Mechanical Aptitude Test

Leveraging Mechanical Aptitude Tests to Optimize Hiring in Technical Roles

Globally, HR teams are having difficulty filling critical jobs. Industry experts say the problem has been growing for the past decade. Many companies have upgraded their technology, installed new machinery, and implemented digital transformation solutions. As a result, they have eliminated jobs, changed the requirements for others, and added new jobs that require different skills. Unfortunately, applicants’ skills have not kept pace with these changes.

A shortage of applicants with in-demand skills has created a skills gap of over 85 million people—a number roughly equivalent to the population of Germany. So, if you feel you are searching for a needle in a haystack while screening candidates, rest assured—you are not alone. In a 2024 National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) survey, 65% of business leaders said attracting and retaining top talent is one of their biggest challenges.

Robots take up some of the slack. Around 2.7 million industrial robots perform routine tasks in manufacturing facilities worldwide. Fixed robotic arms perform repetitive tasks requiring speed and accuracy, and autonomous vehicles move materials and finished goods. However, companies still need employees to perform many jobs and are having trouble recruiting them. A NAM study forecasts that by 2030, around 2.1 million manufacturing jobs will go unfilled, even though manufacturing is increasingly automated.

These challenges call for innovative solutions, which explains why many companies have implemented an employment assessment solution and use mechanical aptitude tests when recruiting candidates for manufacturing, mechanical, and other technical jobs.

What Is a Mechanical Knowledge Test?

Business leaders often ask, “Why should I use mechanical reasoning tests when hiring?” We tell them hiring an unqualified candidate to fill a manufacturing or machine operator position could create an unsafe work environment and increase the chance of accidents. Placing an unqualified new hire in a technical position can disrupt an entire team and result in lower productivity.

Mechanical comprehension tests enable HR teams to assess applicants’ technical skills and abilities during initial screening. The results provide proven data showing which candidates are best qualified for a particular job role.

When clients and prospects ask, “How do I test candidates for mechanical comprehension?” and want to know how implementing mechanical aptitude testing can help them manage talent effectively, we list the following as the main advantages:

• Evaluate Technical Skills: When you recruit candidates for technical positions and manufacturing jobs such as machine operator and maintenance specialist, you need to verify that they know how to do a job safely and efficiently. The best way to confirm that applicants have the required skills is to use mechanical comprehension tests.
• Test Cognitive Abilities: The majority of technical jobs require excellent critical thinking and quantitative reasoning skills. Mechanical aptitude tests help you and your team evaluate cognitive skills to ensure candidates can learn new material, absorb information, and make good decisions.
• Identify Leadership and Management Potential: Leadership and managerial skills such as strategic planning, developing and coaching employees, and managing change are important for many middle and upper management jobs. Using mechanical aptitude tests helps you find applicants with leadership and management potential.
• Facilitate Employee Development: You need to build a strong team to meet current and future growth goals. Mechanical aptitude testing helps you align talent with current open roles and provides employees with training so they can learn skills they will need for future roles.
• Build a Talent Pool: Employees have different strengths and weaknesses. By evaluating mechanical knowledge test results, you can define employees’ strengths and weaknesses and identify skills gaps so you can create personalized development plans.

Mechanical aptitude tests provide hard data you can use to make informed hiring, training, and promotion decisions, instead of relying on gut instinct. This helps you make objective hiring decisions and optimize your workforce more efficiently, which improves productivity.

What is the Best Mechanical Aptitude Test?

HR teams use mechanical aptitude tests to evaluate job candidates’ skills and competencies, define knowledge gaps, identify high-potential employees, and develop customized training regimens. These are some common types of mechanical comprehension tests that are used to hire technical employees:

• Skills Tests: Skills tests measure the technical abilities and competencies that are essential for a job. For example, a mechanical comprehension test for a machinery maintenance technician should include questions about the equipment and systems the applicant will work on. An applicant for a computer programmer position will be asked to write code using relevant applications. Some skills tests are pre-prepared assessments that must be used as-is, but the leading assessment solutions allow you to customize skills tests to match job roles.
• Behavioral Assessments: Behavioral assessments provide insight into applicants’ behavioral traits, attitudes, values, and work styles. Over 74% of HR leaders know they have hired applicants who were a bad fit for a job’s specific demands or their company culture. Therefore, we recommend using behavioral assessments with skills tests to ensure candidates have the skills to do a job and will assimilate well into the role and your company culture.
• Simulations: Simulations ask applicants to complete tasks they will be required to perform on the job. For example, an applicant for a software engineering job might be required to write or debug code. Candidates for a technical writing position might be asked to draft a few paragraphs explaining the benefits of a product or service. Customer service representative candidates may be required to role-play a conversation with a difficult customer to test their problem-solving and people management skills.
• Situational Judgment Tests: Situational Judgment Test (SJT) questions present candidates with job-related scenarios and prompt them to choose the best possible solution from a list of options. HR teams love these tests because they are an excellent way to evaluate candidates’ critical thinking, decision-making, problem-solving skills, and ability to manage realistic work situations.

What Does a Mechanical Aptitude Test Consist Of?

Many people ask, “Are mechanical comprehension tests useful?” When they do, we ask them to think of everything that could go wrong if they assigned someone to repair an unfamiliar machine or piece of equipment or placed an inexperienced employee on an assembly line.

