20 Reasons to Use Skill Assessment Tests

Discover the top 20 reasons to use skills assessment tests. Skill assessment tests are used to evaluate both your current and potential employees. Using skill assessment tests is essential if you want to hire the best candidates and develop top performers.

Why do companies use skill assessment test?

Skill assessment tests are tests designed to help employers evaluate the knowledge and the skills of their job candidates, as well as their current employees.

Using a skill assessment test helps companies to ensure that their job candidates, as well as their current employees, have the required skills to successfully perform their jobs.

Importance of skill assessment tests

Skills assessments tests have been around for decades. While companies were initially slow to adopt the use of skill assessment test, they have become a rising recruitment trend in recent years.

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Thanks to the rapid scientific and technological advancement , skill assessment test have become a reliable, affordable and user-friendly way for companies to test their employees and candidates.

These days, 82% of companies are using some form of skill assessment tests, according to the Talent Board’s Candidate Experience Research report.

Employer use skill assessment test in two main ways:

1. To test job candidates
2. To test their existing employees.

In the following text, we will carefully examine the reasons for administering skill assessment tests on both of these two groups.

Using skill assessment tests to evaluate candidates

Skill assessments test are often used by employers to evaluate job candidates skills and knowledge.

Skill assessment test used to test job candidates’ skills and knowledge are sometimes also called pre-employment, pre-hiring or candidate assessment tests.

Asking job candidates to take a skill assessment test is a common step in the recruitment process which helps employers choose and hire the best candidates.

There are many advantages of using skill assessment tests along with the traditional selection methods such as reviewing resumes and conducting job interviews.

Here are the key reasons why employer use skill assessment tests to evaluate job candidates:

Reason #1: To test candidates’ claims

According to Criteria Pre-Employment Testing, up to 78% of resumes are misleading and up to 46% contain actual lies!

Skill assessment test help employers check the truthfulness of candidates’ resumes .

By applying skill assessments test, employers can verify is their candidates really possess the skills they claim to have.

Reason #2: Determine a job fit

Applying a skill assessment test are one of the best ways to determine whether a candidate is a good match for your job position you are looking to fill.

Skill assessments tests can provide relevant information on a job candidate’s ability to perform well in the job.

Reason #3: Determine a cultural fit

By using skill assessment test employers can determine candidates’ cultural fit more effectively.

Your candidates can have the best technical skills, but if they don’t have the necessary communication skills to fit in your existing team, they are sure to fail and probably even leave your company!

Reason #4: To avoid making a bad hire

According to Career Builder research, 74% of employers admit they’ve hired the wrong person for a position. ‍♀️

Skills assessment tests help employers check if their perfect candidates are really a great fit for the job and the company culture as they claim to be.

As a result, making a bad hire is much less common among employers who use skill assessment tests.

Reason #5: To handle high volume hiring

Skill assessment test are especially useful for handling high volume hiring. When you have a large number of applicants, using a skill assessment test as a pre-screening method can help you differentiate the top candidates early in the hiring process.

As a result, you can avoid wasting a ton of time interviewing unqualified candidates.

Reason #6: To differentiate between similar candidates

Skill assessment test are also a great solution for differentiating between similar candidates.

Skill assessment test can provide valuable insights and capture the nuances between candidates who seems to have the same education and experience.

Reason #7: To eliminate bias

Using a skill assessment test is one of the best ways to eliminate bias in recruitment .

Skill assessment test provide an accurate, evidence-based information on candidates’ skills and knowledge.

Unlike resumes and interviews which necessarily provide more detailed information on candidates which can be judged (even unconsciously!) by recruiters, skill assessment tests provide a more objective evaluation of candidates’ skills.

Reason #8: To minimize legal risks

Skill assessment test are also your best bet for avoiding legal risks of hiring.

Since skill assessments tests are by their definition standardized and objective way to evaluate candidates, they can help your company defend your choice of the candidate you hired in a potential law suite.

Reason #9: To improve the candidate experience

Skill assessment tests can also significantly improve the candidate experience with your company.

Today’s candidates want brief, informative, and engaging hiring experience. They also want to know they were given a fair chance to compete for your open job position.

By using skill assessment tests, you can provide a timely and well argued explanation of your hiring decisions.

