According to BLS data, over 21 million people are employed by state, federal, and local governments. While hiring protocols vary from organization to organization, an increasingly large number of government agencies are screening candidates using pre-employment testing. These tools allow federal, state, and local governments to hire better, faster.
In addition, assessment tests are being used to improve training strategies. Government organizations can use employment assessment tests to measure the skills of existing staff. They can review the results of these skills assessments to identify weaknesses. Skills tests can be deployed post-training so that governments can verify that their training courses are effective.
While eSkill offers hundreds of online skills tests to our clients, certain assessments are particularly useful for federal, state, and local government roles. A few of these assessments include the following:
Community Emergency Management Employment Assessment Test
The Community Emergency Management assessment is extremely useful when screening candidates for leadership positions in federal, state, and local governments. This test measures a candidate’s knowledge of emergency management. It includes 40 questions of various types, such as multiple-choice, select-all-that-apply, and true/false.
The Community Emergency Management employment assessment test covers Natural, Technological, and Accidental Disasters, Disaster Planning, Disaster Preparedness, Disaster Medical Operations, Search and Rescue, and Terrorism.
In times of crisis, the community turns to government officials for guidance and protection. Therefore, organizational leaders must have a good grasp of various emergency management principles. Candidates who perform well on this assessment are likely to have a strong working knowledge of responding during a disaster.
Firefighter Knowledge
The demand for firefighters is expected to grow approximately 8% year over year until 2030. This figure is roughly equal to the average demand growth for all professions. The growth projections translate to about 27,000 job openings annually throughout the remainder of the decade.
Naturally, this trend has led government officials to revisit how they hire firefighters. Specifically, the use of employment assessment tests has become much more common. Traditionally, these tests have been administered in person, which can be quite costly and unnecessarily time-consuming.
Fortunately, eSkill’s Firefighter Knowledge assessment provides a more effective solution. This skills test consists of 40 questions of various types, including multiple-choice and true/false. The assessment covers job-specific topics such as Firefighter Safety, Response, Size-Ups, Using Equipment and Tools, and Search and Rescue.
Once firefighter candidates complete the assessment, hiring teams can immediately review the results online. They can eliminate unqualified individuals from the competition and focus the remainder of screening efforts on top candidates. This approach leads to better hiring decisions and decreases the time required to select new employees.
General Policing Knowledge Skills Tests
eSkill also offers skills tests for the policing profession. Like the Firefighter Knowledge assessment, this screening tool consists of 40 questions of various types. It covers Court Testimony, Crime Prevention, Interview and Interrogation, Patrol Procedures, Report Writing, and more.
Federal, state, and local governments are extremely cautious when hiring candidates for these types of positions due to the significant amount of liability associated with policing. Selecting the wrong individuals for these roles can expose the government organization to substantial liability.
While skills testing cannot eliminate these risks, our assessment tools can decrease the chances of making a wrong hiring decision. They are particularly useful when paired with behavioral assessments, as government agencies can better understand a candidate’s personality traits.
Using policing skills tests with behavioral assessments, your hiring team can better understand candidates’ potential to be assets (or liabilities) for the local police force. This methodology can be a smart way to ensure that you hire the best candidates for each position and not just the people who look best on paper.
Local Government
The Local Government employment assessment test is a broad screening tool designed specifically for municipal governments. This online assessment covers a wide array of topics, such as Capital Finance, Citizen Engagement, Transparency, Core Services, Performance, Accountability, Ethics, Revenues, and Financial Management.
The Local Government pre-employment test is a great screening tool for candidates for administrative roles. These roles may include accounting clerks, secretarial staff, mid-level supervisors, and anyone interacting with the public.
Public Works
Public amenities such as sewers, traffic management equipment, roadways, and parks are essential to providing citizens with a high-quality living environment. That is why many federal, state, and local governments screen public works candidates with eSkill’s Public Works pre-employment assessment.
The Public Works skills test covers topics such as Streets Maintenance, Water and Sewer, Traffic, and Parks and Open Space Maintenance. Like our other online assessments, this skills test includes questions of various types and will provide HR staff with near-instant results that they can review to make their final hiring decision.
Pre-employment Testing from eSkill
eSkill is a top provider of online skills tests and behavioral assessments. Request a demo to learn how we can help you improve hiring outcomes.