It’s not always easy knowing how to assess job applicants. There are many factors to consider when deciding whether to hire someone, from the applicant's potential for future development to their compatibility with your company culture.
While the considerations involved in your recruitment decisions will depend on the nature of the role and your business's unique needs and expectations, there will always be specific essential questions to ask.
For example: does this person have the skills required to do the job to a high standard?
This is a crucial question in industries that place a lot of importance on technical know-how and knowledge, like manufacturing and logistics.
To get the most accurate and reliable answers, you must go beyond fundamental recruitment processes like evaluating resumes, conducting job interviews and checking references.
How can you evaluate candidates during the hiring process? This is where skill assessment tests come into play.
what are skill assessment tests?
Skill assessment tests measure an individual's ability to perform a particular task and ultimately positively contribute to the organization.
They come in various forms and can be used to give you a detailed, measurable picture of a job applicant's strengths and capabilities.
While skill assessments' primary function is as a hiring tool, you can also use these tests to monitor skills in your existing workforce.
This can be an effective way to ensure your employees have the right competencies to succeed in their job and also to identify opportunities for training and development.
There are various benefits to be gained from evaluating candidates.
These benefits can include increasing your confidence that potential hires have the necessary hard skills for highly technical roles or gauging soft skills that could prove vital to the employee's long-term success.
Assessing capabilities in your existing workforce can also highlight current skills shortages, which will help you decide what sort of candidates you should target in your recruitment process.
why you should use skill assessment tests?
Skill assessment tests play a crucial role in your company's hiring process as they offer invaluable insights into the abilities and potential of candidates.
By incorporating practical tests into the selection process, hiring managers can effectively evaluate candidates beyond their resumes and ascertain whether they possess the necessary technical skills required for the role.
Assessment tests provide a fair and objective means of identifying the most qualified candidates. This allows for the interview questions to be tailored to specific areas of interest and ensures a comprehensive assessment of each candidate's capabilities.
Emphasizing skill assessment also enhances the candidate experience, as applicants feel their expertise is being properly recognized and appreciated.
Ultimately, including skill assessment tests helps enrich and streamline the hiring process and helps organizations make informed and strategic hiring decisions.
how to implementing skill assessment tests?
If you've decided that introducing skill assessment tests is the right approach for your business, the next step is to learn more about the options available and which are best suited to your needs.
hard skill tests
Hard skills are specific, teachable abilities and knowledge that are easily quantifiable and measurable.
These skills are often job-specific and are essential for performing specific tasks or functions within a particular profession or industry.
Some common examples of hard skills include:
- proficiency in programming languages
- knowledge of statistical analysis tools
- expertise in financial principles
- skills in design software
- forklift operator's licence
- welding certificate
Hard skills are often listed on resumes and are used as a basis for hiring decisions since they demonstrate an individual's competency in performing specific tasks required for a particular job.
The best skill test examples for hard skills are looking out for job qualifications such as licences or certifications or a particular skill set that is needed for the position.
Companies can also run a custom assessment that is tailored to that specific job. For example, for a Graphic Designer, you can give them a brief of what you would like to see, or for a programmer, give them an assessment using Python to see their skills.
soft skill tests
When evaluating candidates, it's important to evaluate their soft skills. Soft skills are essential in personal and professional settings because they are crucial in how candidates interact, communicate, and collaborate with others.
While technical or hard skills are important for performing specific tasks or jobs. Soft skills are more about interpersonal relationships, emotional intelligence, and overall effectiveness in various social contexts.
Soft skills are vital for building and maintaining successful relationships, fostering effective communication, and navigating various social situations in the workplace.
They complement technical expertise and can differentiate between individuals who excel in their professional development and those who struggle to reach their full potential.
According to Forbes, the top ten most in-demand soft skills are:
- communication skills
- leadership
- teamwork
- creativity
- time management
- adaptability
- problem-solving
- work ethic
- critical thinking
- conflict management
To evaluate soft skills, use psychometric tests, which are standardized assessments designed to measure an individual's cognitive abilities, personality traits, and other psychological attributes.
They provide objective and quantifiable data, enabling professionals to gain insights into an individual's strengths, weaknesses, and overall suitability for specific roles or tasks.
use case studies
Use a case study if your company seeks direct insight into how an applicant would respond when placed in a particular scenario.
Presenting them with a genuine case study from your business can be a good practical test for a candidate.
Using a case study is as easy as asking a manager or team member—preferably a new hire—to give an example of a particular challenge they have faced in their day-to-day work.
Ask how they managed it and the result they achieved.
A qualified candidate will come up with a similar or even better solution, increasing your confidence in your ability to thrive in the role.
combine a variety of tools and assessments
You can get a truly in-depth view of a job applicant's talent and potential by combining several skill assessment tests in your recruitment process to find qualified candidates.
Using the results of hard and soft skills assessments will help you make data-driven conclusions about whether the individual can actually do the job and their compatibility with your company and their prospective colleagues.
You can get the most out of your skill assessments by combining these methods with practical evaluations and possibly other tools like cognitive ability tests.
how to choose the right tests for you?
What constitutes the best method of skill assessment testing for your business depends on your organization's unique needs, goals and expectations. The role for which you’re hiring will also dictate the most effective strategy.
When considering what option you should use for assessing skills, ask questions like:
- what are the most essential skills and knowledge required to do this job effectively?
- are you looking for talent within your organization who can grow and learn?
- what data and insights do you want to gain from your skill assessments?
It can also be important to consider the nature of the tools you'll use to conduct your evaluations.
If you'll be using dedicated software, for example, how much control do you want over the format of the tests and how the questions and tasks are presented?
Many tools and platforms are available to aid your skill assessment efforts, so it's important to give yourself enough time to search the market, compare different options and find the most appropriate and beneficial one for you.
follow up and make adjustments to assessments
Incorporating practical tests into the hiring process and the overall selection process for job candidates is a pivotal step to effectively evaluating candidates.
Once you've introduced skill assessment tests, follow up and analyze the results they produce. By comparing the actual job performance of the hired candidate with your initial expectations based on the test scores, you can gain valuable insights into the accuracy of the skill assessment.
The candidate's experience throughout this process is paramount, and incorporating interview questions that delve into their technical skills and problem-solving abilities can help you assess candidates more comprehensively.
Agility is a highly valuable trait for modern businesses and extends to your hiring practices. Constantly reviewing and updating your approach to skills testing is necessary to ensure you are making the right recruitment decisions.
Doing so allows you to streamline the selection process, identify the best-suited candidates, and build a strong team with the right skill set to drive your business forward.