What Role Do Skills Assessment Tests Play in Hiring Process?

When performing hiring processes, HR professionals frequently find themselves in difficult situations. Candidates with strong résumés and strong interview performances may appear to be the best choice—until they flunk the skill and ability test or, worse, fail to perform on the job. 

What should organizations do if they notice anything like this happening?

What Role Do Ability and Skills Tests Play in the Hiring Process?

Hiring managers must evaluate the findings of failed pre-employment assessment exams, particularly if they believe the candidates are a good fit and should be considered. While it is possible to decrease the cutoff scores, this new standard must be applied to all applications.

Fairness must win out, and standards must be applied equitably. When applicants fail these skill-based assessments, their execution is used to determine whether or not they are capable of performing well. If a recruiting manager wishes to hire someone who is not ready and able to perform the job, using tests to establish "minimal competence" can soon become problematic.

A skills assessment test for employment, like any other pre-employment test, must be carefully chosen and administered. These assessments must be lawful, valid, equitable, and trustworthy.

Skills assessments are typically co-developed by industrial-organizational psychologists who are well-versed in industry research and best practices and tenured subject matter experts (SMEs) who have a thorough understanding of the role at hand. They're in charge of generating the test's content and determining pass/fail threshold scores for each assessment. 

Skills assessments can be important components of a successful and efficient recruitment process. A corporate job posting will typically garner around 250 résumés. A "test battery," which includes a résumé screening followed by a skills-based assessment, is an efficient—or high-volume—technique to limit the number of applications while simultaneously identifying those who have the best chance of succeeding on the job.

Employers' Preferences for Assessment Tests

What is the best method to use the findings of skills testing, given all of this information? Those who fail pre-employment assessment tests are unlikely to advance to the interview stage.

Typically, a skill assessment test online is graded on a pass/fail basis. Predetermined test cutoff scores can assist in identifying candidates who do not satisfy the minimum criteria for a post and prevent them from progressing to the interview or gaining the job. 

However, this isn't the conclusion of the narrative. Everyone who applies for a job should be treated equally. It is possible to lower a candidate's score cutoff when the circumstances warrant, but it must be done uniformly.

For example, there may not be enough applicants with the necessary skills in times of strong demand. Testing aids in identifying potential skill gaps, allowing employers to more easily assess the effectiveness of training or another repair.

Assessment test findings should be combined with other aspects of the employment process, such as interviews and résumé screenings, which are all tests in and of themselves. Each component should shed light on various parts of a candidate's background.

For example, a candidate may excel in certain skill areas but not be a good cultural match for the company. Nevertheless, candidates who test slightly below average in a particular skill may be marginally competent. If the individual is otherwise great, hiring managers can examine whether that shortcoming will develop over time.

Conclusion

Managers value more than merely function in the end: adaptability, self-awareness, and the ability to inspire are frequently considered in recruiting decisions. An assessment test job application allows managers to use real-world scenarios to determine if new hires can perform and to what extent they exhibit the attributes that make employees—and workplaces—exceptional.

Kand.io is one of the leading providers of a skills assessment test for employment. Our purpose is to assist firms in evaluating candidates while also ensuring that the roles are a good fit for the personnel. Our job assessment exams should make it easy to hire the finest candidates. Take a look at our services today and make an appointment with us.