For better or for worse, assessment tests are now a big part of everyday life. Companies use them in the workplace, and especially in the hiring process more than ever. Only a few years ago, having to take a job assessment test was a rare event. They would interview you, perhaps call up your references, and decide based on the impression that you gave and the experience your resume showed. Nowadays, employment tests are routine in many different fields. Filling them out is just another part of getting a job.

Assessment tests are cropping up more and more in schools as well. Back when I was going to school, the only assessment test that we had to take was the SAT. Up until that point, it was up to individual teachers to assess our skills. Some of them were good at it and some of them were not so good, but the idea in education was that a personalized approach was better than an institutional standard.

Since “No Child Left Behind,” however, all of that has changed. Every student has to take assessment tests not only to make sure that they are learning what they need to, but that the school as a whole is performing up to standards. Sometimes, schools even use their own assessment test ahead of the state mandated tests as a way of making sure that their students are on track to pass.

One of the things I like about assessment tests as an employer is that they allow you to focus on the personality and experience of your potential hires. You go in knowing a great deal about their skills, so you do not have to try to figure out what they can and can not do based only on their word and references.

Nonetheless, it is important to be careful not to put too much faith in assessment tests. They are good at measuring the ability to complete certain basic, assigned tasks, but they might not do enough to show you how someone works on a long term project, with a group, or under pressure. There are personality tests that can help you to see if someone is fit to work in some particular environment, but there is no substitute for one-on-one contact. The strength of a test assessment is as a tool for pre-screening. After that, you still have to have your personnel department go through the grunt work.