how to use skill assessments to improve your hiring process.

Ever wonder how much damage a bad hire can do? It’s something every HR manager wants to avoid. Bringing the wrong person on board can have a wide range of negative consequences, like:

• The financial hit of restarting the recruitment process to find a replacement
• Disruption and uncertainty for your current team
• A heavier workload for current employees who have to pick up the slack
• Decreased productivity
• Potential harm to your company’s reputation and overall performance

Luckily, there are plenty of ways to fine-tune your recruitment process and avoid hiring mistakes. One of the most effective? Take a closer look at how you assess candidates' skills. By refining your skill assessments, you can zero in on the necessary skills for different roles and make more informed hiring decisions.

set clear goals

Setting clear goals is key to any business initiative, and skill assessments are no different. They help guide your decisions throughout the recruitment process and serve as the foundation for measuring success. To get started, think about these questions:

• Will you use skill assessments just for job candidates, or will they also apply to your current employees?
• Do you need specific technical skills, or are you more focused on finding people who are adaptable and willing to learn?
• Are you filling gaps in your workforce or trying to help your existing team grow and develop?
• What necessary skills does your business need to stay competitive and market fit?

By answering these questions, you'll get a clear picture of your priorities, which will make it easier to plan and structure your various skill tests.

be specific about the hard and soft skills you need

Workplace skills come in many shapes and forms, so it’s important to define both the hard and soft skills that matter most to your business. For example, in industries like logistics or manufacturing, hard skills — such as operating a forklift truck — are critical. But don’t forget about soft skills like communication and problem-solving, which are also highly valued and often trickier to measure.

Start by focusing on the hard skills that are essential to the role. These might range from technical abilities to fluency in a language. Then, shift to evaluating soft skills, which can involve using tools like personality tests or assessing emotional intelligence. Finding the right balance of hard and soft skills will help you identify the best candidates for the job.

find the approach that suits you best

Thanks to advances in HR tech, there are so many different types of skill assessments to choose from today. The key is picking the tests that align with your goals. For example, if you're hiring for a technical role, you’ll want to focus on job knowledge tests or cognitive ability tests that evaluate a candidate’s expertise.

When it comes to soft skills, tools like personality tests can give you a deeper understanding of how someone might fit into your team. Some platforms use innovative methods like gamification or behavioural science to measure traits like emotional intelligence, attention or risk-taking. These assessments can help you find the best candidates by looking beyond just technical skills.

Pymetrics, a company supported by the Randstad Innovation Fund, uses gamification, behavioural science and artificial intelligence to measure attributes such as:

• Attention
• Effort
• Fairness
• Emotional intelligence
• Generosity
• Learning
• Risk taking

search the market for solutions

With so many skill assessments out there, it’s important to take your time and really dig into your options. Think about what features and benefits are most important for your company. Do you want a platform that lets you customize various skill tests, or would you rather have a solution that handles all the setup for you?

You’ll also want to figure out how you plan to measure results. Some tools give you clear scores to compare job candidates easily, while others leave it up to you to interpret the data. The right choice will depend on your specific needs and the kind of candidates you're assessing.

measure results and innovate

Just like any other business investment, it’s important to assess whether your skill assessments are actually working. Are the people you hired through these tests turning into productive team members? Did the results give you an accurate idea of each candidate’s abilities?

It’s a good idea to regularly review and update your skill assessments to make sure they’re still helping you find the necessary skills for your business. As industries evolve, so should your recruitment process. This way, you’ll continue to attract the best talent and make more informed hiring decisions.