Employers are increasingly using pre-screening and assessment techniques early in the interviewing process typically after one or more initial phone screenings and before the first face-to-face interview or between the first and second interview. Sometimes they are used only when the field is narrowed down to just a few candidates. Ira Wolfe, author and president of Success Performance Solutions, cites surveys that indicate more than 84 percent of Fortune 500s use assessments for executive positions and says that small businesses also use them. "Utilization, however, is growing," Wolfe says.