Cheaters never prosper...or do they? Studies show that nearly 80% of job candidates lie in some capacity during the hiring process. They might give a fake reference, jazz up their job title, or flat-out lie about their job experience. But can they really cheat on an online talent assessment? It depends on the system! A poorly designed talent intelligence system might make it easy for a candidate to deceive, but a well-designed one will stop a cheater in their tracks.

In this blog, we will discuss five ways that people cheat on online assessments and several things you should be looking for in a well-designed talent assessment product.

Why Use an Online Talent Assessment?

There are many reasons a company might want to use an online talent assessment to help them source the best candidates. These can be a fantastic tool to help find top talent. The right talent assessments are easy to use, time-efficient, and cost-effective, and they help eliminate bias from the hiring process. But are they designed to stop candidates from cheating on them? A good talent assessment is, but not every talent intelligence platform is built the same. It’s important for hiring managers to do their research to find the best one.

5 Ways to Spot a Cheater

If you’re using a talent assessment that allows for cheating, that’s exactly what you’ll get. Many talent assessment platforms don’t have the security features to prevent deception from happening - and some candidates will take full advantage of this. Here are 5 ways that job seekers try playing the system.

Cheating by proxy

Some candidates may try to get a friend to assess who lives in a different location. There are even companies that try profiting off of this. If you’re using the right talent assessments, this won’t work.

Use of external resources and aids

Sometimes, it’s fine to have tools like a calculator to help a candidate. Using the Internet to try to find answers? Not so much. 

External help from someone else

Some candidates will go as far as to ask a friend to help them through an assessment, and they might even ask a friend to take it for them! Not the most honest external resource.

Foreknowledge of the assessment questions

Candidates will sometimes do their best to find answers to assessment questions online before and during an assessment or exam.

Technical manipulation

Some hiring assessments do not have security features that stop people from taking the assessment multiple times. It might even be possible for candidates to manipulate question timers without proper security measures.

How to Stop a Cheater

No matter what you do, some job seekers will always try to find a way to cheat or deceive. Despite this, there are things you can do to mitigate this from happening. Online proctored assessments make it much harder for a job candidate to get an unfair advantage. These include:

Webcam proctoring

Small video snippets can be taken of the job candidate (with their permission) while they take the assessment. This isn’t meant to be invasive. Using a webcam ensures that they are alone while taking the test. It also ensures that the person taking the assessment is them and not somebody else.

Sound bites

Similarly, these audio snippets will ensure that nobody feeds the job candidate answers to the assessment questions.

Assessment speed

Giving a candidate a predetermined amount of time to answer a question makes it much harder for them to cheat. Finding the answer to a question on the internet takes time. If they only have a certain amount of time to answer a question, time might not be worth wasting.

Content interchangeability

It’s great to mix it up when it comes to assessment content. There should be a clear mix of questions that might contain photographs, videos, images, puzzles, or even math equations.

Question and answer variation

Mixing up the variables in a question-and-answer set makes it much more difficult to cheat. It’s harder to memorize these when the variables are constantly changing.

Computer adaptive testing

If questions are adapted to a candidate’s skill level, it’s difficult for two candidates to have the same assessment experience.

Bryq Ensures Integrity in Assessments

We don’t take cheating lightly here at Bryq. We’ve designed talent assessments in a way that makes it very difficult for candidates to cheat. Our assessments are proctored through webcam monitoring, and the questions are timed. Our questions are challenging enough to a candidate’s skill level that taking the time to find the answer elsewhere is detrimental to a candidate’s overall score. We allow using a calculator, encouraging candidates to do their best using helpful tools. Bryq immediately busts cheaters - ensuring that all candidates within your talent pool are honest. Not only will your top candidates be honest, but they’ll prove themselves to be great problem solvers who possess critical thinking skills.

So what are you waiting for? Bryq busts cheaters while finding the best talent. It’s a win-win. Book a demo with the Bryq Customer Success Team. We will show you everything you need to know about how our talent management software works. No cheating here! Just I-O psychology and a little bit of science. Candidates could lie, but data doesn’t! Let us know if you have any questions.