Skills Assessment

What is a skills assessment?

A skill assessment is a test that evaluates an individual’s ability to perform specific skills needed for a job or role. The evaluation captures the potential employee’s level of expertise or proficiency so that the hiring team, recruiter, or human resources department can determine if the individual is a good fit for the organization.

In addition to recruiting, a skills assessment can also be used to evaluate current employees' performance and help them narrow down skills that need to be improved if they want to progress in their field. These tests can also evaluate whether employees are being properly trained in a new skill.

During recruitment efforts, it’s common to use technical skills screening software to evaluate various skills and technical abilities of prospective employees to see if they’re a match for certain teams.

Types of skills assessments

As a form of pre-employment testing, there are various employee skill assessment tests a company may carry out before hiring a candidate for a role. 

• Personality tests help hiring managers know if a candidate is comfortable in a specific role and what behavioral traits they have. Examples of personality tests are the Myers-Briggs and the Enneagram.
• Aptitude tests, also known as general intelligence tests, measure things like critical thinking and attention to detail. Some types include inductive and numerical reasoning tests.
• Integrity tests, sometimes called honesty tests, evaluate the reliability of a candidate and their levels of honesty, reliability, and responsibility. Jobs that may require an integrity test are home healthcare workers and security guards. 
• Skills tests determine the hard and soft skills a candidate may have that directly relate to specific roles. Examples of hard skills are computer programming and graphic design, while some soft skills are collaboration, communication, and organization.
• Emotional intelligence (EI) tests are assessments that focus on teamwork, empathy, and adaptability. These are helpful no matter the role or industry as they can be used to establish a healthy corporate culture. 
• Job knowledge tests rate a candidate’s technical expertise in a particular field or industry. These are most useful for roles that need specialized knowledge or an especially high level of expertise.
• Physical ability tests assess strength, endurance, stamina, and muscular movement. These can include balance, flexibility, or cardiovascular endurance tests.

Benefits of skills assessments

Running job skills assessment tests before hiring a candidate can help you:

• Save time. When companies post open jobs, they sometimes get hundreds of applications. Instead of sifting through all the applications, skill evaluations save time by narrowing down applicants and evaluating their abilities when performing a specific task.
• Focus on top talent. By using skills assessments, recruiters and HR hiring managers hone in on the most qualified candidates for a position. If a role requires a specific skill, like coding, it’s crucial to make sure applicants can perform this skill with a certain level of expertise.
• Standardize criteria and reduce bias. Running a skills assessment can standardize the criteria job candidates need to move forward to the next stage of the recruitment process. While some employers may eliminate candidates based on biases surrounding education, age, or gender, a skills assessment removes this bias by offering tests relevant to the skills needed to succeed.
• Measure progress. If a manager monitors an individual's development within their team, a traditional skills assessment can confirm an employee is making progress. An assessment can also pinpoint areas where their training may need to be reworked for success.

Best practices when choosing a skills assessment

Before an employer chooses to run a skills assessment test, there are some factors to consider and best practices to implement.

• Determine the goal. An employer should determine the goal they’re looking to achieve with their skills assessment. For instance, they must decide if the test is for prospective candidates for a role or current employees. 
• Decide which skills to measure. Not all assessments measure the same skills or traits, so skills tests should be chosen carefully. Most tests focus on hard or soft skills, so more than one assessment may be necessary. 
• Consider the characteristics of the assessment. Software related to skills assessments varies, so a company should know what they’re looking for. For example, does the HR team want to customize questions? If so, there needs to be software to support that process.
• Research the market. Once the details are narrowed down, an employer can research the market for the right software to fit their needs.