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How to Incorporate Testing Into Your Hiring Process
You've probably hired someone who looked fantastic on paper, only to discover they couldn't actually do the job. You're not alone, 71% of accounting firms say their hiring process needs improvement.
The good news? There's a solution. The bad news? It requires letting data override your gut.
The Real Cost of Winging It
Recovering from a bad hire costs 143% of that person's annual salary, not just their salary, but training, client risk, team disruption, and partner time.
Bad hires lack three things: technical skill, team fit, and work habits. And these gaps aren't always obvious in an interview.
Consider a real scenario: a firm had two CPA candidates. One had 35 years running his own firm. Impressive on paper. When tested, he scored less than 20%. The less experienced candidate scored significantly higher. The firm hired the less experienced candidate, and the decision held up.
This is why smart hiring managers add testing as a non-negotiable gate, not a tiebreaker.
Why Testing Works
Research shows that work sample tests (technical skills tests) have the highest predictive validity of any hiring method. (Robinson & Smith, 2001). The EEOC emphasizes that tests must be job-related and validated for the positions you're using them for technical skills and ability tests do exactly that because they ask candidates to perform actual job tasks. When combined with structured interviews and personality assessments, you make data-driven hiring decisions instead of gut-driven ones.
Unstructured interviews favor good conversationalists, not necessarily good accountants. Structured interviews with competency-based questions are more reliable. Add testing? You have three data points instead of one.
Testing also protects you legally by keeping decisions objective and fair. The EEOC requires that tests be administered without regard to race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age (40 or older), or disability. This means using measurable criteria, technical skills and ability test results, rather than subjective impressions. Avoid language like "I didn't feel they'd fit"; rely on data instead.
How to Build Testing Into Your Process
There are two ways to incorporate testing, depending on your hiring approach:
Approach 1: Test Before the First Interview
Step 1: Resume screening and qualifying phone call. Narrow down candidates using resume review and a short phone interview.
Step 2: Send tests to final shortlist. Use technical skills tests, ability tests, and/or personality assessments depending on the role. Conduct on the same day, if possible, to speed up the process.
Step 3: Score and rank. Assign ratings 1-100 for technical skills tests. For personality assessments, think about the culture of the organization and the type of personality that would fit well in the team. If you've tested candidates for this role over time, benchmark new candidates against your current high performers.
Step 4: Use testing as a gate. If someone doesn't meet your threshold (e.g., 70% for core accounting), they're out.
Step 5: First interview (optional). For strong test performers, conduct the first interview. Technical questions are already answered, so focus on team fit and communication. Use the test results, technical scores, ability assessment, and personality profile to guide your questions and dig into areas that warrant deeper discussion.
Step 6: References, background testing, and offer. From start to finish: roughly one month, sometimes two weeks.
Approach 2: Test After the First Interview
Step 1: Resume screening and qualifying phone call. Narrow down candidates using resume review and a short phone interview.
Step 2: Conduct first interview. Meet with candidates to assess communication, fit, and initial competency.
Step 3: After the first interview, narrow to 2-3 candidates.
Step 4: Send tests. Conduct on the same day if possible to speed up the process. Use technical skills tests, ability tests, and/or personality assessments depending on the role.
Step 5: Score and rank. Assign ratings 1-100 for technical skills tests. For personality assessments, think about the culture of the organization and the type of personality that would fit well in the team. If you've tested candidates for this role over time, benchmark new candidates against your current high performers.
Step 6: Use testing as a gate. If someone doesn't meet your threshold (e.g., 70% for core accounting), they're out. No second interview.
Step 7: Second interview for strong performers only. Technical questions are already answered, so focus on team fit and communication. Use the test results, technical scores, ability assessment, and personality profile to guide your questions and dig into areas that warrant deeper discussion.
Step 8: References, background testing, and offer. From start to finish: roughly one month, sometimes two weeks.
What Changes
Faster hiring: No five interviews over three months.
Better filtering: Test scores beat smooth talkers.
Legal protection: Objective, job-related decisions backed by data.
Avoided mis-hire costs: Firms that override test results regret it; firms that trust data succeed.
Hiring intelligence: Over time, benchmark against your own top performers.
When you hire someone, you're not just filling a role; you're affecting your team's morale, your clients' experience, your partners' workload, and your firm's financial health. Testing doesn't eliminate risk, but it dramatically reduces it.
That's what incorporating testing really means: shifting from hope to data. From gut to evidence. From "this person seems right" to "this person can actually do the job."
Donna Roughan | Donna brings decades of expertise in accounting and business advisory, having held pivotal roles including Director at PwC, and offers extensive executive experience spanning both finance and operations.
