What if your employees came with a certificate of authenticity? It would verify their skills and tell you where and how they best perform. Unfortunately, your employees don’t come with such certificates, but using skills assessment tests can get you closer to a workplace utopia.
Understanding Skills Assessment Tests
Skills Assessment Tests can be broken into two different groups: hard skills and soft skills. Hard skills assessments test an individual’s knowledge of technical procedures. For example an assessment that tests proficiency in Microsoft Office. Soft skills assessments measure how people learn and think by evaluating behavior, communication style, personality, preferences and aptitude for a particular job description.
When to Use Skills Assessment Tests
Skills Assessment Tests are especially useful during the beginning of the employee life cycle.
- Screening process – They can be used to screen out possible candidates that do not meet fundamental qualifications. This saves company time and money.
- Selection process – They can be used to enhance the manager’s interview, and better evaluate a candidate for hire or promotion.
- On-boarding process – They are useful to create a training track that is adapted to an employee’s particular skills. This ensures employees are productively performing in a timely manner.
Selecting a Skills Assessment Test
When choosing a skills test, be sure to choose an assessment that specifically measures the skills you are seeking for a particular position.
Profiles Skills Tests™ measure hard skills. Profiles International’s skills assessments cover: software skills, clerical skills, call center skills, accounting and finance, medical, nursing, legal, industrial, computer literacy, retail, food services, information technology, staffing, and human resources.
Step One Survey II® is a pre-employment test that evaluates a candidate’s soft skills. Step One Survey II® measures: personal integrity, propensity for substance abuse, reliability, work ethic, attitude towards theft, employee background, and employee history.
Furthering Your Knowledge
Skills Assessment Tests reveal much more consistent, in-depth, and objective information about employees than managers could learn on their own. Profiles International’s The Executives’ Guide to Employee Assessments offers more information about how, why, and when to use skills assessment tests.