With the high cost of turnover these days, it’s imperative for businesses to hire the best candidate the first time around. But how can you know that the candidates you are interviewing have the skills you need for the job? For many hiring managers, pre-employment skill assessments increase accuracy of hiring, speed up the hiring process, and help to ensure long-term success with the right employee.

Pre-employment skills testing has become a critical tool for hiring managers, as it allows them the chance to get to know the applicant’s skill level and determine how long it may take him or her to train for their job. This makes it much easier to narrow down a long list of applicants to the truly qualified individuals for further consideration. Plus, not only can skills assessments be used for new hires, but they can also be used for promoting within your company and checking the skills of your staff members. When hiring for a job opening or promoting internally, consider using the following skills assessment tests.

7 Skills Assessment for Potential Candidates

  1. Industrial skills test – Targeted assessments that are specifically designed for candidates in the industrial field will measure the knowledge and expertise of each individual. These aptitude tests comprise of a full-range of skills assessments for  industries such as carpentry, plumbing, metalworking, mechanical engineering, HVAC, masonry, electrical and many others.

  1. Software skills test – Depending on the software skills necessary for a specific role, hiring managers can offer specialized tests to qualify potential candidates. For instance, when companies are in need of a website designer, providing an Adobe Photoshop and InDesign assessment would help identify the most accomplished candidate. Other useful software skills to assess are QuickBooks, Quicken and Microsoft Office applications, including Excel, Outlook and Powerpoint.

  1. Clerical skills test – For those with clerical occupations, it’s important to have a thorough knowledge of basic office skills. Clerical employees can be assessed by their knowledge of business etiquette, business writing, basic reading comprehension, clerical proofreading, computer literacy and other areas of expertise that are imperative when working in an office setting.

  1. Accounting skills test – Accounting and finance employees have a variety of skills they must possess in order to do their job appropriately. Depending on which role the company is trying to fill (accounts receivable, accounts payable, payroll administration), assessment tests like cisa can determine if the candidate has the necessary acumen. You can take a look at cisa exam review to clear such exams. For these roles, a skills assessment can test for proficiency in budget aide, cost accounting and bookkeeping.

  1. Healthcare industry tests – For employers in the healthcare industry, prospective candidates will be tested on their medical field expertise in subjects including phlebotomy, surgical technology, medical typing, medical spelling and medical terminology.

  2. Technical skills test – With a skills assessment for developers or IT managers, candidates can be tested on an assortment of diverse platforms to ensure their skill set matches company needs. Skills can be gauged for systems such as Dreamweaver, Agile, HTML, Java, jQuery, Oracle and SAS – just to name a few.

  1. Customer service tests – For candidates and staff members working in customer service, there are a number of audio and non-audio tests that can be offered to determine whether or not individuals will be appropriate for customer relations, including listening skills, customer service scenarios, call center data entry and telephone etiquette skills.

Ultimately, skills assessments are a great way to get in-depth, detailed knowledge about the skill set of potential new hires and determine what value he or she can bring to your company. As an employer, you may not have the time to administer skills assessments and analyze results each time you need help finding the right applicant. By partnering with a staffing agency, hiring managers gain access to highly-skilled professionals that can help to evaluate candidates, then send qualified candidates over for further review.

At Unique Employment Services, we offer over 1,500 skills assessments for a variety of positions that you can chose from (or we can choose for you), including clerical, healthcare, HR, industrial, engineering, accounting, and many others. If you need help finding qualified candidates for your business, or would like more information on our skills assessment program, contact a Unique Employment Services representative today.

You can also download our eGuide for tips on finding a job quickly.

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