Skills Assessments!

Making the wrong decision in hiring is often very costly to a company.  There are several tools that can help you improve upon your ability to choose the right person for the job and one of the easiest tools to utilize is skills assessments.  The assessments need to be appropriate for the position and properly measure the required level of knowledge.  When done correctly, they become key to making the right selection.  Here are some reasons why you should consider utilizing these tools during your recruitment process.

1. 1. It will help you better focus on the specific skill set required for the position.  The choice to use skills assessments as part of your recruitment process will force you to really think about what skills are needed and who might have them.  For example, you have an accounts receivable position open. In the process of determining what skills assessments you will use, you realize that this person will need to be proficient in several pieces of accounting software that you had not given any consideration. This new realization completely changes the required experience level of the person you are looking for and thus your recruitment strategy.
   2. You are able to measure the skills listed in the resume. Have you ever considered a potential new employee who indicated in their resume that they have the ability to handle a specific software program or task? During the interview, was it difficult to determine just how much knowledge they really have? Anyone can put the skills on their resume. It is up to you to determine whether they are actually capable. A reference check will give you some indication of their ability, but a skills assessment will give you proof of their ability and knowledge.
   3. All candidates are on a level playing field. By utilizing skills assessment in your decision-making process, you are able to maintain a level of objectivity. As long as all candidates are required to complete the same assessments, the numbers will tell the story with no interpretation or bias. By maintaining your objectivity, you can hire the best candidate for the position based on skill level and personality fit.

It is important to remember that skills assessments are tools to help you make your hiring decisions, they should not be the only tool. When used properly, the assessment tools will provide you with solid information you can use to hire qualified employees.  I highly recommend that employers complete the assessments that they want their candidates to do, at the very least they should have an employee who handles the same tasks complete them.  This allows them to get a better idea of what is actually measured in the assessment and how that person compares.

When was the last time you completed a skills assessment?