How to Filter Best Employees via Wonderlic Test?

Last Updated on September 2, 2024

If there’s something that’s bugging organizations, corporations, and even humble companies these days, it would be finding the people that are best suited not only for the job but for the workplace as well.

While nearly every applicant out there looking for a job has the skills needed to perform the duties and responsibilities of the available position effectively, it is very rare for hiring managers to find someone and say ‘yes, this is the person that can bring out the best in our brand’.

This is why many employers give candidates an invite to take Wonderlic test assessments early on in the hiring process, both to filter out unworthy applicants immediately and to save time, money, and effort.

Depending on the needs of your company, it is very likely that one of the Wonderlic tests can improve your chances of finding the best employee for the job. Whether it’s for an entry-level, middle, administrative, or even upper management-level position, the Wonderlic exams have something to offer.

As a result, let’s take a look at them to see which fits your hiring process the best.

The Wonderlic Personnel Test

Also known as the Wonderlic Cognitive Ability Test, this particular pre-employment exam is mostly used for entry and middle-level positions.

Although the main objective of this particular Wonderlic assessment is for test-takers to meet a minimum score, its true purpose is to give companies a good idea of how good the cognitive, time management, critical thinking, and decision-making skills are of an applicant.

How is this possible? It does this by making them take a 50-item question set and they have to answer as much as they can within 12 minutes.

Some of the questions are purposefully designed to be absurdly difficult, forcing them to either skip them entirely or try to answer regardless, since a single point can mean the difference between being hired or not.

This simulates the scenario where an employee has to make a quick and good decision despite being in a stressful situation or having very little time.

Such a skill is vital for positions where time is of the essence such as for stockbrokers, sales representatives, marketing executives, and even professional athletes.

Should you choose to employ the Wonderlic Cognitive Ability Test, you will be supplied with a ‘score list’.

This list contains the recommended ‘minimum passing score’ needed for each job position, whether it’s for a janitor or a marketing executive.

It should go without saying that the more prestigious or high up in the chain of command the position is, the higher the score should be.

Fortunately, you are given full reign on whether or not you should follow this suggested minimum score or increase or lower it based on the needs of your organization.

Well-established companies usually have a higher passing score required of an applicant while those who need a lot of new employees usually lower the score in order to fill the roster as fast as possible.

The Wonderlic Personal Characteristics Inventory (PCI)

More commonly known as the Wonderlic personality test, this exam follows a survey-type format where the applicant needs to affirm or deny each of the 150 statements.

Each of these statements is coded to be linked to a workplace personality trait, and depending on how they are answered, the applicant can not only show that they are the right person for the job in terms of behavior, but are also compatible with the company culture.

It does this by comparing their personality profile results with the many personality profiles of this Wonderlic test, most of which are readily available for reference.

On the other hand, you can even make your own personality profile or adjust an existing one so that the result will be unique to your company, preventing leaks or cheaters from discovering how to manipulate their answers to land the job even if they don’t deserve it.

This Wonderlic exam is valuable because it allows companies to find helpful customer service applicants, highly analytical accountants, suave and persuasive marketing and sales agents, and even effective supervisors or managers.

In a sense, this assessment makes sure that the applicant has the right behavior and attitude for the job.

Contrary to popular belief, it is impossible to cheat on this exam and the test developers have taken into consideration that there will be test-takers that will think that ‘oh, if I only select positive statements, then I can present myself as the best candidate!’.

Should you encounter one of these applicants, the checking system of this assessment will either warn you that the candidate is purposefully manipulating their responses and cannot be trusted, or it will invalidate their responses completely.

Wonderlic Motivation Potential Assessment

Typically administered with the PCI, this Wonderlic test aims to determine the ‘drives’ or ‘motivations’ that the applicant has when it comes to their work and if they can do this consistently over the course of their career.

Are they someone that only works when a reward is presented? Are they an employee that strives to do their best no matter what? Perhaps they’re most effective when they have a ‘rival’ or competitor of sorts? Perhaps they’re only someone that can deliver results if they see a threat or if the deadline is nearby.

By discovering what motivates them the best, you can get a clearer view on how well they can perform their duties in the long run.

After all, no one wants a marketing agent that only provides good results in the first few months of their employment only for them to suddenly make bad metrics a year or so down the line.

In fact, it is also not uncommon for companies to see promising applicants suddenly have a debilitating drop in performance just a few months after their employment.

From here, we can see that there are three main types of Wonderlic tests that you can choose from in order to make sure that the applicant, or applicants, are the best that you can get and help your company flourish.

The results of this assessment usually includes a suggestion on how to handle the applicant, how to make sure that they stay motivated, and how long they are likely to keep their motivation.

Remember: resumes can be written by experts online to make it look like they’re the perfect person to hire based on requirements alone, and there are numerous videos out there on social media sites curated to improve their interview skills, fooling even the most skilled of hiring managers with enough practice.

To make things worse, if you’re a well-known company, it’s very likely that there are resources out there specifically created to boost an applicant’s chances of being hired, both with how their resume should look and how to tackle the interview process of your organization with ease.

But with one of the Wonderlic assessments put into place in the hiring process, you can mitigate this risk and figure out which of them should be turned away early on in the hiring process so that you can focus on those who show potential.

Remember, you’re not just ‘hiring someone’ for the job, you’re investing time, money, and effort to know which of the many applicants vying for the available position is the person that you will want to work with for the years to come.