You’re applying for a new job and the company has asked you to take a skills assessment. Your first thought might be, “Why do I need to take a test to apply for a job? ”
How many hours do you spend honing your resume only to have it completely overlooked? A TestGorilla assessment allows you to show an employer you have the skills necessary to do the job. If you do well, there is no way they will miss you.
We know that taking an assessment might cause some anxiety since you don’t know what to expect. This article contains an overview of the entire assessment process.
Approx. reading time 12 minutes
In this article
- Invitation & reminder emails
- Setting up the assessment
- Taking the assessment
- After each test
- Completing your assessment
- Next steps
|
Invitation & reminder emails
Your invitation comes as an email from TestGorilla with the subject line Your application at *Hiring Company*. This lets you easily see the company the assessment is for before opening the email.
|
|
Information from the company asking you to take the assessment. Included are the position this assessment is for and the name of the hiring company. Learn why take an assessment, what to expect from an assessment, and contact our support team through the links provided here. |
|
|
A full breakdown of the contents of the assessment. This section shows how long you will have to complete the assessment. This ensures that you are sufficiently prepared regarding time allocation and content before beginning your assessment. |
|
|
Choose to start your assessment. |
|
|
A full URL to copy and paste into your browser in case the button doesn’t work. |
Reminder emails
You will receive a reminder email within 48 hours of receiving your invitation, as long as you haven't started your assessment. If you've already started but are taking a break, a reminder email will be sent within 48 hours of your inactivity. The employer who invited you may also choose to send a second reminder. To respect your inbox, TestGorilla will never send you more than two reminders per assessment.
Your reminder comes as an email from TestGorilla with the subject line Important: your assessment is waiting.
Setting up your assessment
Before your assessment begins, you will navigate through a few set up pages.
1. The Landing Page
When you click on the link to your assessment, you will be directed to the landing page. Here, you'll see a quick overview about TestGorilla, as well as any potential videos that the employer who invited you might have shared.
On this page, you will fill in a quick form with your name and email address, as well as accept our privacy policy and elect to receive future email from us. In order to proceed with the assessment, you must accept the privacy policy. However, receiving future emails from us is optional.
In some cases, the name and email may already be filled in for you – in that case, simply tick the checkbox(es) and click "Let's go"!
2. The Welcome Screen
The welcome screen explains how the assessment works. The information given may vary between assessments, though some will always appear. Below is a list of all possible items that can be found on the welcome screen.
|
|
Welcome message A quick message thanking you for your interest in the job role and welcoming you to the assessment. |
|
|
Number of tests, individual questions, and expected completion time A TestGorilla assessment consists of skills tests and individual custom questions. Each assessment must have at least one test or one custom question. It can include up to five tests and up to 20 custom questions. The welcome screen shows how many timed tests and individual questions are in your assessment. The approximate time it takes to complete the assessment is also displayed. It may take you less time than estimated, but it cannot take more. |
|
|
Learn how to navigate your assessment:
|
|
|
Technical requirements for your assessment:
|
* indicates items that only appear if the company has opted to use features that cause this instruction to appear
3. Accommodations & accessibility settings
We understand that everybody has different circumstances. Maybe you have a concentration or memory condition that will affect your ability to complete an assessment. Or perhaps English simply isn't your first language? In a timed assessment, like what we offer, these things could put you at a disadvantage.
We want candidates to have equal footing. This is where you can declare the need for accommodation to help level the field. Not all companies provide this option. If you do not see the assessment setup screen, please move ahead to Taking the assessment.
The accommodations screen will ask you two questions:
|
|
Are you fluent in the language of the assessment? If you are not a fluent speaker of the language the assessment is in, it might be challenging for you. Choose No to let us know so we can make accommodations for you. Please note, if you answer "no" to this question, the employer will be notified. |
|
|
Do you have a condition that affects your memory or concentration? Some conditions may affect your memory and concentration abilities. If you will need accommodation, choose Yes when asked, then clarify the condition in the space provided. Please note, this request will only be shared with the employer if you choose to do so. If you do choose to inform the employer, we do not provide details; we only inform them of the given accommodation. |
For more information about our accommodation options, see our in depth guide on accessibility & accommodations here.
