15 ways to Assess Candidates Before Hiring

Assess candidates before hiring
Assess candidates before hiring

Introduction

Hiring or recruitment is one of the most important processes in any organization. Selection of a proper candidate can improve standards for your company, but poor choices sometimes lead to massive losses with no remedy at hand. The losses can be in terms of profits and efficiency. Recruitment assessment tools are useful to improve accuracy of hiring.

Technology provides an opportunity to automate recruitment assessment during hiring so that filtering suitable candidates for recruitment purposes becomes easy. This may be vital, especially in cases where there is a need to find senior management positions quickly and efficiently.

In order to find a candidate that will be suitable and meet all the requirements, hiring companies go through an analysis process on each individual’s qualifications. This includes looking at what specific skills or qualities they want in their offered position as well as how those abilities can benefit them specifically with this job offer from your organization – it isn’t just about finding someone who has good general knowledge!

Hiring examinations for the eligible candidates were carried out manually earlier, but technology has made it easier now with candidate assessment. The process of selecting one most suitable was tedious and tiring because there were numerous steps involved in doing so before computers came into play. 

But with the overhaul of technology, it has not only become very easy to conduct interviews and assessments for hiring managers but also for the candidates to appear for those interviews and assessments.

Hiring assessments are available to help determine the applicant’s capability, reliability, and potential for an offered position in an organization. These tests assess personality traits such as leadership qualities or logical reasoning skills among others that will be needed on the job successively.

Types of tests that are conducted before hiring the candidate:

1. Generative AI Skill Test

Using advanced AI Technology you can define a series of interactions of Users with a Live Bot. It would define content, scenario, or case study to analyze problem-solving ability, domain knowledge, technical depth, and communication skills.

working-of-generative-ai-assessments1

AI would come up with unique ratings and feedback for the user. Now instead of conducting interviews, you can opt for generative AI assessments that can evaluate communication skills, customer interaction, and project management skills with interactive question-answer live sessions powered by an advanced AI Bot.

AI would come up with a unique rating of the user specific to evaluation criteria

Skill Assessment in AI Interview
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2. Personality Test

Personality test

A personality test precisely is used to scrutinize the personality of the person. It tests the personal construct of the applicant. Personality tests help understand the thought procedure of the person giving the test. It gives another idea of the mentality of a particular person. 

A personality test is a type of assessment that helps determine the individual’s personal style. It can help you understand how someone thinks and what makes them tick, as well as predict their behaviors in certain environments or situations.

Why is it important while job hiring you ask?

Well, in simple terms, the thoughts and the goals of the potential candidates need to fulfill and match with the company’s as well don’t they?

The answers you give in your personality test allow potential employers to decide how you will react to the various work-related activities. This type of time-based hiring assessment helps to assess different aspects of human personalities such as the ability to handle pressure at work and understand the candidate’s ideologies, temperament as also morals, and principles.

In short ‘If your ‘personality’ matches the requirements of the organization, then you are the right candidate for them!’

3. Domain Knowledge Test

Domain-specific test

Domain knowledge is the ability to deeply understand one’s field. For instance, someone who knows a lot about cars and how they work would have domain knowledge in that area because their expertise applies specifically to car mechanics or engineers; whereas someone knowledgeable in computer programming could help out with any project involving software development.

Having domain knowledge of a particular field is to know the complete ins and outs of having a thorough knowledge of a certain field. Testing one’s domain knowledge is to examine the full comprehension of that person in the required area.

With the Domain knowledge test, the organizations are able to analyze the depth of the study of the candidate according to their requisites. Such hiring assessments are especially used to test the knowledge of a candidate for testing or programming-related designations.

4. Leadership Test

Leadership test

As the name suggests, leadership tests are conducted to test the Leadership qualities of the applicant. The exam is designed in such a way that they test the ability of the candidate to lead the masses. Here are a few qualities required to make a good leader:

  • Clarity
    A leader must have a clear idea about his/her goals and vision. They must know what they want to achieve, how they want to achieve it, and its consequences. They must also be able to express these ideas to other people.
  • Determination
    It is important for a leader to set goals, but it is even more important for the leader to stick to the goals. Commitment, consistency, and perseverance are some of the most crucial traits of a leader. A leader should stay firm on his/her decisions and should not back out or change their mind if the plan doesn’t work.
  • Courage
    Leaders are known for being fearless and bold. If a leader is fearless, it can instigate a sense of confidence in his/her followers and can boost morals. Thus, a courageous leader can influence his followers to keep up their spirits even if the goals seem unachievable.
  • Passion
    A leader, who cares about his/her goals and is filled with energy and passion, is something extremely important to keep the follower’s mindset positive. A passionate leader can be very influential and can attract more followers.
  • Humility
    One of the most endearing qualities of a leader is humility. Every follower wishes to have a leader who is humble, lovable, considerate, and just. Leaders must be able to admit mistakes, accept criticism and move ahead.

The test is usually taken for higher-level designations or senior positions in organizations. 

