The Hechinger Report: With a Degree No Longer Enough, Job Candidates Are Told To Prove Their Skills in Tests

The Hechinger Report

This article describes how one in four employers now use pre-hiring assessments to find prospective employees. The assessments’ popularity is fueled by employers who no longer consider a college degree to be a measure of career preparedness and therefore no longer require a college degree. Employers also use pre-hiring assessments to ensure more equitable hiring, since fewer African Americans hold college degrees. Advances in technology and artificial intelligence make it possible to create assessments that measure whether an applicant can work in teams, communicate well, and make good decisions. Tech employers have been drawn to hackathons to find talented students who demonstrate their drive and ingenuity to solve a problem. Since COVID-19, with an increased number of job candidates, and health risks making it hard to meet in person, the use of pre-hiring assessments is growing faster than in the past.