Figure out how to stop top candidates from ghosting you during the assessment stage.
Content Marketing Manager
As a HR professional involved in recruitment, you’ve most likely been in a situation also experienced by many others in your field:
You draft the perfect job description, spend hours screening resumes after applications roll in, create a shortlist of A-players who seem genuinely excited about the role, and then send them the assessment link, confident you're about to find your next star employee.
But then, your top candidates start dropping off one after the other until there’s nothing but silence.
One candidate ghosts you completely. Another starts the assessment and doesn’t complete it. A third withdrew their application, saying they found "a more suitable opportunity."
You can’t help but ask yourself ‘What went wrong?’
Well, there’s a high chance that the candidates are not the problem. It’s the way your assessment flow is structured.
This is a frustratingly common scenario. According to a recent report, nearly 60% of job seekers have quit a job application process because it was too long or complex.
Your assessment phase, intended to filter and find the best applicants, could be the very thing driving them away.
If you have a slow, unaligned or overly long assessment process in today’s competitive job market, you’re most likely losing the most qualified candidates, the ones who won't tolerate a process that disrespects their time and talent.
Top candidates have options, and this means that their decision to continue with your hiring process hinges on an experience that is respectful, efficient, and relevant to the role. If your assessment stage fails on any of these fronts, they will simply move on, and probably join your competitors.
Here are the most common reasons why they are ditching you, and how you can turn that around.
A major mistake hiring teams and professionals make is not communicating properly, especially at the assessment phase. Candidates then start an assessment with no idea how long the test will take, what it will cover, or when they can expect to hear back.
This lack of transparency and communication creates anxiety and makes your company seem disorganized.
The Solution: Be sure to communicate with clarity. Before they even click the link, tell candidates exactly what to expect:
Setting expectations upfront shows respect for their time, manages their anxiety, and keeps them engaged.
If your assessment is an exhaustive, three-hour exam covering every conceivable skill, you're doing it wrong.
Top professionals are busy people; they are often balancing a full-time job while exploring new opportunities. Asking them to dedicate a huge chunk of their day to a grueling test for a role they haven't even been offered is a massive deterrent.
Long, exhaustive assessments that test for every skill imaginable are also a huge deterrent. Asking skilled talent to dedicate hours to a poorly designed assessment not aligned with the requirements of the role is enough to push them away, which could be the reason they are ditching you.
The Solution: Keep assessments concise and focused. Identify the** 2–3** most critical skills required for the role, and design the test to measure just those. Most assessments can be completed in 45–75 minutes. A shorter, targeted assessment signals that you value the candidate’s time and are organized in your approach.
The ideal assessment should only contain tasks and challenges relevant to the role. If you're hiring a digital marketer, but your test is full of abstract logic puzzles, it ruins the relevance of the assessment and reduces customer experience as well.
This is a huge red flag for top candidates. It tells them you don’t truly understand the role, and they won't get a chance to showcase the practical skills that make them great.
The Solution: Use job simulation assessments, and create tasks that mirror the actual work they would be doing in the role if hired.
For a content writer role, you can give applicants a short brief and ask them to write a 300-word blog intro. For a UI/UX designer role, show them a problematic user flow and ask them to suggest improvements.
This approach is far more engaging for the candidate and gives you a much better predictor of their on-the-job performance.
A good and tailored experience is a great motivator to complete the assessment process and actually look forward to working for your company.
What do experience see when they click on your assessment like? Is it responsive and aesthetically pleasing? Does it fully represent your company? How often do they get updates? How personalized is your feedback?
Failure to meet up on these fronts may create a jarring experience that damages your employer brand and suggests your company is behind and not a good place to work at.
The Solution: Your assessment is a direct reflection of your company. Ensure to brand the experience and make it user-friendly. Use a platform like MTestHub that allows you to add your logo, brand colors, as well as personalized updates and feedback. Ensure the interface is clean, intuitive, and works seamlessly on multiple device types.
Implementing the solutions to these errors without the right set up can be extremely challenging, and maybe even impossible. That’s why we built MTestHub, a skills assessment platform designed specifically to create a candidate-centric experience that attracts and retains top talent.
Here’s how MTestHub directly solves the problems that cause candidates to drop off, and how you can use it to your advantage:
MTestHub’s flexible AI-powered assessment builder allows you to move beyond generic assessments and tests. You can create customized assessments that actually tests for the skills and scenarios relevant to the role in minutes, even without having an in-depth knowledge of the role or industry.
This ensures you’re testing for practical, role-specific skills, and you’re giving candidates a chance to shine while giving you a clear picture of their abilities.
With MTestHub, the assessment flow feels like a natural part of your hiring process, not a third-party hurdle. Shortlisted candidates are sent a link to take the assessment after initial screening, and the responses are automatically evaluated based on pre-defined benchmarks afterwards.
You can also easily customize the assessment portal with your company logo, colors, and welcome messages containing instructions. Our clean, modern, and fully responsive interface ensures a smooth and professional experience for every candidate, on multiple devices.
Our platform is built for efficiency. You can create concise yet powerful assessments focused on the skills that matter most. Additionally, features like automated grading for objective questions and clear, centralized reporting mean you can evaluate candidates faster.
This speed allows you to keep the hiring momentum going and get back to top candidates before your competitors do.
MTestHub helps you streamline communication. You can set up automated updates that keep the candidates informed, and also personalized feedback of their performance and decisions at every stage.
Additionally, you can provide clear instructions and updates, ensuring no candidate is left in the dark. By providing a transparent and well-managed process, you build trust and keep your best applicants engaged from start to finish.
Your assessment process is one of the most critical touchpoints in the entire hiring journey. It can either be a frustrating barrier that filters out your best prospects or a strategic advantage that helps you identify and secure top-tier talent.
With a setup or flow that focuses on clear communication, relevance, respect for the candidate's time, and a professional user experience, you can transform your assessment phase from a weakness into a strength. MTestHub provides all the tools you need to make that transformation happen.
Don't let another great candidate slip through your fingers. It's time to build an assessment process that reflects the quality of your company and the talent you want to attract.
Book a demo via the button below to see how.
Streamlining Recruitment, Assessments, and Exams with AI-driven automation.
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