A cutoff score is a predetermined score used to weed out unqualified candidates on any given test or assessment. Cutoff scores in employment testing can be established to screen out job candidates who did not perform well on a specific pre-employment test.
Many organizations choose not to use a “hard” cutoff score, which means that applicants who do not score in the desirable range will still be considered. If a hard cutoff score is used, determining where to set a cutoff score is dependent on a variety of factors. A company can administer the test to its current employees in that position in order to establish a reasonable cutoff score for that position, and then establish a cutoff score based on the current employees’ scores. Because this method of determining cutoff scores necessitates a large pool of test takers, School Analytics, businesses that do not already have a large number of existing employees in that position can instead rely on standard cutoff score suggestions given by testing companies.
The size of the applicant pool is another factor to consider when determining cutoff scores. If a company has a large applicant pool for a specific position, it can afford to set a relatively high cutoff score. Setting higher cutoff scores not only increases the likelihood of qualified candidates but also helps reduce the amount of labor involved in the recruitment process by narrowing the list of qualified candidates to move through the hiring process.
