Online skills testing software is a significant recruiting tool that can help recruiters find the best candidates. It is important to check candidate proficiency at the initial recruiting stage so that only the best applicants are shortlisted and hired ultimately.
Pre-employment skills assessment is useful. Online skills testing is easy to carry out. It is also more effective than simply relying on applicant cover letters and interviews.
Contents
Significance of making the right candidate choice
The wrong hire is costly for the hiring company. A recruiting process can typically take one month or even more. Recruiters are expected to fill the vacant position quickly and with top talent.
But the competition is quite tough in this sector. Finding suitable candidates at the right time is challenging. And to put it bluntly, most recruiters get paid according to the placements they make. So, there’s this urgency about talent sourcing and making the placements before the competition does.
In this race for skilled candidates, the wrong hire can land a role and then leave a negative impact on the company. Then the entire recruiting process needs to restart, taking more time, money, and effort to be effective and successful. Filtering applications and vetting candidates at the outset reduces the risk of a wrong hire.
Types of skills tests and why they are important
A good skill testing software offers a big library of candidate skills assessments. These are standardized assessments so that the evaluation is fair and objective.
Some of the most widely used skills tests are as follows –
- Literacy skills tests
- Numeracy skills tests
- MS Office skills tests
- Data entry and typing skills tests
- Psychometric skills tests
These are practical assessments that help evaluate candidate proficiency at the pre-employment stage. The literacy and numeracy skills tests are designed to measure an individual’s talent for spelling, grammar, and math. The MS Office suite is widely used across all sectors, and it is important to test candidates on their ability to use Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
Similarly, psychometric skills testing is very popular when measuring interpersonal skills. New staff are expected to be good cultural fits when they step into the hiring company. It is necessary to evaluate an applicant’s leadership and communication style as well as their ability to think critically, collaborate and problem solve.
Choosing the right candidate skills testing software
As digital recruitment has fully embraced remote hiring, it is necessary to have online skills testing software. This way, recruiters can quickly assess candidate proficiency. The skills test results are available as soon as the candidates complete their assessment.
Good market research will lead staffing agencies to the right kind of skills assessment software system. It is vital to confirm that the software integrates into the agency’s recruitment CRM solution to make the entire recruiting process much more simplified.
Many software systems in the market offer free skills tests. However, these are very limited and do not provide any comprehensive results. The test results from robust skills testing software suppliers provide a detailed outline of the individual’s strengths and potential.
It shows both how they performed individually as well as their performance in a group setting. This helps employers make informed hiring decisions. These results often act as a competitive edge for agencies, so it is important to choose the right kind of software.