We show them examples of mechanical knowledge tests such as the eSkill Maintenance Technician, CNC Operator, Assembly Technician, and First Line Supervisors—Production and Operations Workers. We also explain that these are pre-prepared assessments they can use off-the-shelf or customize to meet their needs.

Suppose you are hiring an employee to manage a highly technical production line or system. You can create a custom mechanical aptitude test using questions from the eSkill CNC Operator and Assembly Technician skills tests, add questions from the GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) and Mechanical Aptitude skills tests, and proprietary questions that pertain to the machinery and equipment you use.

Are Mechanical Comprehension Tests Useful?

Many clients and prospects know technical employees need specific skills, including mechanical reasoning. However, they often do not know exactly what that means. So, one question they usually ask is, “What are the concepts of mechanical reasoning?”

We show them examples of mechanical comprehension tests, such as Assembly Skills and Basic Industrial Skills tests, and mechanical aptitude tests that are used to evaluate reasoning abilities, such as the Gas, Liquid, and Weight Measurements, Blueprint Reading, and Unit Conversion skills tests.

For instance, if you are hiring an employee to work on an assembly line, you can create a custom mechanical aptitude test using questions from the eSkill Basic Industrial Math and GMP skills tests, add assembly-related questions, and add questions that pertain to the products you produce and your manufacturing best practices.

Why Mechanical Aptitude Tests Are Essential

Business leaders and HR teams know resumes and interviews are not the best way to recruit top candidates because 80% of applicants lie on their resumes. Believing the information on an applicant’s resume or what their references say is no longer enough because hiring a candidate who looks and sounds perfect could be a mistake that costs your company hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

A knowledgeable staff ensures smooth production and operations, and one bad hire can throw a monkey wrench into the works, which is why more and more businesses use mechanical aptitude testing in their hiring. The following scenario illustrates how assessments help you get hiring right the first time.

Stephanie, the HR manager for a machine tool production facility, was recruiting candidates to fill a manufacturing manager position. The employee would be responsible for four production lines and oversee a staff of 5,000 that included assembly workers, maintenance technicians, and supervisors, working on three shifts 24/7. She posted the job and soon received resumes from many promising applicants.

When she reviewed the results, Dennis emerged as the top candidate. His resume indicated that he had extensive manufacturing management experience and had manufacturing experience at several prominent machine tool companies.

His references gave him rave reviews, and Ivan, the Vice-President of Operations, liked him, as did other senior management team members. Stephanie and Ivan were happy because they had found the perfect candidate and offered Dennis the job.

The problems began soon after Dennis came on board. He had solid technical skills and good manufacturing experience at related companies. However, he had never managed multiple production lines or thousands of people. He exaggerated his experience on his resume because he wanted to advance his career. So, he hoped he could ad-lib while learning on the job.

Dennis’s inexperience caused problems on several production lines, resulting in significant downtime. There were also quality control problems that required expensive rework. This caused production delays and late shipments to key customers.

The situation boiled over when a customer contacted Sandra, the Vice-President of Sales, to complain about spotty quality control and late shipments. Luckily, she saved the relationship with the customer, but she met with Ivan to express her concerns. It was a moot issue at this point. Dennis had quit because he knew he would be terminated.

If this company had used mechanical aptitude tests, Stephanie could have required candidates to complete tests such as the eSkill Manufacturing Engineer, GMP Quality Manager, and Team Management skills tests, and the results would have shown that Dennis did not have the necessary production and team management experience. The company had spent thousands hiring him and now had to incur additional costs to replace him.

Businesses That Use Mechanical Aptitude Testing

Organizations in virtually every industry use mechanical aptitude testing to streamline hiring, decrease time-to-hire, and reduce turnover.

These are some examples of companies that have simplified recruiting and improved hiring outcomes using mechanical aptitude tests included in the eSkill Talent Assessment Platform^TM.

• Solutions by Design: Solutions by Design provides computer sales and repair, network and server design, and technical support to small and medium-sized businesses. It decreased applicant screening time by 50% and improved quality of hire when it implemented technical skills tests.
• GE Renewable Energy: GE Renewable Energy needed to hire many new technicians and get them out in the field working as quickly as possible. Once they started using mechanical aptitude tests, they reduced time-to-hire because recruiters could easily identify top candidates.
• Conservice: Conservice, a large utility management and billing company, reduced time-to-hire by 25% and turnover by 20% when it implemented technical skills assessments such as mechanical aptitude tests.
• JV Industrial Companies: JV Industrial Companies administers as many as 7,500 mechanical aptitude tests each month. Around 90% of them are customized to match the job. As a result, they have a reputation for safety, quality, professionalism, and exceeding industry standards.
• ELIA Transmission Belgium: ELIA operates high-voltage electrical distribution sites, and its technicians and crew members must undergo safety training. Implementing technical skills assessments enabled the company to improve the efficiency of its testing process and increase daily testing rates by 25%.

Get Started with Mechanical Aptitude Testing

Once you begin using mechanical aptitude tests you will likely see a reduction in recruiting costs and time-to-hire. Many clients that use the eSkill Talent Assessment Platform^TM have reduced hiring costs by 70% and decreased time-to-hire by 60%.

Are you ready to learn how mechanical aptitude testing can help you improve hiring outcomes across your company? Contact eSkill to request a demo.