Prepare for Your Online Assessment

Online talent assessments measure the abilities, behaviors or characteristics required for work. Typically, an assessment process combines several tests and questionnaires which are completed online during recruitment. They are designed to help the hiring company understand how good a fit you are for the job you are applying for.

How is an online assessment developed? 

Online assessments consist of several tests or questionnaires to be completed by the candidate. Depending on the position you have applied for, various abilities and characteristics are evaluated. For example, an online assessment could consist of memory and concentration tests, as well as language skill tests. They could also include a personality questionnaire. Often you can choose the order in which you do the tests. It is usually not necessary to complete all the tests in one sitting, but rather you can take breaks between the tests.

How are the individual tests structured?

The tests developed by Aon are always structured in the same way. To begin, you will see a short introduction with descriptions of the test exercises. This is followed by an interactive sequence in which the test is explained in greater detail and the required actions are demonstrated. Usually, specific actions need to be performed in order to move on to the next part of the instructions. To ensure that you have understood the exercise properly, you are required to complete a few example exercises.

There is no time limit for these initial explanatory stages of the tests, which means you can take your time working through the example exercises and look over your work when you have finished.

After the examples, a final page appears, in which the most important points regarding the test are summarized. When you begin the actual test, you often have a set time limit. Once the time is up, the test automatically ends. As a rule, personality questionnaires are not subject to a time limit.

What types of tests are there?

There are several different types of tests. Performance tests (also called ability tests or aptitude tests) measure abilities, such as concentration, logical conclusions or text comprehension. Personality questionnaires evaluate qualities, such as willingness to cooperate, ambition or sensitivity. Specific professional knowledge is determined with the help of knowledge tests (also called skills tests).

What is not tested?

It is difficult to determine e.g. how willing you are to help, or how friendly you are in an online assessment. These requirements are, therefore, mostly determined in interviews, role-playing exercises or group discussions.

Why is online assessment being used more and more frequently, what are the advantages?

Online assessments have some very clear advantages compared to traditional pen-and-paper assessments. Not only are they easy for you, as a candidate to access and complete, they are also scored instantly and accurately, enabling the hiring company to access the results quickly. Assessments are a source of extra information to what you have already provided to the hiring company.

Additional practical advantages

• An applicant can complete an online assessment at any time, from anywhere, e.g. from their home. This saves travelling costs and allows the test to be completed in the applicant’s own familiar, stress-free environment.
• The automated evaluation of results saves time and money.
• From a company’s point of view, the relatively limited amount of time required is one of the main benefits, as it enables the inclusion of a large number of candidates in the pre-selection process.

Is there a best time to do an online assessment, how long will it take, what do I do if I am interrupted? These questions and others are answered below and in the short video.

When should I take the test?

A great benefit of online assessments is that you can do them whenever you want to. If you’re a night person, there is no reason why you shouldn’t do the test at night. It’s just important that you feel well and alert – don’t take the test, for example, when you come home from work or school and feel tired or after participating in a strenuous sport.

What else should I keep in mind?

Ensure there are no interruptions or distractions while you are working on the tests. Once you start the actual test, you can’t interrupt it and continue later. For this reason, it is important to ensure you have a quiet atmosphere and sufficient time to work through the test from beginning to end. Be sure to turn off your phone, and inform your family or roommates that you can't be disturbed until you finish the test.

How long does the online assessment take?

There is no standard answer to this question because it depends on the requirements of the company and the position you applied for. In most cases, there will be no more than five tests to complete. The invitation to participate in the online assessment usually includes information regarding the amount of time you'll need to complete it.

Can I take breaks?

Once you start a test, you cannot interrupt it. In most cases, the individual tests last less than fifteen minutes. Please ensure that you are not disturbed during this time.

For many positions, multiple tests are required. However, you don’t have to take all of the tests in one go. You usually have several days to complete all the necessary tests. The amount of time you need to complete all the tests is not monitored and has no effect on the results. However, it is important to check the deadline given in your invitation email or letter.

What do I do if a test is suddenly blocked?

In rare cases, technical problems can lead to the test suddenly being blocked, for example, if the browser crashes while you are working on the test. This is not a catastrophe. Simply contact the company who invited you to do the online assessment so that they can unblock the test for you.

How can you tell if I really did the online assessment myself?

First, you should be aware that companies will not tolerate that somebody else completes the assessments for you. If this should come to light, you will be immediately excluded from the selection process.

Often, retests are performed. This means that if you are invited to an interview after the online assessment, you will be expected to complete a repeat module from the online assessment. If you cheated in the online assessment, it will come to light during the retest, at the very latest. To summarize: it isn’t worth cheating!

How much time do I have for an online assessment?

Generally, you have several days to complete all the tests, and you can do the tests on different days. However, it is important that you check the deadline given in your invitation email or letter.

Individual tests are generally subject to a time limit. The exception is personality questionnaires that, as a rule, don’t have a time limit. This is not done to give us an indication of how you deal with stress situations, but rather for methodical reasons. If there was no time limit, all applicants would get all answers right and, therefore, all results would be the same, making the test a waste of time. It is normal for candidates to be unable to answer all the questions in the allotted time.

How fast do I have to work to pass the online assessment?

Try to answer the questions quickly but carefully. However, to avoid mistakes, you shouldn't try to work faster than you did at school or during your studies, as incorrect answers generally have a negative effect on the final results.

Well done, you have completed all the tasks. But what happens next, how are the results evaluated and what happens to your data? These and more issues are covered in this section or the video below.

What happens after the online assessment?

Once you have completed all the tests, all you can do is wait. The company you have applied to will be in touch soon to give you feedback regarding the tests and to inform you about next steps. If you want to know how the results are evaluated and what happens to your data you can also watch the video at the end of this section.

How is the online assessment evaluated?

In the case of performance tests, points are usually added for each correct answer and deducted for every incorrect answer. At the end of the test, the points are calculated to give the final result.

In the case of personality questionnaires, there are no right or wrong answers. Your own descriptions of yourself, with regard to specific dimensions of your personality, are captured. It’s more a matter of determining whether your personality is suited to the position and the company as a whole.

Do I get feedback?

Each of the tests has a feedback report that gives an explanation of the results. Ideally, the company you have applied to will make this report available to you.

What happens to my data?

Most important: your data remains your data. Any company you apply to is not allowed – without your explicit agreement – to use your data for any other reason other than the application procedure.

Different companies handle data differently. You should get information about how your data will be handled when you receive the invitation to the online assessment. Alternatively, you can ask the company about their data policy and what will happen to your data.

Normally the test results, as well as some personal data, such as name and email address, will be saved in a database for at least the duration of the application process. This database is usually on secured servers and access is limited to a few people within the company. Some companies delete the data directly after the application process is completed; some keep it for a specified time. Aon's Assessment Solutions (formerly cut-e) recommends companies retain the test results and personal data for a time but then to delete them. As a rule, data in our systems is deleted after 12 months. In addition, we work with an external professional data protection expert who is continuously checking and monitoring our databases and servers for data protection issues.

You can, of course, at any time, ask the company in question to delete your data.