Reason #10: To enhance employer brand

Skill assessment test can also be used to enhance your company’s employer brand .

Companies that present themselves as having highly talented employees need to have a process in place that supports that assertion.

Using skill assessment tests can reinforce that image make the candidates who pass your assessments feel that they have joined an exclusive group.

Reason #11: To address the skills gap

Using skills assessment tests is an effective method to address the serious problem of skills gaps among job candidates.

Recent research conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management has found that 75% of HR professionals who reported difficulty recruiting in the past 12 months say there are skills gaps in job candidates.

Skill assessment test can provide valuable insights into the ability of candidates to learn new things and upgrade their existing skills.

Reason #12: To reduce turnover

Research conducted by the Aberdeen Group has found that companies who use pre-hire assessment tests report a 39% lower turnover rate.

Reason #13: To save time

By using the skill assessment test early in the hiring process, companies can eliminate unqualified candidates quickly and easily.

That way, they can ensure that only the most suitable candidates progress through the selection stages and that hiring managers’ interview time is focused only on the best candidates.

Reason #14: To save money

Using a skill assessment test can help you save money in two key ways.

First, skill assessment test can eliminate unqualified candidates early in the selection process, thus saving your hiring managers’ time. Shorter and more effective hiring process equals less money spent.

Another way using skill assessment test saves your company’s money is by avoiding the high cost of a bad hire and hiring only the best, most productive candidates. According to Career Builder, the average cost of a single bad hire is nearly $15,000.

Reason #15: To ensure higher hiring managers satisfaction

Hiring managers who utilize pre-employment assessments report 36% more satisfaction with their final decision than those who don’t, according to Aberdeen Group study.

Reason #16: To ensure high employee performance

Aberdeen Group study has also found that organizations who use pre-hire assessments are 24% more likely to have employees who exceed performance goals.

Using skill assessment tests to evaluate employees

Using a skill assessment test for evaluating a company’s existing employees is known as a talent assessment.

Talent assessment is a very useful method which managers use to ensure that they’ve got the right people in the right job positions.

If used correctly, talent assessments can make a profound impact on employee performance and productivity and do wonders for your company’s bottom line.

Here are the top 4 reasons why companies use skill assessment test to evaluate their existing employees:

Reason #1: To pinpoint training needs

By using skills assessment tests to evaluate their existing employees, employers can determine if there are some important job skills that their employees l ack or should improve.

Skill assessment test gives employers precise data on the skills that should be developed among their employees.

As a result, companies can organize relevant and useful, even personalized training and workshops for their employees.

Reason #2: To identify best performers

Skill assessment tests are a great way to identify your best performers and reward them accordingly. These tests provide an objective and transparent method for evaluating your employees.

Consequently, you can reward your top performers with a bonus, job promotion, raise and/or social recognition. That way, you’ll ensure their motivation and loyalty.

Reason #3: To identify potential leaders

Another great benefit of using a skill assessment test is their ability to identify potential leaders. There are specialized skill assessment tests which evaluate and measure your employees leadership capabilities, skills and knowledge.

That way, you can put the right type of people on your key positions. Those people with a real potential to lead others. Maybe you already have such talent among your employees – and you don’t even know it!

Reason #4: To benchmark your talent

Finally, skill assessment tests are used to compare your employees against industry or geographical benchmarks.

Comparing the talent that you have within your company with your competitors is crucial for your company’s success.

You can’t move as fast as your competitors if you don’t have just as talented employees as they do!

Conclusion: The benefits of using a skills assessment test

Utilizing skill assessment tests helps companies hire the right people for their open positions. These tests are also useful for managing your existing employees and placing them in the right positions.

As a result, companies can avoid the high cost of bad hires and ensure higher productivity of their employees, which positively affects the company’s bottom line.

In short, using skill assessment tests helps companies make well informed decisions when it comes to hiring, training and promoting their job candidates and employees.

How to implement skill assessment tests?

Now that you’ve discovered all the benefits of skill assessment tests, it’s time to start using them in your hiring process.

For more information on how to choose the right type of skill assessment test and provider, check out our detailed guide: Everything you need to know about skill assessment tests!

Most of the modern skill assessment tools can be easily integrated with your recruitment software, such as Applicant Tracking System.