Candidate screening is a process that has become increasingly complex as the pool of qualified applicants has grown. Whereas securing a job was once a matter of arriving to the interview on time and giving the boss a firm handshake, candidates are now in competition with hundreds, sometimes thousands of educated, experienced applicants, and are required to undergo multiple rounds of testing, interviews, and even job samples before a final decision is made.
Recruitment companies & HR departments have adapted to the sheer volume of applicants by utilising technology to make the selection process more efficient. Efficiency will become more important to employers as the contingent workforce continues to grow – companies will need to apply testing more frequently to a larger intake of candidates. A more efficient process is essential to free up valuable time resources to focus on other parts of the recruitment process.
Efficiency is also important from the candidates’ perspective. Companies that better manage the recruitment process and ensure it progresses at a reasonable pace are more likely to select and retain high-quality candidates, both for the position in question and for future role opening. Chances are, high quality candidates have several role options, and they are unlikely to wait around for your company to hire them if they are not completing the process quickly enough.
Consistent with this, the best way to commence the recruitment process is to apply pre-screening skills assessments to screen out candidates who don’t have the basic skills to succeed in the role. The Wall Street Journal estimates that over 50% of applicants for a typical job fail to meet basic qualifications, on account of them skimming through the job description and sending off a resume without much thought.
A pre-screening skills test eliminates these candidates in a cost-effective manner at less than a dollar per candidate for larger applicant bodies. It also requires little to no effort on the part of the recruiter and can take less than 20 minutes for each candidate to complete. This quickly progresses successful candidates to the next stage of the process and prevents unsuccessful candidates from wasting further time applying to a job for which they are not qualified. Successful candidates receive a positive first impression, and unsuccessful candidates don’t feel as if they wasted any time during the application.
Overall, it enables a more efficient selection process which requires less effort. Our skills platform, PeoplogicaSkills, has the widest skills & knowledge test database in Australia, containing 400 tests relevant to over 150 job titles, that have been tested and proven for accuracy and quality. If you are interested in harnessing the benefits of pre-screening testing, get in touch with us!
Written by Michael Mancinone
