to help limit wrong interpretations and the sense of uncertainty in the candidate.

All feedback text is written in a neutral to positive language, regardless of the score. Thus, following the increasing focus on candidate experience and employer branding. A positive and self-explanatory language strengthens CORE’s value as a screening tool as it makes verbal feedback for all applicants less important. See an example of a score below average here:

A test is not just a test

As is clear from this short article there are various things to consider when evaluating a psychometric test other than the psychometrical properties. Each test is developed with a specific mindset, and the value for customers is finding the test provider, that implicitly and explicitly communicates the same values as the company. This way the assessments used, promotes the desired employer brand. If you are interested in a transparent, business-oriented test, that supports a great candidate experience, then read more about CORE here: LINK