Recruitment doesn’t end when a candidate signs the contract. To build strong teams, organizations need to evaluate talent both before hiring and after onboarding. That’s why many HR leaders now think in terms of a lifecycle: recruitment assessments → hired assessments → training and development.

In this article, we’ll break down the difference between recruitment and hired assessments, explore why both matter, and show how video-based tools like Videolink can add value at every stage.

What Are Recruitment Assessments?

Recruitment assessments are tools used to evaluate candidates during the hiring process. These assessments provide measurable insights into skills, cultural fit, and potential job performance.

Examples include:

• Skills tests (coding, writing, analytics).
• Cognitive ability tests (problem-solving, reasoning).
• Personality and behavior assessments (adaptability, teamwork, communication style).
• Async video assessments (structured video responses to real scenarios).

By using recruitment assessments, companies can screen faster, reduce bias, and improve hiring outcomes. With async video interviews alone, organizations report a 50–70% reduction in screening time, a 30–40% drop in cost-per-hire, and a 25–35% boost in quality of hire.

And as AI enters the picture, assessments are becoming even more powerful. AI-powered assessments accelerate hiring times by 62%, cut recruitment costs by 59%, and can predict candidate success with up to 90% accuracy — making them a game-changer for modern recruitment.

What Are Hired Assessments?

Hired assessments take place after an employee joins the company. Instead of screening for fit, they evaluate:

• Onboarding progress and skills gaps.
• Training effectiveness.
• Early performance indicators.
• Cultural alignment and engagement.

For example, a company might use short async video check-ins to measure how a new hire is adapting, or structured assessments to guide personalized training.

Why Both Are Essential

• Better quality of hire — Recruitment assessments ensure you’re hiring the right people. Hired assessments validate that they’re thriving in the role.
• Cost control — A bad hire can cost 3 to 5 times the employee’s salary in recruitment, onboarding, and lost productivity. Ongoing assessments help catch mismatches before they become expensive failures.
• Time-to-productivity — 68% of recruiters cite time to hire as their top metric, but what happens after the offer matters just as much. Post-hire assessment data can shorten time-to-productivity by identifying training needs early.
• Continuous improvement — Post-hire assessments feed back into recruitment, helping companies refine what they look for in future candidates.

Best Practices for Combining Recruitment and Hired Assessments

1. Standardize pre-hire assessments
   • Use consistent tools across candidates for fairness and predictive accuracy.
   • Combining methods (skills, cognitive, behavioral, and video) creates the strongest signals.
2. Structure post-hire evaluations
   • Set milestones at 30, 60, and 90 days to measure adaptation and engagement.
   • Use async video for quick, human check-ins without scheduling delays.
3. Prioritize candidate and employee experience
   • Assessments should be short, transparent, and relevant to the role.
   • A user-friendly process keeps completion rates high and engagement strong.

The Hiring Lifecycle Framework

Think of assessments as a cycle, not a one-time event:

Recruitment assessments → Hired assessments → Training → Performance review → Continuous improvement.

By aligning pre-hire and post-hire evaluation, companies not only hire better but also retain and grow top talent.

Final Thoughts

Recruitment assessments and hired assessments are two sides of the same coin. Together, they ensure that organizations don’t just hire the right people — they help those people succeed and stay.

With async video tools like Videolink, recruiters and HR teams can streamline both processes, making evaluations more engaging, scalable, and data-driven.

And as AI continues to advance, hiring assessments will only get smarter — helping companies reduce costs, accelerate hiring, and make decisions that lead to lasting success.

Sources

1. Talvin: How to Measure Recruitment Effectiveness in 2025
2. SuperAGI: AI vs. Traditional Assessments — Which Yields Better Hiring Outcomes in 2025?
3. Hirevire: Evaluating Skills Through Asynchronous Video Interviews

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