Employment skills testing is now quite commonly used in recruitment. The goal is to find the best qualified and most suitable candidates to choose the new employee, recruiters utilise online skills testing software to make the pre-employment skills assessment process quick and easy.
Those who have already used skills tests to check for candidate proficiency know that numerous test exercises cover various job roles. As a recruiter leveraging skills testing, you can use any of the tests offered by the skills assessment software vendor and evaluate your candidates to find the best from the lot.
Choosing the skills tests to identify the top talent
As mentioned above, there are plenty of assessments to choose from, but you will need to select the ones most appropriate for the role you are filling. For instance, the most popular ones include –
- Microsoft Office skills test
- Literacy skills test
- Numeracy skills test
- Accounting skills test
- Psychometric skills test
These are exercises that are very suitable for all industries because they assess a job seeker’s ability to work with the MS Office suite that is prevalent in all offices, they evaluate whether a candidate is good with numbers and written communication which are cornerstones for any kind of business. And lastly, psychometric skills testing is all about measuring an individual’s talent for leadership, problem-solving, collaboration and critical thinking. Working with other colleagues requires employees to exercise all these skills and it is necessary to evaluate them to ensure they fit into the existing company culture so as not to jeopardise it.
Recruiters can choose to send all or a handful of select skills tests that are appropriate for the position they are recruiting the talent for. Online skills assessment makes it easy to just pick and send the exercises. With the skills testing software’s easy-to-use system, recruiters will be able to complete this within a matter of a few minutes. The test results also arrive straight in the recruiter’s inbox as soon as the candidates are done with the assessment.
All this is possible without leaving the front office recruitment software platform that recruiters are using to carry out their recruiting process. Hence, it is vital to check that the employment skills assessment software you are considering buying integrates well with your agency’s recruitment CRM system. Make it a point to confirm that before making the purchase.
Bespoke skills testing for any kind of assessment
It is good to have a platform that can evaluate candidates for any kind of role in every industry. But that will not always happen. So, the next best thing is to have the ability to create your own skills tests. Check that the skills testing software enables its users to build their own assessments.
Custom skills testing has many advantages. Users can use it to customise the already existing skills tests to represent the company and use it for branding so that it gives a more cohesive and branded look.
Additionally, it is a great tool to create a completely new skills test if you are recruiting for a niche role or a niche industry. With the ability to create bespoke skills tests, a good online skills assessment software is immensely useful for recruiters who work more in niche industries and have to find talent with a specific set of skills and qualifications.
Skills shortage is a big challenge in the recruitment sector. And time is also a big factor as every recruiter seeks to place their candidates quickly before the competition can step in. Making use of online skills testing enables them to identify and filter skilled candidates. The recruiter who utilises these assessments and presents the test results to the hiring companies has a competitive edge over other recruiters who don’t use skills testing. Each of the test results helps allow client companies to distinguish the more suitable applicant and make informed hiring decisions.
