In the rush of filling a position with the right candidate, most organizations can make the wrong hiring decisions.

A bad hire isn’t just someone missing a skill or two, they cost at least $18,700 for executive-level positions, and more than $37,150 on average for Indian companies. 

How are companies making such costly hiring mistakes?

A CareerBuilder survey revealed the top reasons for bad hires:

• 54% of companies found that the hires produced low-quality work
• 45% reported that the candidates’ skills didn’t match their claims 
• 53% said the employee didn’t have a positive attitude

This data alone explains the importance of accurate pre-hiring assessments. Fortunately, with the recent technologies and increasing adoption of AI, recruiting high-quality candidates has become more accessible.

Understanding the role of AI in pre-hiring assessments

As of July 2024, 88% of companies globally use Artificial Intelligence (AI) for HR practices. 

AI can quickly analyze vast amounts of candidate data, be it resumes or assessments, to identify hires who align with the high-quality talent already within an organization.

Once it has identified the right candidates, AI takes it a step further by designing pre-hire assessments that test specific technical and soft skills required to perform at the highest level. 

With this, companies are 46% more likely to find successful, skills-fit hires!

That’s not all. These pre-employment assessments are built around real-world scenarios, ensuring the candidates are skilled and ready to perform the job. To top it off, AI monitors during online assessments for suspicious activities. It also tests their attitude and cultural fit, which can drastically reduce turnover.

Top 10 pre-hiring assessment trends for 2025

With AI and recent technologies in the market, pre-hiring assessments are evolving in how candidates are assessed.

Below are the top 10 pre-hiring assessment trends HR must watch out for:

1. The rising focus on job-specific tests over degrees

College dropouts are gaining attention since companies will prioritize skills over formal education in 2025. HR will shift its criteria from measuring education to assessing real-world skills. This means talent acquisition professionals may need to invest in job-specific tests that accurately measure the skills required to perform in a job role.

2. The evolution of simulators in pre-hiring

Simulators for on-job scenarios and coding labs are turning smarter to test practical skills. They are designed to replicate present challenges to see how the candidate would perform on the job. For example, coding simulators can test a developer’s ability to debug code, while customer service simulators check how well the candidate handles client inquiries.

3. Skills-based pre-hire assessment will dominate

Currently, employers are moving away from resumes and interviews alone to hire candidates. They are investing in skills-based interviews, project-based interviews, and job-focused tasks. Candidates are expected to complete assessments and exercises similar to real job responsibilities.

This removes any assumptions about a candidate’s skills and avoids making a hiring decision based on any claims made. 

4. Cognitive testing for full talent evaluation

Companies also realize the importance of hiring candidates with cognitive and emotional intelligence. Such tests check for problem-solving and adaptability, including puzzles, role plays, and situational judgment exercises. This significant pre-hiring assessment trend reduces the risk of hiring cultural misfits.

5. Fraud detection becomes mandatory

With the rise of remote work and AI-generated content, companies may also receive fraudulent applications and manipulated credentials. Pre-hiring assessment tools that check submissions for fraud and plagiarism are needed. Focusing on skills rather than resumes or past experience helps hire the right candidate.

6. AI voice pre-screening as part of hiring

AI-based voice screening is making its way into the early stages of recruitment. These systems will conduct automated interviews, understand candidate responses, and provide insights into tone and communication skills. Here, the candidates answer questions via phone or video.

This is one way for HR to reduce the time spent on initial screenings. However, they must monitor the technology to ensure it aligns with the company’s DEI goals.

7. The shift toward measuring ‘quality of hire’

With a decline in global hiring volumes, companies are now focusing on the “value” that each new hire brings. Instead of focusing on the number of hires, the emphasis has shifted towards ensuring that every candidate contributes to business goals. 

Hence, “quality of hire” will be an essential pre-hiring assessment metric for HR, as per LinkedIn’s Future of Recruitment 2024 Playbook. 

8. Upskilling and reskilling as a hiring strategy

Companies struggling to find skilled candidates externally increasingly turn to upskilling and reskilling programs for existing employees. Employees must participate in training programs followed by assessments to check their suitability. This approach to building a skilled workforce reduces excessive reliance on external hiring and at the same time, improves employee retention and reduces overall cost.

9. Mobile-friendly assessments to drive candidate engagement

With mobile devices now dominating internet use, candidates expect pre-hiring assessments on mobile devices. More and more platforms will optimize pre-hiring tests so candidates can complete assessments anytime, anywhere. This is especially useful when hiring high-demand roles or tech candidates.

10. AI and automation for smarter pre-hiring assessments

Along with resume screening and application evaluations, AI tools can understand candidate performance and ask follow-up questions. They then generate detailed reports on the candidate’s skills gap, and strengths.

Why investing in AI-driven pre-hiring assessment tools is a smarter choice

As discussed, the cost of a bad hire reaches up to $18,700 as found by CareerBuilder. Not to mention the time lost in training and onboarding, costing $1252 per employee and 10 hours respectively.

Traditional hiring methods are slowly becoming ineffective in finding the right fit, making AI and technology-driven pre-hiring assessments a wiser choice in 2025.

There are also specific platforms designed for tech hiring, like Tekstac. They transform the hiring process with competency-based assessments with additional integrity-based checks like proctoring and AI-based auto evaluation in real time for fairness and accuracy. HR will be able to truly focus on the quality of hires as these platforms provide analyses and dashboards of candidate performance.

For those looking to step up their pre-hire assessments for tech-specialized roles, exploring such platforms can be a big step toward smarter, more effective hiring decisions.