Companies that use skills assessments can reduce their hiring costs by as much as 70% and the time to hire by 60%. When you use pre-hire skills tests to easily identify candidates who have the knowledge, experience, and skills for the job, it takes the guesswork out of the process.
As many as 85% of job candidates embellish or outright lie on their resumes. It has only gotten worse as more companies are using applicant tracking systems (ATS) to evaluate candidates to narrow the application pool. Job seekers have learned they have to include certain phrases and skills on their resume to make it past the ATS screening. However, that does not mean they have the skills they have listed. Pre-hire skills tests can tell you if they do have the skills they say they do.
Here are some of the ways companies are using skills testing to ensure they get the best candidates when hiring remote workers.
Testing Computer Skills
When an employee is working remotely, they must have strong computer skills that go beyond email and word processing. Video and web conferencing, collaboration, document sharing, and instant messaging are tools that will be used almost every day. During the remote interview process, you may get a sense of how comfortable candidates are with using tech tools in general.
Skills testing can provide an independent assessment of a candidate’s proficiency with the key skill sets they will need on the job. Anybody can list experience with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio, or VBA, for example, but their experience may not match up with your definition of proficient. Pre-hire skills tests can determine skill levels and uncover areas where candidates are not up to par.
Testing Aptitude for Remote Work
Not everyone can work remotely and productively. Organization, communication, and collaboration are key skills remote workers need. Yet, these can be difficult to gauge fairly in an interview setting. Pre-hire skills tests can be designed to identify strengths and weaknesses in these areas.
Many of the skills remote workers need revolve around behavioral attributes. Without direct supervision, will a candidate think logically, solve problems on their own, and collaborate with other remote team members? Assessing these skills can be difficult to determine by examining someone’s resume.
Behavioral skills testing can uncover whether candidates have the right aptitude and attitude to be effective remote workers.
Testing with Simulations
Another effective method is to use skills tests for simulations. For example, prospective call center employees could take skills tests that provide simulations of customer requests and complaints to see how they handle inbound calls. Outbound call simulations can test a candidate’s sales, telemarketing, or fundraising abilities.
When candidates face real-life scenarios that they will have to deal with on the job, you can get a sense of how they approach things. Since remote workers will have less face-to-face supervision, understanding how candidates think and act is essential.
Industry-Specific and Job-Specific Testing
Skills tests can get as detailed as you would like. Here are just a few examples:
If you want to make sure engineering, industrial, and design workers can properly read blueprints, understand how to read micrometers and calipers, or have the requisite civil engineering skills, you can test for that.
If you are looking to hire IT support team members, you can ensure they have the needed skills in networking, server management, or mobile device management.
If you are hiring medical billing and coders, you can assess their knowledge of ICD-10 codes, coding procedures, or HIPAA compliance regulations.
If you use Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics as your customer relationship manager (CRM), you can assess their skill level as part of your pre-hire skills test.
Regardless of your industry or job requirements, skills testing gives you a way to find out if candidates have the skills you require and an objective measure to compare abilities among candidates.
Remote Interviewing
More companies are doing video interviews rather than face-to-face meetings. Using the right skills testing platform, you can gain valuable insight into candidates when interviewing remotely. For example, you can ask a series of questions and ask candidates to respond verbally using their camera. By using the same set of questions for each candidate, you can more easily objectively assess their responses.
Find the Best Candidates
According to the Society for Human Resource Management, 75% of human resources (HR) professionals say they regularly find significant skill gaps when recruiting. While skills tests can help you decide if there is a “perfect candidate” out there for you, they can also show you the best performers and showcase the areas where employees need additional training.
Request a demo to see how pre-hire skills tests can help you hire employees who will be effective remote workers.
