Pre-employment assessments for better hiring decisions

Q: What are pre-employment assessments?

A standardised measure of ability, personality, behaviour or technical skill, taken before the hiring decision. It shows how candidates compare on the things the role actually requires.

Q: Which types of assessments can you use before hiring?

Alva offers Logic and Personality Tests, Structured Interviews and Coding Tests. Leadership Report and Deep Insights add more context from psychometric data the candidate has already provided.

Q: How do you choose the right assessment for a role?

Start with the criteria behind the decision. Choose each method for the hiring question it answers, and remove anything that won't change what you already know.

Q: Which assessment predicts job performance best?

No single method answers every hiring question. Research shows structured methods predict better than unstructured ones, and that complementary methods used together tell you more than any one of them alone.

Q: Can assessments replace interviews?

No. Psychometric and technical assessments add standardised evidence, while a structured interview explores role-specific behaviour in conversation. Weigh the methods together before deciding.

Q: When in the process should assessments happen?

Early enough to shape the shortlist. If the evidence arrives after the first interviews, early impressions have already narrowed the field.

Q: How fair are hiring assessments?

Fairness depends on the method and on how the result is used. Alva checks psychometric items for group differences and holds independent DNV certification for its psychometric assessments.

Q: Can I use Alva assessments with my current ATS?

Yes. Alva Psychometrics delivers assessment results into your existing HR systems, so you can keep your ATS.

Q: Is Alva Assessments a separate package?

No. This page helps you choose between methods. Use them through Alva Psychometrics with your current ATS, or inside the Agentic Hiring System for the full role-to-offer workflow.

Pre-employment assessments measure job-relevant ability, personality, behaviour and technical skill before a hiring decision. Alva helps you choose the right methods for the role and compares every candidate against the same criteria, so better hires start with better evidence rather than instinct.

A CV and an interview only
show you so much

Assessments add what the first two steps leave out: how a candidate solves problems, how they work with other people, and how that matches the role. Every candidate is measured against the same criteria, so the comparison exists before you open the shortlist.

A CV shows what someone has done. It says less about how they'll approach what's next.

Unstructured interviews change from candidate to candidate, so the comparison stops holding.

Gut feel is fast and confident. It's also the hardest thing to defend six months later.

Assessments put every candidate against the same criteria, before the shortlist forms.

How it works

How do you choose the right
assessment for a role?

Start with the decision you need to defend. Each method answers one hiring question, so the role criteria decide which ones you run.

Define the role criteria

Write down what the role actually requires. That list is what every candidate gets measured against.
Choose the evidence

Pick one method per hiring question. Drop anything that won't change what you already know.
Compare against the same standard

Every result lands in the same scorecard, so the shortlist rests on one bar instead of three opinions.

THE METHODS

Which types of assessments can you use before hiring?

Four methods cover ability, work style, behaviour and technical skill. The deeper reports come from data the candidate has already given you.

The four methods

Deeper reads from data you already have

Leadership Report When the role leads people
Deep Insights The traits behind the report
Role Fit Every result against the role criteria
Candidate Comparison Shortlist side by side, one standard
Team Insights Profile against the team

Alva Agentic Hiring System

Three named products on one system. Each one stands on its own, and each one keeps everything inside it running.

Explore the Agentic Hiring System

The three products are nested. Agentic Hiring System contains Agentic Psychometrics, which contains Psychometrics.

Agentic Hiring System The agent acts
- Sourcing
- CV screening
- Structured interviews
- Career site and job distribution
- Applicant tracking
- Scheduling
- Analytics
- Candidate communication
Works as your ATS, or integrates with the one you already have. HRIS integrations included.
1. Agentic Psychometrics The agent advises
  - Context
  - Memory
  - Custom skills
  - Automations
  On top of the same science. Opt-in for existing customers.
  1. Psychometrics No agent
    - Logic test
    - Personality test
    - Role Fit
    - Leadership reports
    Validated assessment, calibrated on 1.5 million candidates.

Read it outwards and nothing you run today is left behind. Read it inwards and every layer rests on the same evidence.

Can assessments replace interviews?

No. They answer different questions, and each one covers what the other misses. Run them together and weigh the evidence before you decide.

AN INTERVIEW ON ITS OWN

One conversation only

A conversation tells you how someone comes across on the day. Everything else the role needs stays a guess until you measure it.

.19

Unstructured interview, correlation with job performance

Sackett et al., 2022

Answers a single hiring question
Read on its own, against no shared bar
Easy to over-weight when it's the only evidence you have

AN INTERVIEW BUILT ON THE ROLE CRITERIA

Evidence that adds up

Pick methods from what the role requires and each one covers ground the others miss. The interview then explores what those results actually raised.

.42

Structured interview, correlation with job performance

Sackett et al., 2022

Each method covers a criterion the others don't reach
Results meet in one scorecard, weighted for the role
Every candidate is compared against the same standard

Choose the evidence the role needs, compare every candidate against the same criteria, and keep the final decision with your hiring team.

“It saves us several hours per hire, but more importantly, it improves the quality, consistency and confidence of our decisions.”

Paulin Agerbjörk, Head of Talent and Organisational Development, 3 Sverige

4.8

Paulin Agerbjörk, Head of Talent & Organizational Development, on moving to data-driven hiring with Alva.

Assessment science you can check

A result only means something next to a big enough comparison group. Here's how big ours is.

Organisations

organisations use Alva.

Candidates assessed

.5M+

candidates have completed an Alva assessment.

Hires supported

,000

by hiring teams using Alva.

Which hiring methods actually predict performance?

External research shows that structured methods provide stronger evidence when used together. These figures are research estimates, not measured Alva customer outcomes.

Predictive validity estimates for common hiring methods
Structured interviews		.42
General mental ability tests		.31
Personality tests		.25
Unstructured interviews		.19
Education level		.10
Years of experience		.07
Combined methods		.60

Correlation with job performance. Source: Sackett et al., 2022 meta-analysis of validity in personnel selection, Journal of Applied Psychology.

Security & GDPR

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Safe AI

AI that supports decisions with transparency and control.

Questions about psychometric assessments

What are pre-employment assessments?

Which types of assessments can you use before hiring?

How do you choose the right assessment for a role?

Which assessment predicts job performance best?

Can assessments replace interviews?

When in the process should assessments happen?

How fair are hiring assessments?

Can I use Alva assessments with my current ATS?

Is Alva Assessments a separate package?

See the evidence for your next hire

Tell us what you're hiring for. We'll show you which methods fit the role, and how every candidate lines up against the same criteria.

Pre-employment assessments for better hiring decisions

A CV and an interview only show you so much

How do you choose the right assessment for a role?

Define the role criteria

Choose the evidence

Compare against the same standard

Which types of assessments can you use before hiring?

Alva Agentic Hiring System

Can assessments replace interviews?

One conversation only

Evidence that adds up

Assessment science you can check

Which hiring methods actually predict performance?

Data in safe hands. Certified, audited, and accountable.

Security & GDPR

Safe AI

Questions about psychometric assessments

What are pre-employment assessments?

Which types of assessments can you use before hiring?

How do you choose the right assessment for a role?

Which assessment predicts job performance best?

Can assessments replace interviews?

When in the process should assessments happen?

How fair are hiring assessments?

Can I use Alva assessments with my current ATS?

Is Alva Assessments a separate package?

See the evidence for your next hire

A CV and an interview only
show you so much

How do you choose the right
assessment for a role?

Data in safe hands.
Certified, audited, and accountable.