Organizations need to hire top employees to fill critical jobs. However, they are finding it challenging to recruit them.
Hiring is difficult for employers worldwide due to a talent shortage that shows no sign of ending. According to Korn Ferry, there is a worldwide talent shortage of more than 85 million people, and a Manpower Group study shows that 77% of organizations are having difficulty finding qualified candidates.
Another problem is that we have a skills gap that has been growing for the past decade. Employers in every industry sector have adopted new technology and implemented digital transformation initiatives to streamline operations. So, their hiring needs have changed, and the requirements for many jobs are different. Many applicants’ skills have not kept up with marketplace changes. So, while HR teams receive volumes of responses for open jobs, few of the applicants are qualified.
This is why organizations have implemented employment testing solutions. Since they need to hire top talent to maintain their competitive edge, they use job skills assessment tests to identify top candidates and eliminate those who are unqualified.
Features to Look for in Skills Assessment Tests
Job skills assessment tests help HR teams and hiring managers evaluate candidates’ skills, aptitudes, and experience. These are some features employers look for when they assess skills testing solutions:
Streamline Applicant Screening: Companies often hear from hundreds of applicants who are interested in a single job posting. This means HR teams could spend hours manually reviewing resumes and scheduling interviews. When they use job skills assessment tests, they can instantly identify top applicants by sorting applicants’ results by score.
Skills Assessment Library: HR professionals must have access to validated job- and subject-based skills tests and the flexibility to modify them. Leading assessment solutions include a library with hundreds of skills assessment tests that hiring teams can use as-is or change by adding and deleting questions.
Job Skills Assessment Test Customization: Job requirements differ by company and can even vary within the same company. Because standard job skills assessment tests often do not match job requirements perfectly, HR teams need the ability to customize assessments. Leading skills testing solutions allow them to build assessments by choosing questions from multiple skills tests. They can even add proprietary content.
Single Comprehensive Assessment: Hiring teams often need to evaluate multiple skills for a single job. However, they risk losing applicants if they require them to complete numerous job skills assessment tests. If they choose a solution that allows them to customize skills tests, they can measure all skills using a single test. For instance, a law firm hiring an administrative assistant could build a skills test using questions from the eSkill MS Word®, MS Excel® Legal Terminology, and Legal Typing assessments.
Job Simulations: Simulations allow hiring teams to present applicants with typical work scenarios and observe how they respond. For example, if a hospital or medical group is hiring patient representatives, the hiring team could create an assessment using questions from the eSkill Medical Terminology, HIPAA – Health Insurance Coverage, Customer Service skills tests, and Chat and Multitasking simulations.
Video Response Questions: Some attributes cannot be measured effectively using a written assessment. Two examples are verbal communication and foreign language skills, where hiring team members need to hear applicants speak. So, leading assessment solutions offer recruiters the option to include video response questions in skills assessment tests to evaluate these skills.
Team Scoring: Team scoring helps hiring teams score individual interviews based on predefined criteria. Once all reviewers have provided feedback, the HR team approves and automatically averages candidates’ scores. It also helps minimize bias by ensuring all candidates are evaluated using the same criteria.
Behavioral Assessments: Job skills assessment tests confirm which applicants have the skills and experience to do a job. However, they do not show whether candidates are a good fit for a job and company culture. Using behavioral assessments with skills assessment tests provides a 360-degree view of candidates and shows hiring teams which ones have the right skills and are a good cultural fit.
Dedicated Assessment Expert: Leading assessment solutions are so easy to deploy that most clients set them up and begin using them the same day. However, HR professionals still want to know they can get help if needed. So, they choose a job skills assessment testing solution that includes a dedicated assessment expert they can call for help with developing hiring strategies.
Get Started with Job Skills Assessment Tests
When a business implements a job skills assessment testing solution, it simplifies and streamlines hiring, reduces recruiting costs, and decreases time-to-hire. Many companies that use top assessment solutions have reduced hiring costs by approximately 70% and time-to-hire by around 60%.
