Replacing Ad Hoc Editorial Tasks with Track-Changes Testing at a Global Media Group

“The Track Changes editor is brilliant. Candidates feel at home — and we get real data.”

— Talent Acquisition Manager, Global Media Group

The Challenge

A global media group with editorial operations across print, digital, and broadcast was spending an average of four hours per candidate on editorial assessment. The process involved sending candidates a Word document by email, waiting for them to return it, and then having a senior editor spend 30-45 minutes reviewing each submission. With 20-30 editorial vacancies open at any point, this amounted to a significant and unsustainable resource cost. The additional problem was consistency: different senior editors scored submissions differently, and candidates had an unknown amount of time — and access to assistance — when working on their email tasks.

The Solution

The Talent Acquisition Manager piloted EditingTests.com''s Editing Test as a replacement for email tasks. The critical factor was the Track Changes environment: unlike multiple-choice tests that feel alien to professional editors, EditingTests.com''s Editing Test requires candidates to edit text using a simulated Track Changes interface — precisely how they would work in the role. Candidates responded positively to the format because it felt authentic. Results arrived immediately and were scored consistently.

The Results

Assessment time per candidate dropped from four hours to under fifteen minutes of HR time. Senior editors were removed from the screening process entirely, freeing them for substantive editorial work. The Talent Acquisition Manager reports that candidate drop-off at the assessment stage decreased by 30%: "When the test feels like real work rather than a puzzle, candidates engage with it differently." Score distributions have enabled the group to identify that its highest-performing editorial hires consistently score above the 75th percentile — a benchmark now built into their process.