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Business Insider
06-07-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Companies are relying on aptitude and personality tests more to combat AI-powered job hunters
Are you happy? Do you sleep well? Do you have many friends? Are you a workaholic? Those are some of the questions Katelin Eagan, 27, said she had to answer recently when she was applying for a job. She agreed to take a cognitive and personality assessment as part of the hiring process, but was a bit bewildered. Many of the questions had nothing to do with the engineering position, which, after completing the tests and going through several months of silence, she was eventually rejected for. Eagan says she's been applying for jobs full-time since the start of the year. Her efforts haven't panned out yet, which she attributes partly to how competitive her field has become and employers having room to be picky. "I think there's definitely a lower amount than I thought there would be," she said of available roles. But that may be only part of the story. Employers are growing increasingly selective, partly because many are seeing a flood of seemingly perfect candidates, many of whom are suspected of using AI to finesse their applications, according to recruiters and hiring assessment providers who spoke to BI. The solution many companies have come to? Make everyone take a test — and see who candidates really are, irrespective of what ChatGPT suggested they put on their résumés. According to surveys conducted by TestGorilla, one firm that administers talent assessments for employers, 76% of companies that had hired in the 12 months leading up to April said they were using skills tests to determine if a candidate was a right fit, up from 55% who said they were using role-specific skills tests in 2022. Employers seem most interested in testing for soft skills — amorphous qualities like communicativeness and leadership — as well as administering general aptitude and personality tests, Wouter Durville, the CEO of TestGorilla, told Business Insider. TestGorilla's Critical Thinking test was completed more than 100,000 times in the first quarter of this year, a 61% increase compared to the same quarter in 2024. The firm also offers a Big 5 personality assessment, which was completed more than 127,000 times in the first quarter — a 69% increase compared to last year. Demand among US employers in particular has been "massive," Durville said, adding that many firms have turned to tests as a result of being overwhelmed with job applications. The US is the largest market for the firm, which is based in the Netherlands. "The biggest thing is people just want to hire the best people. It's very selfish and it's fine," Durville said. Canditech, another firm that offers hiring assessments, says it's also seen rapid growth in the last year. In 2024, the assessment usage grew 135% compared to the prior year, CEO Guy Barel told BI. He estimates that assessment usage is on track to soar 242% year-over-year. Barel says the surge is partly due to the job market tipping more in favor of employers. In many cases, companies he works with are flooded with "tons of candidates" and looking to "move forward as fast as possible," he said. Criteria, another skills-based assessment provider, says test usage has more than doubled in recent years. "AI is kind of creating this authenticity crisis in talent acquisition, because everyone can and is putting their résumé into ChatGPT." Criteria CEO Josh Millet told BI. "It's all about demonstrating your ability or your skill or your personality in an objective way that's a little bit harder to fake." The AI job market Jeff Hyman, a veteran recruiter and the CEO of Recruit Rockstars, estimates that demand for testing among his clients has increased by around 50% over the last 18 months. That's due to a handful of different reasons, he said — but companies being inundated by job applications is near the top, thanks to candidates leaning more on AI to gain an edge and send out résumés en masse, he says. Hyman says a typical job he tries to fill for a client has around 300 to 500 applicants, though he's spoken to companies trying to fill roles with more than 1,000 candidates within several days of being posted online. The number of job applications in the US grew at more than four times the pace of job requisitions in the first half of 2024, according to a report from WorkDay. Companies also want to test candidates' soft skills as remote work grows more common, Hyman adds — and they want to be sure they're getting the right person. Depending on the size of the organization, a bad hire can cost a company anywhere from $11,000 to $24,000, a survey conducted by CareerBuilder in 2016 found. According to TestGorilla, 69% of employers who issued tests this year said they were interested in assessing soft skills, while 50% said they were interested in assessing a candidate's cognitive ability. A separate survey by Criteria ranked emotional intelligence as the most sought-after skill among employers, followed by analytical thinking. "It's about their personality and to see if they are a good fit to the organization, if they share the same DNA," Durville said, though he noted that, in many cases, companies find the results of the tests to be shaky as a sole evaluation metric. TestGorilla, Canditech, and Criteria told BI that employers say they're enjoying the time and cost savings of administering tests. According to TestGorilla, 82% of employers who said they used skills-based hiring — a catch-all term for hiring based on proven skills — said they were satisfied with new hires, compared to 73% of US employers on average. Canditech, meanwhile, claims its assessments can help employers cut down on hiring time by as much as 50%, and reduce "unnecessary interviews" by as much as 80%, according to its website. But Hyman thinks there are some issues with hiring tests. For one, he says employers turn down candidates who don't score well "all the time," despite them being otherwise qualified for the job. The trend also appears to be turning off job candidates. Hyman estimates around 10%-20% of applicants will outright refuse to take a test if employers introduce it as a first step in the hiring process, though that's a practice Canditech's Barel says is becoming increasingly common. Hyman says he frequently has conversations with employers urging them not to put so much weight on test results, due to the potential for a mis-hire. "That's lazy hiring, to be honest. I think that's not the right way to go about it," he said.
