Career Potential Test (CPT)
Discover your Highest Potential Candidates
100% free for employers and candidates. Implement into your hiring process in under 5 minutes.
Simply direct candidates to the career potential test page to take the CPT online, then have them submit the link to you with their shareable results. This allows high-potential candidates to be discovered by employers and allows employers to hire the best candidates possible.
Try it for free
How It Works
How do I get started?
Employers direct candidates, through their job postings or as part of their interview process, to take the CPT to help them stand out as high-potential candidates.
What happens next?
Candidates take the CPT online for free whenever they prefer. The test is proctored online to prevent cheating, and participants have up to 2 hours to complete it. They must use a desktop or laptop computer with a webcam.
How do I get the results?
Candidates receive a sharable link to their scores, which they can submit to employers as part of their job application or interview process. You’ll see what percentile the candidate scored in, compared to other test-takers, along with a breakdown of their score.
What's included in the test
Critical Thinking
Reading
Writing
Math
Why it works
There are more high-potential people not going to college. This makes it hard to identify them in a stack of resumes with no signals to go on, similar to finding a needle in a haystack.
Most learning happens outside the classroom. The CPT measures foundational skills regardless of how or where they were developed.
Evaluate every candidate’s raw potential and foundational skills against a consistent, standardized rubric to help minimize bias in the hiring process.
How to implement the test into your hiring process
There are two main ways employers can implement this test into their hiring process.
Option 1
List the CPT as an optional qualification on your job postings to help stand out as a qualified candidate. This gives you the benefit of allowing high-potential candidates to stand out that you otherwise would miss, without the friction of requiring everyone to take the test.
Here are some example bullet points you can use:
- Candidates much have one of the following: bachelor's degree, 1+ year of relevant work experience, or an 80%+ on the CPT is required.
- Bachelor’s degree or 1+ year of relevant work experience required. An 80%+ CPT score may be submitted in lieu of relevant experience.
- 1+ year of relevant experience preferred. Taking the online CPT and submitting the link to your score can be used in lieu of relevant experience.
Option 2
Require every job applicant to complete the CPT before moving to a phone screen. That way, you evaluate everyone on the same baseline and compare raw potential objectively. The tradeoff is extra friction upfront in your hiring funnel.
You can do this by sending an automated email through your ATS directing all new applicants to take the CPT and reply back/submit the link to their results as part of the next step in your interview process.
FAQs
Q: Are there legal concerns for directing candidates to take this test?
There can be legal considerations, but they're manageable if you handle the CPT correctly. Any pre-employment assessment has to comply with employment laws, primarily around discrimination and fairness. In the U.S., that means aligning with EEOC guidelines.
We recommend that employers use the CPT as an optional qualification that candidates can use to stand out if they lack relevant experience or degrees. By doing so, employers increase the number of ways a candidate can be qualified for their position, making it more inclusive and opening up access to opportunities that might otherwise not be available. This aligns with EEOC guidelines.
We generally advise against making the CPT mandatory or the sole basis for rejecting candidates, as this can increase legal risk under disparate impact standards. Instead, it should be used as one data point among several. Employers should apply it consistently, ensure it is job-relevant, and evaluate results alongside other qualifications.
Q: How does CourseCareers make money from this?
CourseCareers makes the cost of the CPT 100% free for employers and candidates in exchange for using it as a marketing tool to introduce candidates to CourseCareers offerings to help them start their career, in case the employer chooses not to move forward with them.
Q: How is this test valid for determining hiring success?
The CPT tests for foundational skills required to succeed in all jobs. These include critical thinking, reading, writing, and math. Different jobs may place more emphasis on specific skills, in which case the employer can determine which skills they consider most important for the position.
The CPT is graded as a percentile, allowing employers to identify the percentile the candidate scored in relative to other candidates and test-takers. This gives employers valuable insight into what skills their candidates possess, while giving employers freedom to determine how much they value each skill. Ultimately, the CPT is only one data point used in the hiring process to help identify high-potential candidates.