Administrative employees are often called the glue that holds everything together at the company. They ensure everything operates smoothly, know where to find everything, and how to get things done. Everyone company-wide relies on them in some way.
Administrative staff need many skills because they wear many hats. They work with customers, order supplies, research and compile reports, manage appointment calendars, and schedule meetings. So, they must be organized, be superb time managers, and have excellent verbal and written communication skills. Strong computer skills are also critical for administrative employees—they must have strong MS Office® abilities and be able to learn other computer applications quickly.
Why You Need Administrative Assistant Skills Tests
HR teams have traditionally used resumes and interviews to evaluate job applicants, but they can no longer rely on these tools because almost 80% of applicants lie on resumes and during interviews. This is why more and more employers are using skills tests for administrative assistants. When they review test results, they can instantly see which applicants are qualified for a job, without having to rely on information that may not be accurate.
These are some ways organizations use administrative assistant skills tests to hire and onboard new employees.
- Initial Screening: Organizations often receive thousands of applications for a single job posting. When candidates complete skills tests for administrative assistants, HR professionals can immediately review the results to see which candidates have the required skills and experience.
- Customize Assessments: With the eSkill Talent Assessment PlatformTM, HR teams can customize assessments to match job roles. They can use pre-prepared skills tests for administrative assistants or build tests from scratch by selecting questions from multiple assessments. For example, if a law firm recruiter was hiring an administrative assistant, recruiters could create a test using questions from the Administrative Assistant, Office Manager, Legal Typing, and Legal Terminology tests and add questions from the MS Office® assessment.
- Simulate Realistic Job Situations: The best way to confirm 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. For instance, if you need an administrative assistant with excellent Excel skills and good time management abilities, you can build an assessment using the Administrative Assistant and Typing Tests and add Multitasking and MS Office simulations.
- Expedite Onboarding: Training new hires on material they already know wastes time they could spend learning on the job. HR teams can expedite the onboarding process by using the results of skills tests for administrative assistants to identify areas new hires already know. Then they can skip those topics and concentrate training in areas where the new hires need more help.
- Minimize Risk of Hiring Mistakes: Hiring mistakes are costly and hurt productivity and staff morale. Studies show the cost of a bad hire can range from $17,000 to $240,000, including recruiting expenses, staff disruption, loss of customer goodwill, incomplete projects, and potential litigation. Using administrative assistant skills tests helps HR teams minimize the risk of hiring mistakes because they can immediately weed out candidates who lack the required experience.
How Companies Use Skills Tests for Administrative Assistants
Companies in virtually every industry use administrative assistant skills tests to identify and hire top candidates. These are some examples of clients that improved hiring outcomes, decreased time-to-hire, and reduced turnover.
- A placement service matches executive assistants with CEOs and C-level executives at top companies like Intuit, Chime, Terminus, Loom, Mozilla, Teach for America, and Indeed. The organization implemented skills tests for administrative assistants to identify applicants’ skills gaps so they can provide the tools and training they need to be successful. The result was faster placements, which reduced time-to-hire by about 40-50%.
- Chemonics, a multinational consulting and solution development company, implemented administrative assistant skills tests and other pre-employment assessments. It has reduced time-to-hire to 55 days and is working to reduce it to 45 days from the initial interview to a job offer being accepted. It has also reduced turnover by 43%.
- Houdini, Incorporated provides wholesale gift baskets to warehouse clubs, mass merchandisers, liquor purveyors, and specialty stores. It implemented skills tests for administrative assistants and was able to instantly select 30 top candidates for seasonal work from a pool of 458 candidates.
- Conservice, a large utility management and billing company, was using a homegrown assessment solution that required tests to be administered in person. They also had to give separate MS Word and Excel tests. The HR team created one administrative assistant skills test covering both applications and tailored it to fit each job. It previously took the HR team about 20 days to fill a position, from screening job applicants to extending an offer. It now takes 15 days—a 25% decrease in time-to-hire.
Get Started with Skills Tests for Administrative Assistants
HR teams that want to hire top candidates use administrative assistant skills tests to get the measurable data they need to evaluate candidates accurately, efficiently, and fairly.
Do you want to learn how skills tests for administrative assistants can help you recruit the best candidates and improve hiring outcomes? Contact us to request a demo.