4. Honesty Agreement
Before beginning the assessment, you must agree to the TestGorilla Honesty Agreement. By doing so, you confirm your commitment to completing the assessment without using AI tools, retaking the assessment multiple times, or engaging in any other behaviors prohibited by our Candidate Honesty Policy.
By checking the box, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to follow the terms outlined in the Candidate Honesty Policy.
5. Camera and mic setup
We take snapshots to ensure fairness for everyone. We also use your camera and mic for video questions, where you record your answers using your webcam. This screen will help you ensure your camera and microphone are working properly.
Follow the on-screen instructions to set up your camera and microphone. If done correctly, you’ll see your image on the left side of the screen. We recommend recording a quick test video to ensure everything is working smoothly. This will help reduce stress when you reach any video-based questions!
➡️ You're all set up! Click continue for the assessment to begin.
Taking the assessment
Your assessment begins with the first test. The name of the test will appear, with instructions for practice questions.
Practice questions
Many tests will begin with practice questions. Practice questions provide an opportunity to see both the sort of questions asked and the platform layout. Your answers to these questions do not contribute to your final score, nor does the employer see your answers to them.
Taking a test
The types of questions you see will depend on the tests selected by the employer who invited you to the assessment. You may not see every type of question. You can also click on the question type to learn more about how these questions work.
The most common question types are:
- Multiple choice
- Essay
- File upload
- Video
- Conversational AI Interviews
- Typing
- Coding
The demo below provides a quick look at some of our most common question types.
Skipping a question
You can choose to skip a question by pressing the Next button without inputting an answer. If you skip a question, you will not be able to answer it later.
To prevent you from accidentally skipping a question, a message pops up asking you to confirm your choice.
| Caution: Once skipped, you cannot go back and answer a question. We do not recommend skipping questions. Skipped questions count as wrong answers. If you don't know the answer, guess. |
After each test
Feedback
After most test, you are asked to evaluate your experience with it. This information is requested by TestGorilla, remains anonymous, and is not seen by your potential employer. It is used solely for research purposes and to identify areas for improvement.
Note: Feedback is not requested after personality tests. Some employers may turn off this feature. If you don’t see it, nothing is wrong! Just continue with the assessment.
Take a break or continue
After providing feedback, you can either take a break or continue your assessment.
You can only take a break between tests when prompted to do so. If you take a break, you can close the window. When you’re ready to start again, do so by following the link found in your invitation.
To learn more about taking a break, click here.
Completing your assessment
Feedback and demographic questions
After your assessment is finished, the below page is displayed. We request certain demographic information from you, in addition to asking for feedback about the assessment overall.
Demographic information remains anonymous and aids us in providing benchmark scoring for our customers, providing greater accuracy in comparison. Age, ethnicity, country of origin, and language proficiency information are used to run statistical analyses to help keep our tests free from bias.
Please note, the employer can choose to deactivate this page. If you don't see it, nothing is wrong!
Completion confirmation
You might be redirected to another page or see a video at the end of the assessment. However, you’ll always receive a message indicating that the assessment is finished.
Upon completing your assessment, you'll also receive an email with the subject line Your assessment was submitted, what’s next? This email contains FAQs related to the completion of your assessment, as well as providing you the option to go directly to your TestGorilla profile to view your results, or to create one if you haven't already.
Next steps
We’ll send your results to the potential employer. If applicable to your assessment, you will be redirected to the TestGorilla Profile page upon completing your assessment. This article will explain how to create a TestGorilla Profile so you can access your results.
If the employer also chooses to share the results with you individually, they will come from the TestGorilla system.
Any follow-up for the next steps about the application process must come directly from the potential employer. TestGorilla doesn’t have access to this information.