7 Things You Need to Know About Game-Based Cognitive Assessments

No matter what industry you recruit for, you can always have more information when making screening decisions.

In-person interviews, on-demand interviews, and video-based assessments give you great insight into a candidate's communication skills, emotional intelligence, and job skills, but don't provide the same assessment of their overall cognitive ability.

Generally, traditional cognitive assessment tests measure these mental skills. These sorts of assessments are digital versions of older paper tests. Candidates tend to perceive them as time-intensive and bland. They provide an unengaging experience that candidates are more likely to abandon.

With the emergence of validated game-based cognitive assessments, candidates can demonstrate cognitive skills in engaging games, and in less than 20 minutes. These assessments take the form of a series of games, each of which takes between two and three minutes to play. Candidates get a fun and interesting experience, and you get a deeper understanding of their strengths.

4 Reasons to Consider Game-Based Assessments

1. Predictive psychometrics: Game-based cognitive assessments are typically modeled on and validated against existing cognitive assessments, such as the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) or the International Cognitive Assessment Resource (ICAR).
2. Data collection: Pen and paper assessments can test candidates, but gather a limited amount of data (one data point per question). The machine learning underlying cognitive games gathers thousands of data points from user interactions, such as how long a candidate spends on a problem or whether or not they second guess their answers. The large quantity of data in game-based assessments increases accuracy while greatly shortening the time it takes to complete the assessment.
3. Speed and flexibility: Game-based assessments can be administered on any device, and candidates can complete them in less than 15 minutes on their own schedule.
4. Engaging for candidates: Game-based assessments — which provide progression indicators and feedback to test takers — are significantly more engaging for candidates, creating a better candidate experience. Game-based assessments that are progressive (meaning candidates get different tasks in real-time based on their performance) create more opportunities for tailored feedback, since each candidate effectively gets a different test.

The large quantity of data gathered in a game-based assessment increases accuracy while greatly shortening the time it takes to complete the assessment.

3 Considerations When Purchasing a Game-Based Assessment

1. Validation: Validation helps establish that a game-based assessment accurately measures what it’s designed for. For example, developers creating a game based cognitive test will use existing tests, such as the International Cognitive Ability Resource as a baseline to measure the results of their game-based assessment.
2. Job appropriateness: Consider what cognitive skills are necessary for the position and find a game-based assessment that tests for them. Both entry and mid-level jobs require cognitive skills, but a manager may need to demonstrate organizational and problem-solving skills while an entry-level clerk may need numerical literacy and memory recall. Blanket assessments are acceptable solutions, but ideally, you should have one tailored to different roles based on their cognitive skill needs. Assessments should not look or feel trivial and should communicate the importance of the hiring process to the candidate.
3. Skill evaluation limits: Game-based assessments are excellent for evaluating a candidate’s cognitive skills such as numeracy, memory, or problem-solving. Interviews, video-based assessments, and work samples are better for measuring a candidate’s social skills, subject knowledge, and emotional intelligence.

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Employing game-based cognitive assessments creates a more efficient hiring process, and when properly vetted, lead to improvements in candidate quality and experience. But remember that they are not a single solution to candidate screening and evaluations. They need to evaluate relevant cognitive skills, be properly validated for accuracy and are ideally tailored to the position level.

Enhance Game-Based Assessments with OnDemand Video Interviews

If the assessments can meet these criteria, pairing them with a structured OnDemand interview can dramatically improve your candidate quality and their candidate experience. A structured video interview provides insight into your candidate’s behavioral traits, such as teamwork, emotional intelligence, and work skills. A game-based assessment gives you insight into their mental skills like problem-solving, memory, and recall.

With these traits visible, you get to spend more time with the highest potential candidates that are most likely to make an impact in the organization.