Independent Singapore
15-06-2025
- Business
- Independent Singapore
Majority of employers now value soft skills more than hard skills
Photo: Depositphotos/ imtmphoto (for illustration purposes only) Soft skills are no longer just 'nice-to-have.' According to a recent report from TestGorilla, published by HR Dive, 60% of companies say that having soft skills is now more imperative than it was five years ago. The change is clear—while technical skills are crucial, especially in today's world, employers are increasingly giving more priority to personal attributes, such as critical thinking, adaptability, and collaboration, when making hiring choices. Wouter Durville, CEO and co-founder of TestGorilla, underscores this new mentality. According to him, employers today want people who are able to think critically, can adapt to any situation, especially during emergencies, and know how to collaborate. The best hiring approaches now combine unbiased facts with an all-inclusive assessment of the candidate, their abilities, competencies, values, and cultural orientation. The full-picture approach to hiring At present, hiring managers appraise job seekers not just through what's written on their CVs and their actual technical expertise. Over 70% believe evaluating the 'whole candidate,' which includes the candidate's personality and cultural fit, leads to better hires. Seventy-eight percent of employers admitted that, in many cases in the past, they hired technically proficient candidates but later floundered due to a lack of soft skills or cultural misalignment. See also Jamus Lim Advocates for Positive Use of Generative AI in Education Thus, there has been a conspicuous shift toward skills-based hiring, with 85% of U.S. and U.K. business owners now employing such methods. Over half of global corporations have even abolished degree requirements for specific roles. This larger assessment of talent mirrors a more profound understanding of what propels continuing employee achievement and engagement. AI is changing the game—but not the essentials Currently, artificial intelligence (AI) is playing an increasing role in hiring, with 70% of U.S. business owners employing AI tools in the recruitment process. Of those, an outstanding 92% say AI has improved their hiring results, yet even as AI becomes more ubiquitous, employers are still confronted with several challenges—63% say that it's now harder than last year to find top-quality talent. Remarkably, the call for AI-specific skills is diminishing, falling from 52% in the previous year to 38% in 2025. Instead, the importance of people skills has risen. According to LinkedIn, the most sought-after abilities are conflict management, public speaking, adaptability, and stakeholder engagement. Employees possessing these soft skills are more likely to advance in their careers faster and excel more in leadership roles. With the evolution of AI tools, clarity and openness about their use will become indispensable for both job seekers and business owners, but one thing remains constant: while computerization can aid in sorting and sifting through candidates, human qualities are what truly set top talent apart.
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
3 in 5 employers say soft skills are more important than ever
This story was originally published on HR Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily HR Dive newsletter. Employers are increasingly focused on soft skills during the job hunt, with 60% saying soft skills are more important today than five years ago, according to a June 9 report from TestGorilla. More than 70% of employers said evaluating the whole candidate — both skills, personality and cultural fit — leads to better results. In fact, 78% said they hired a candidate with strong technical skills who didn't perform well because of a lack of soft skills or cultural fit. 'Employers want people who can think critically, adapt and collaborate,' said Wouter Durville, CEO and co-founder of TestGorilla, in a press statement. 'The best hiring strategies now combine objective data with a holistic view of the candidate — their skills, values and cultural alignment.' In a survey of more than 1,000 U.S. and UK hiring decision-makers, 85% said they use skills-based hiring methods; more than half of U.S. employers said they've removed degree requirements from roles. Employers also indicated a major shift in skills priorities amid a labor market transformed by artificial intelligence. About 70% of U.S. employers said they now use AI in hiring, and 92% of those said it has improved their hiring. At the same time, many employers said they still struggle to find talent, with 63% finding it harder than last year to secure prime talent. Meanwhile, employer demand for AI-specific skills has declined, dropping from 52% in 2024 to 38% in 2025. Workers with soft skills get promoted faster than those who lack skills such as problem-solving, decision-making and good communication abilities, according to a LinkedIn report. For talent professionals, this means upskilling initiatives and the hiring process should include a focus on soft skills. AI tools will transform talent acquisition during the next few months, and companies and job seekers alike will increasingly use AI in the hiring process, according to a LinkedIn Talent Blog post. Employers and applicants can expect to demonstrate more transparency about AI use. The top in-demand skills in the U.S. include AI literacy and conflict management, according to another LinkedIn report. The list also heavily features other 'people' skills such as adaptability, innovative thinking, public speaking, customer engagement and stakeholder management. Recommended Reading 3 insights into how Gen Z manages people
