HR and hiring managers use skills assessment tests because they are the best way to evaluate job candidates and employees accurately and objectively and ensure candidates have the required skills for a job. According to the American Management Association (AMA), almost 90% of companies that assess job applicants will not hire candidates if their skills testing results shows they lack basic skills.
Skills tests also help employers eliminate unqualified applicants from their candidate pool. This is a significant problem that wastes countless hours because many candidates misrepresent their experience and qualifications on their resumes. A recent study showed that almost 80% of job applicants admit to lying or exaggerating their experience on their resumes.
Skills assessment tests are commonly used to screen candidates during hiring but are also used after an offer is extended, such as:
Selecting the Best Pre-Employment Skills Testing Provider
Choosing the right skills assessment tests for your needs will have an immediate impact on your hiring outcomes. This is a list of criteria you should evaluate when you evaluate solution providers.
Skills Test Quality and Validation
Skills testing is only effective if the results provide an objective assessment of candidates. This means questions must be validated and worded correctly. This illustrates the importance of working with an established company that offers validation services and has a perfect compliance and legal challenge record. eSkill provides validation services and has never had a successful legal or compliance challenge after over 20 years in business—the best record in the assessment industry.
Comprehensive Skills Test Library
Top skills test providers provide clients access to a library of skills assessment tests created and validated by industry experts. They also provide tools to customize skills tests for each job role because one-size-fits-all assessments are ineffective. The eSkill Assessment Library contains hundreds of pre-prepared, validated skills tests that you can use as is or customize for each of your job roles. You can add or delete questions and even build customized assessments by choosing questions from multiple tests and adding your own questions.
Remote Working Skills Tests
The number of remote workers increased significantly in 2020 and 2021, and experts say it will continue to grow. According to a McKinsey report, 58% of employees in the U.S. work from home one or more days per week. If your company employs remote workers, you need skills tests that help you evaluate a candidate’s ability to work independently and meet deadlines without supervision. eSkill offers skills assessment tests that measure candidates’ computer and Internet proficiency and the skills required to work successfully in a less structured environment, such as time management, collaboration, organization, and planning.
Video Response Questions
Adding on-demand (video response) questions to skills tests enables you to evaluate skills that are impossible to measure with a written assessment, such as verbal communication and foreign language conversational abilities. It is essential for employees who work remotely to have the ability to collaborate effectively with team members and co-workers and conduct business via video conference. Video response questions also help you standardize the interviewing process by ensuring all candidates answer the same questions in the same order.
Ease of Use
A skills testing platform should be easy to set up and use. The eSkill Talent Assessment PlatformTM includes a dashboard that easily tracks sent and completed test status, test analytics, and more. You can generate reports that provide a detailed view of individual candidates’ results and measure the effectiveness of one or a group of assessments. eSkill is so easy to set up that most clients are up and running the first day, and 82% go live within a month.
Integration Options
It is important to choose a skills test provider that offers integrations with popular Applicant Tracking System (ATS) and Learning Management System (LMS) systems. This will save you countless hours and eliminate the need to toggle back and forth between applications. The eSkill Talent Assessment PlatformTM offers integrations with popular ATS and LMS platforms.
Expert Guidance
Your skills testing solution should be so intuitive and easy to use that you and your staff can use it with little or no training. However, there will probably be occasions when you have questions or need help. For instance, you might need paper-based skills tests digitized, want help creating a complex skills assessment test, or be preparing to launch a new hiring or training strategy. This is why it is essential to confirm that your skills test provider offers 24/7 support and that you can get prompt assistance when you need it. eSkill offers 24/7 support via phone, email, and chat, and every subscription client is assigned a dedicated Assessment Expert.
Questions to Ask Skills Testing Providers
When researching pre-employment skills test providers, these are some important questions you should ask:
Pre-Employment Skills Testing
Test Management
Technical Features
Cost
Support and Training
Do you want to see how skills assessment tests can help you simplify and streamline your recruiting process? Contact us to request a demo.