The questions in the test are drafted such that they put the candidate in situations where their leadership skills might come in handy. The use and application of these very skills are what is analyzed in the test.

5. Entrepreneurship Ability Test

Entrepreneurship ability test

Entrepreneurship in common terms is the business mind of a person; if they can be a good entrepreneur in life. 

Entrepreneurs are always looking for ways to make their ideas come true, and they have the ability to establish these ventures. In order to find success in a global business environment there’s more than just intelligence or charisma required–you also need people skills!

An entrepreneur should possess all abilities necessary including marketing expertise that can turn small start-up ventures into large-scale international businesses with rapid growth potentials:

Business management skills

This is the most important skill for an entrepreneur to have. It helps them multitask, and assign roles and responsibilities in their business plans so that they can create more opportunities while running it all smoothly with some good business strategies too.

Teamwork and leadership skills

Becoming a successful entrepreneur is not only about being creative. It’s also important for entrepreneurs to motivate others and include their opinions in business planning so that they can understand how those ideas could benefit the company as well.

Communication and listening

A successful entrepreneur must possess an exceptional ability to communicate and listen. An individual is able to negotiate goals, and ideas as well in meetings with stakeholders effectively while also listening attentively for feedback from all sides of the table when presenting plans or products at work locations.

Financial skills

Financial management is an integral part of running a business. Successful entrepreneurs should possess the skills to manage budgets, investments, and other finances which will help them keep track of profits/losses in their company as well as prepare budgeting models for future use or show financial progress against goals that have already been set out by management.

Analytical and problem-solving skills

An entrepreneur must be able to analyze and handle any business-related problems. He/she must be able to make decisions, find solutions and develop and implement strategies to avoid similar situations in the future.

Time management and organizational skills

It is important for an entrepreneur to manage their time so that even a single minute of it can be used productively. Strategies include prioritizing tasks, breaking down big projects into small manageable ones, and setting deadlines on each one as well as organizing data or hiring people if necessary with technology.

The Entrepreneurship ability test in totality analyses the business skills of the candidate. This hiring assessment is drafted in such a way so that the thinking of the candidate is according to a businessman or not can be found out. 

What is the thinking of a businessman? 

The thinking of a businessman needs to be one that will be in the interest of the company and its subordinates. The productivity and quality factors need to be maintained.

6. Programming Test

Programming test

Programming tests are those which examine the computer programming skills of the applicant. The design of this particular examination tests the coding, programming, and knowledge of the computer languages possessed by the candidate.

These tests focus on testing a person’s ability to think about solutions, implement the solutions in the form of functionalities, analyze the newly created or pre-existing code, maintain it, review it, debug it and even work on the defects.

This helps the organizations to analyze a candidate’s computer and technical skills. These assessments enhance prospective employees because it ensures bug-free software is delivered with client confidence, appreciation for their work on-site as well as recommendations from past employers when asked about potential candidates during an interview process.

7. Voice assessments/Voice -based interviews

Voice based interview

One of the recent additions to the different ways of conducting the hiring process is voice assessments or voice-based interviews.  There are some online examination platforms that can help you to conduct exams wherein you will be able to record the answers.

While giving the exam, the candidates can read the questions, say the answers out loud, record them and then save them. The interviewers can listen to these answers later and evaluate them. The candidates who have given the best answers can be selected for the next round of interviews.

With the help of such voice-based interviews, the interviewers can measure the candidate’s knowledge, communication skills, time management skills, confidence, etc.

A hiring procedure that includes analyzing the entrant’s computing capabilities along with conducting these types of psychometric tests can make or break any company looking to hire top talent.

AI can also assist in evaluating voice based assessment. AI takes into consideration audio file of the candidate response and analyze it in terms of knowledge, skill, problem solving ability. You can get personalized feedback of the audio responses using AI.

8. Video-based interviews

Video based interviews

One of the best ways to conduct interviews which are very much similar to traditional face-to-face interviews is video-based interviews. As the name suggests, these interviews are conducted online mode by recording responses in the form of videos.

The candidates need to select the ‘Allow Video Answer Record in Exam’ radio button while launching the exam. The candidates can read the questions displayed on the screen, press the ‘Start Video Recording Answer’ button to start the recording of their video response, and the ‘Stop Video Recording Answer’ button once they are done with the recording.

These video footages or video responses are later watched by the interviewers to evaluate the candidates. The videos enable the interviewers to observe the candidates’ body language, confidence, communication skills as well as knowledge so that only the most suitable candidates can be selected for the job.

9. Writing Skill Test

Writing skills test

Good writing skills are essential for a variety of tasks in the modern workplace. Whether you’re preparing newsletters, sending emails to customers, responding to email queries, making presentations, writing blog posts or articles, or defining social media posts, having strong writing skills is key to success.

This is especially true for roles that involve managerial, leadership, sales, marketing, and customer support responsibilities. One way to assess a candidate’s writing skills is through the use of online writing assessments. These tests can help you filter out candidates who may not have the necessary skills to excel in a given role. By focusing on grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure, these assessments can give you a sense of a candidate’s ability to communicate effectively and professionally in written form.

