According to Indeed, hiring a new employee can easily cost thousands of dollars. The cost of finding and hiring new staff adds up quickly when you include job posting fees, background checks, onboarding, and training. With so much at stake, businesses must make wise hiring decisions.
Unfortunately, far too many new hires do not succeed. In an article highlighting the dangers of bad hires, Entrepreneur revealed that only about one in five new employees are classified as “completely successful.” As if this statistic was not concerning enough, Entrepreneur also found that nearly half (46% to be exact) of employees are considered failures by the 18-month mark.
While filling any position with the wrong candidate can have severe consequences for any organization, bringing an underqualified software developer into the fold can be particularly harmful to a company’s bottom line. This damage can be particularly bad because software developers and engineers are so vital to the success of a business.
If a new employee is a bad cultural fit or does not possess the needed software developer testing skills, important technology projects will go unfinished. In turn, this will cost the business thousands in lost productivity and negatively impact consumer relations.
Fortunately, there is a proven way to avoid all these headaches and hire smarter. The answer lies in software developer skills tests. Below, we outline five of the top skills tests that you can start using to screen software engineer and developer candidates. If you are ready to leave your hiring woes behind, check out this helpful guide.
Top five Software Engineer Skills Tests
As you know, the software space is dynamic and complex. Many subspecialties fall under the software development and engineering umbrella, so a broad range of skills tests is available. Of these, the following software engineer skills tests are some of the most effective and popular:
Software Testing: As the name implies, the Software Testing assessment is designed to measure an applicant’s software developer testing skills.
Like many other skills tests, it includes 40 questions of various types. Commonly used question formats include multiple-choice, true/false, select-all-that-apply, and simple select. This skills test covers programming concepts, Metrics, Types of Testing, and Testing Techniques.
Quality Assurance: The Quality Assurance skills test covers several general quality assurance-related topics, including Software Quality Assurance, Quality Assurance for Websites, and Bugs. Candidates who perform well on this skills test possess the abilities necessary to ensure the quality of digital assets, such as software, applications, and websites.
MS SharePoint Server 2010 for General Use: This skills test gauges an applicant’s knowledge of the MS SharePoint Server. It covers essential topics such as SharePoint Object Model, InfoPath Integration, and Monitoring and Deployment.
Other screening assessments are available in addition to these SharePoint skills tests, such as MS SharePoint Development and MS SharePoint Administration.
Agile Management: The Agile Management skills assessment includes 40 questions and has become incredibly popular due to the widespread adoption of the Agile project management methodology in the software development sector. It covers integral Agile topics, such as Agile Mindset, Agile Way of Working, and Value Delivery.
JavaScript ES9: JavaScript ES9 is just one of the many JavaScript and Java-related skills tests available for candidate screening purposes. In addition to the ES9 skills tests, employers can also use other specialized Java skills tests, including JavaScript 1.4, Java Standard Edition 17, and Java GUI.
Upon completing their assigned skills tests, candidates will receive a cumulative score and a subject-by-subject performance breakdown. HR personnel can access and review this information to drive hiring decisions and narrow their candidate search. They can determine whether a candidate possesses the requisite skills and abilities to succeed in a specific role.
Benefits of Pre-employment Software Developer Skills Tests
Incorporating software developer skills tests into your screening process is a highly effective way to improve your hiring process. You can identify qualified candidates more efficiently, eliminate unsuitable applicants from the screening process, and hire smarter.
Skills tests will also reduce the burden on your hiring team as they can utilize skills tests to narrow down their applicant pool, which will lead to fewer interviews and reference checks.
How to Incorporate Software Engineer Skills Tests into Your Screening Process
Contrary to popular belief, incorporating skills tests into your hiring protocol is an incredibly seamless process with the right partner.
If you are ready to leverage the power of software engineer skills tests, such as those outlined above, eSkill can help. As the premier provider of online skills testing solutions, eSkill has a library of over 800 skill tests.
If you want to hire the best software engineers, request a demo to see how you can use software developer skills tests.