HR professionals strive to recruit “perfect” candidates for all their open roles. However, as many can attest, this is easier said than done.
The first reason is a lack of candidates with the skills organizations need. Many businesses have upgraded their technology and implemented digital transformation solutions. They’ve added new jobs to support their new infrastructure and eliminated obsolete jobs. They have restructured many jobs, requiring different skill sets than before.
Many applicants’ skills have not kept up with these changes, which has caused a huge skills gap. A Korn Ferry report shows a global talent shortage of more than 85 million people, about the population of Germany, and organizations could lose around $8.5 trillion in unrealized annual revenues if this deficit is not addressed within the next decade. The problem has become so acute that 71% of CEOs say a skills shortage will become their biggest business challenge.
The second problem is that HR teams no longer have confidence in the information candidates provide on their resumes. A recent article in Entrepreneur asserted that 55% of applicants lie on their resumes and during job interviews, and a HireRight study estimated the number was greater than 85%. So, a candidate who looks great on paper and sounds good during interviews could be entirely wrong for a job.
Organizations worldwide across all industry sectors have implemented pre-employment testing solutions, like the industry-leading eSkill Talent Assessment PlatformTM, to address these issues and simplify their hiring process.
How Pre-Employment Testing Streamlines Hiring
Business leaders have learned that they gain a competitive advantage when they use assessment tests for hiring. Their HR teams can instantly screen applicants and objectively review candidates’ skills. This helps them hire the best candidates, leading to better productivity and higher profits.
When we ask HR leaders what benefits they have derived from hiring assessments, they share these:
- Minimize Hiring Mistakes: Every organization wants to avoid bad hires because hiring mistakes are expensive, counterproductive, and can negatively affect team morale. A bad hire can cost as much as $240,000, including recruiting expenses, disruption to current staff, project delays, possible litigation costs, and loss of customer goodwill. Skills tests show which applicants can do the job, and behavioral assessment results confirm which candidates are the best cultural fit.
- Expedite Applicant Screening: Organizations often receive thousands of applications in response to a job posting. So, they need an easy and efficient way to identify top candidates and weed out unqualified candidates. Pre-employment tests improve hiring outcomes and decrease time-to-hire by helping HR teams eliminate unqualified candidates so they can focus on the best qualified.
- Flexible Hiring Assessments: All eSkill clients have access to hundreds of validated job- and subject-based pre-employment tests in the eSkill Assessment Library. HR professionals can use them as is, modify them by adding or deleting questions or build customized assessments by selecting questions from multiple skills tests. For instance, suppose a medical institution or practice wants to hire an administrative assistant familiar with medical terminology, good typing skills, and strong MS Office® proficiency. In this case, the HR team can build a hiring assessment using questions from the MS Word®, MS Excel® Medical Terminology, and Medical Typing skills tests.
- Simulations: A candidate’s assessment results can show they have the right skills and experience, but they may not be able to apply that knowledge on the job. So, many HR leaders include simulations in assessment tests for hiring that require applicants to handle realistic job situations. For example, suppose you are hiring paralegals who will work closely with many clients. In that case, you can build an assessment that includes questions from the Paralegal Skills, Customer Service, and eDiscovery Specialist skills tests. It includes Chat and Multitasking simulations to ensure they will respond promptly and professionally to clients.
- Video Response Questions: HR professionals include video response questions in assessments when they need to evaluate abilities that cannot be measured using written assessments, such as verbal communication and foreign language skills. For example, suppose you need to hire technical support representatives to demonstrate products to prospective customers during video meetings. In that case, video response questions will confirm that they can explain technical concepts so users can understand them.
- Dedicated Assessment Expert: The eSkill Talent Assessment PlatformTM is so easy to use that most HR teams have it up and running within a day. However, they still like knowing they can get help when needed. Every client with an eSkill subscription is assigned a Dedicated Assessment Expert who can answer questions and assist with developing and implementing hiring strategies.
Get Started with Hiring Assessments
When you implement an industry-leading hiring assessment solution like the eSkill Talent Assessment PlatformTM, you take the guesswork out of hiring and reduce recruiting costs and time-to-hire. Many eSkill clients have reduced hiring costs by more than 70% and decreased time-to-hire by at least 60%.
Are you ready to learn how using assessment tests for hiring can help you streamline and simplify recruiting throughout your organization? Contact us to request a demo.
