What is candidate skills testing? And why should recruiters leverage it for a better hiring process?

Many skilled candidates are looking for good opportunities out in the job market. But employers are interested in the best-qualified applicant. As a proactive recruiter, you must use skills assessment software to evaluate your candidates and achieve the desired results.

Importance of employee skills testing

Candidate skills testing is basically about assessing candidate proficiency. It is best to do so at the pre-employment stage in order to avoid making the wrong hire.

Skills tests are great for measuring what a candidate is capable of. Good skills testing software platform will have a nice array of assessments that users can choose from. So, testing an applicant’s technical skills as well as their interpersonal abilities becomes quite easy. Measuring candidate proficiency and cultural fit at the start greatly helps reduce the risk of a bad hire which can be detrimental to the hiring organization.

Online skills assessment software

In modern recruiting, the right tech tools are indispensable for producing valuable results. For instance, if staffing agencies incorporate the best recruitment software, it results in a structured and efficient way of working that saves time, boosts productivity, and better the quality of work. Good recruitment CRM systems are essential if recruiters want to work smarter and faster than their competitors.

Candidate skills testing software is similar. When recruiters opt to assess their candidates at the pre-employment stage, they are making it easier for themselves and the employers to find the best-matched applicant in the next steps.

And the ability to skills test candidates online adds to the convenience. Online skills testing makes checking applicant abilities easy. All recruiters need to do is choose the right skills tests to send to their candidates who will be able to complete them from anywhere they choose. The test results will be directed to the recruiter’s inbox instantly.

Variety of skills tests and how to use it for candidate skills testing

Good skills assessment software systems will offer hundreds of different assessments. But in reality, there are only a handful of skills tests that are popular across all sectors.

The most widely used assessments are literacy tests online, numeracy skills tests, Microsoft Office skills tests, etc. These are popular because every office in every industry has admin staff who needs to display good grammar and number skills. The MS Office suite is also used universally, and employees need to be confident in using MS Word, Excel, etc.

Candidate skills testing software solutions also offer role-specific skills tests that are immensely useful to correctly identify suitable candidates – accounting skills tests, healthcare skills tests, and driving skills tests.

Secretarial roles need applicants to be skilled in typing and data entry. Hence, recruiters can send typing skills tests to evaluate an applicant’s ability to type accurately and quickly at the same time.

GDPR is important in many parts of the world, especially in Europe, where data and consent are taken seriously. Skills assessment software can help recruiters and employers train their applicants and staff by offering GDPR employee training and using the system as a GDPR assessment software.

Another popular assessment that almost all skills testing software carries is psychometric skills testing. Through this particular skills test, candidates are evaluated on their communication, leadership, critical thinking and problem-solving capabilities among others. This helps determine whether a new employee will fit into the existing company culture. A happy employee is a productive employee. All hiring employees want to be confident of this fit before they make any final hiring decision.

All the skills tests are available in basic, intermediate, and advanced levels which are appropriate for measuring the capabilities of junior, mid, and senior-level employees. The skills tests are made of standard questions to promote fair and unbiased evaluation. Online skills testing allows candidates to try the sample test before they begin the real one to familiarise themselves with the test format. Each assessment is designed to last anywhere between 5 to 60 minutes.

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