In 2002, 44% of U.S. jobs required medium-high digital skill levels. By 2016, 70% of jobs required good computer proficiency. The digital revolution has touched every industry, and computer skills are now a “must have” instead of a “nice to have” for many jobs.
Over 99% of businesses worldwide use Microsoft Office®, and there is particularly high demand for Microsoft Excel® skills. This is no surprise because Excel is the most popular computer application for business and personal use and education.
Employees, from data entry clerks to senior executives, use spreadsheets to organize and manage data. So, HR teams use basic Excel skills tests to assess applicants’ ability to enter information accurately, format cells (i.e., changing fonts and numbers or changing alignments and borders), use formulas and math calculation functions, and create reports.
They also use Excel skills test for employment to evaluate candidates’ advanced knowledge, such as setting up macros, creating pivot tables, using VLOOKUP, XLOOKUP, and INDEX/MATCH, and using statistical modeling functions to create histograms and perform regression analyses.
How Excel Skills Tests Are Used to Screen and Hire Applicants
Businesses used to rely on traditional employment tools, such as resumes and interviews. Unfortunately, this is no longer possible because over 75% of applicants lie on their resumes. So, HR professionals have decided the best approach is to “trust but verify.” They assume all applicants who respond can do a job and test for Excel skills to see which ones really can.
Most organizations use an industry-leading assessment solution like the eSkill Talent Assessment PlatformTM to identify candidates with the needed Excel proficiency. These are some ways they use Excel skills tests to improve the quality of hire:
- Streamline Initial Screening: Organizations often receive hundreds or even thousands of responses for a single job posting. By requiring applicants to complete an Excel skills test, recruiters can instantly see which candidates have the necessary skills and experience and eliminate the unqualified ones.
- Customize Assessments: One-size-fits-all Excel skills tests for employment are rarely a good solution. The eSkill Talent Assessment PlatformTM allows HR professionals to customize Excel skills tests to match their job roles perfectly. They can use pre-prepared Excel skills tests for employment, add and delete questions, and designate difficulty levels. They can also build assessments from scratch by selecting questions from multiple skills tests. For example, if an HR team for a healthcare company is hiring data entry operators, they could create a test for Excel skills using questions from the eSkill Excel Skills Test, Data Entry, Medical Typing, Typing 10-Key, and Medical Terminology assessments.
- Simulate Job Situations: The best way to verify applicants can do a job is to give them job-related tasks and see how they perform. The eSkill Talent Assessment PlatformTM offers MS Office®, Chat, Multitasking, and Digital Literacy Simulations. So, if you need to hire a customer service representative with strong Excel proficiency and good time management abilities, you could build an Excel Skills Test by selecting questions from the Customer Service Skills Test and adding Excel questions from the MS Office and Multitasking simulations.
- Video Interviews: HR professionals can include video response questions in assessments to cover situations where candidates’ abilities cannot be measured using written assessments. A couple of examples would be evaluating verbal and interpersonal communication skills and testing foreign language abilities. For instance, if you need to hire a technical support representative who will be responsible for demonstrating products for prospective customers during video meetings, including video response questions in your Excel skills test for employment will help you confirm that candidates are articulate and can explain technical concepts so users can understand them.
- Expedite Onboarding: Training new hires on material they already know is counterproductive. So, managers expedite new-hire onboarding using Excel skills tests. By reviewing a new employee’s assessment results, HR professionals can see what they already know and focus training on areas where the new hire needs help.
- Minimize Hiring Mistakes: Hiring mistakes are an organization’s worst nightmare because they are expensive, kill productivity, and harm staff morale. Studies show that the cost of a bad hire can range from $17,000 to $240,000 when you include recruiting expenses, staff disruption, loss of customer confidence, incomplete projects, and potential litigation. Testing for Excel skills helps HR teams avoid costly hiring mistakes because they can immediately see which candidates are qualified and which are not.
- Minimize Unconscious Bias: Assessments help businesses minimize unconscious bias–attitudes and stereotypes that may influence hiring team members’ decisions. Using assessments such as Excel skills tests for employment enables you to reduce bias because decisions are made by focusing on candidates’ skills and abilities instead of relying on hiring team members’ gut feelings.
Get Started with Excel Skills Tests
If you are an HR leader, Excel skills tests will help you and your team screen and evaluate applicants accurately and efficiently and provide measurable data about candidates’ abilities.
Are you ready to learn how Excel skills tests can help you identify top candidates and improve quality of hire across your organization? Contact us to request a demo.
