Beyond Assessment: Applying Assessment Design Principles Before Selection Begins

By Dawn Nelson. 

Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of presenting at the ABP Conference. After my presentation, a question from the audience led to an interesting discussion about the value of assessment design principles and their application outside of traditional assessments. Assessment design principles are traditionally applied to assessments constructed to evaluate candidates and support hiring decisions. However, they can also create value much earlier in the candidate journey.

A recent project within a large public sector organisation explored what happens when assessment design principles are applied not to selection, but to candidate guidance. The project demonstrated how the psychometric rigour typically associated with designing assessments can help candidates better understand available opportunities, broaden role exploration, and make more informed career decisions before they even apply.

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Rethinking Where Assessment Principles Add Value

Hiring decisions should be informed by robust evidence, and assessment design principles aim to support this by utilising approaches such as job analysis, validity, fairness, and candidate-centred design as foundations of good practice.

However, candidates often make career decisions before any formal assessment begins. In organisations with multiple career pathways, potential candidates may pursue the most visible roles rather than those best aligned with their strengths and preferences. This can result in concentrated application volumes for a small number of roles, while other roles receive less attention.

This challenge became apparent within a large organisation recruiting across a diverse range of roles. One highly visible role consistently attracted the greatest interest from applicants, while other equally important positions received comparatively little attention. Candidate feedback suggested that many applicants had limited understanding of the wider range of opportunities available and found it difficult to differentiate between roles.

This raised an important question: could assessment design principles be used to improve candidate navigation and decision-making before assessment begins?

Starting with a Strong Evidence Base

Extensive job analysis research was conducted and a customised framework was built to identify the key criteria for each of the roles, using structured research techniques to ensure alignment with role requirements and organisational goals. Business Psychologists partnered closely with the client and conducted interviews, focus groups, and desk-based research to identify elements that differentiated one role from another. 

The analysis highlighted three key factors:

• Work environment preferences
• Behavioural strengths
• Role-specific skills and qualifications

Designing for Candidate Guidance Rather Than Selection Decisions

Insights from the job analysis informed the development of a pre-application role exploration tool. Importantly, the tool was never intended to assess candidate suitability or filter applicants. Instead, it was designed as a navigation tool for candidates.

Design principles commonly associated with assessments shaped the development of the tool. Every question was linked directly to evidence gathered through the job analysis, ensuring role relevance and accuracy. The tool was designed to provide strong face validity, enabling candidates to understand the connection between their responses and the role recommendations provided. Candidate experience was also a key focus, with the tool being easy to use, engaging, and completed in less than five minutes.

The design was informed by several established psychological theories. Realistic job previews (RJP) and self-selection theory informed our reciprocal choice model. The tool gave users insight into the roles, helping them make informed decisions about which role to apply for. Person-environment fit theory guided the inclusion of questions around preferences, strengths, and skills to match candidate strengths with role demands. Self-determination theory supported autonomy and intrinsic motivation through transparent, informative assessment experiences, allowing candidates to self-select out of the process and providing more role-relevant information prior to the application stage.

Together, these principles were blended to create a tool that encouraged exploration rather than sifting. Candidates received recommendations for roles aligned with their responses, together with realistic information about the roles themselves.

What This Means for Assessment Practitioners

One of the most interesting outcomes may not be the tool itself, but what it suggests about the wider application of assessment expertise. Typically, evidence-based assessment design is focused on helping organisations make better hiring decisions. However, the pre-application stage may often receive less psychological input than formal assessment processes.

There may be a broader value for assessment design elements, such as job analysis. Beyond supporting assessment development, it can provide a clear understanding of role differences, help organisations understand their roles better, and create a foundation for helping candidates make more informed choices.

This project suggests that many of the best practice design principles we routinely apply to assessments can add value in the attraction and exploration stages of the talent journey. By supporting better self-selection and more informed career choices, psychologists may be able to improve candidate experience and organisational outcomes simultaneously.

Evidence That Design Principles Matter

Since the launch of the tool:

• 86,000+ users have completed it
• 85% completion rate
• 5+ minutes average engagement time
• 71,000+ users clicked through from the tool to the relevant role site
• 79% of click-through activity was directed towards lesser-known roles

The results suggest that candidate exploration patterns have changed. Before implementation, one highly visible role accounted for almost two-thirds of role page visits. Following launch, this reduced substantially, with lesser-known roles receiving most of the candidate attention. 

Although the tool was not designed as an assessment, these findings demonstrate that evidence-based design principles can broaden applicant exposure to roles and encourage people to engage with role-relevant content.

Conclusion

This project suggests that the value of best practice assessment design principles extends beyond assessment itself.

When applied earlier in the candidate journey, evidence-based design can help individuals make more informed choices about which role to apply for. In turn, organisations can improve visibility of underrepresented roles, enhance candidate experience, and support stronger alignment between people and opportunities.

Perhaps assessment principles are not solely tools for selection, but valuable foundations for better career decision-making from the very start.

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About the Author

Dawn Nelson is an organisational psychologist with PeopleScout, specialising in evidence-based assessment design and high-volume recruitment solutions. Her work focuses on creating innovative, inclusive assessment solutions that improve both organisational outcomes and candidate experience.

References

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Premack, S. L., & Wanous, J. P. (1985). A meta-analysis of realistic job preview experiments. Journal of Applied Psychology, 70(4), 706–719. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.70.4.706

Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68–78. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68

Wanous, J. P. (1973). Effects of a realistic job preview on job acceptance, job attitudes, and job survival. Journal of Applied Psychology, 58(3), 327–332. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0036305