Additionally, it will help you to identify the strengths and weaknesses of candidates, in terms of their writing skills and thus you can use this information to decide whether the candidate is suitable for the role.

10. Listening Skill Test

Listening skills test

Being an effective communicator starts with being a good listener. When hiring candidates, it’s important to evaluate their listening skills to ensure they’re a good fit for the role. One way to do this is by administering an online listening skill test. This can help you filter out candidates who may not possess strong listening abilities.

Implementing listening skill tests in your hiring process can significantly improve the overall quality of your hires. By identifying a candidate’s strengths and weaknesses in this area, you can make more informed decisions about whether they’re the right fit for the position and the organization. Good listening skills are essential for employees in any department, as they foster better teamwork and communication within the company.

11. SQL Skill Assessment

SQL Skill assessment

When hiring for positions such as Database Administrator, SQL Developer, SQL Analyst, or Database Script Writer, it’s essential to evaluate candidates’ skills related to SQL coding. However, during interviews, there are limitations to effectively assessing a candidate’s proficiency in this area.

SQL Skill Assessments provide an effective solution to this problem. These assessments allow you to evaluate a candidate’s ability to write logical SQL queries, utilize inner and outer joins, and perform complex sub-queries to achieve the desired output.

Conducting online SQL coding assessments can greatly improve the accuracy of your hiring process and allow you to conduct skill assessments for multiple candidates without the need for an interviewer. In these tests, candidates are presented with a problem statement and asked to write a SQL query to achieve the desired output.

The system then compares the candidate’s output with the expected output to evaluate the accuracy of the query. Additionally, multiple-choice-based tests can also be used to assess a candidate’s SQL skills.

12. Project Management Assessment

Project management assessment

When hiring for a managerial position, it’s important to evaluate a candidate’s project management skills. This is because effective project management involves various activities such as team management, term communication, task management, customer interaction, tracking progress and milestones of the project, and communication with other departments.

To effectively assess a candidate’s project management skills, you can design custom assessments specifically geared toward this purpose. These assessments can include scenario-based questions, case studies, or simulated projects that test a candidate’s ability to manage a team, plan and execute tasks, and effectively communicate with other departments and stakeholders. 

By utilizing these assessments, you can gain a better understanding of a candidate’s competency related to project management and make a more informed hiring decision.

13. Data Analysis Skill Test

Data analysis skill test

In today’s data-driven world, the ability to analyze data for decision-making is a highly sought-after skill. With the increasing demand for data scientists, it’s essential to have a reliable method for evaluating the data analysis skills of candidates when recruiting for positions such as data analyst, data scientist, and business analyst.

Conducting data analysis skill tests can be a valuable tool in evaluating a candidate’s ability to comprehend data and provide useful insights for decision-making. These tests can take the form of online assessments that test a candidate’s knowledge of statistical methods, data visualization, and machine learning. 

By administering these tests during the interview process, you can filter out candidates who may not possess the necessary skills for the role and focus on those who are best suited for the position.

14. English Language Aptitude Test

English language aptitude test

In today’s globalized world, English language competency is a must-have skill for any candidate, regardless of the position they’re applying for, be it technical, managerial, or back office operations.

To evaluate a candidate’s English language proficiency during the recruitment process, you can administer an English Language Aptitude test. These tests can assess a candidate’s ability to comprehend information in English, analyze information, and demonstrate their grammatical knowledge of the language.

By using such tests, you can filter out candidates who may not possess the necessary English language skills for the role and focus on those who are best suited for the position. This can ultimately improve your hiring process and save costs associated with bad hires.

15. Mathematics Aptitude Test

Mathematics aptitude test

Number Crunching, data analysis, and profitability analysis are essential skills for finance, accounting, and even technical roles that require the use of mathematical formulas to generate reports and insights from information. When hiring for positions that involve mathematics, it’s important to assess a candidate’s aptitude for the subject. One way to do this is by conducting mathematics aptitude tests.

These tests can provide valuable insights into a candidate’s mathematical abilities and help you identify suitable talent for roles that require a strong understanding of the subject. By conducting such tests, you can ensure that the candidate you hire has the necessary mathematical skills to excel in the role.

Pro Tip to Use Generative AI for Candidate Assessment

Generative AI assessments are significantly transforming the corporate hiring landscape. These tests, based on real-world scenarios, provide an accurate evaluation of a candidate’s skills, depth of knowledge, and problem-solving abilities. They adaptively generate questions in response to candidates’ answers, offering a dynamic and comprehensive skill assessment.

This method covers a wide range of domains including leadership, managerial skills, technology and coding, cloud expertise, and customer support.

The AI-powered evaluation system provides detailed ratings and constructive feedback on each candidate’s performance, highlighting strengths and areas for improvement.

Implement AI Interview process to conduct initial screening interviews, allowing for efficient and consistent questioning and response analysis.

This not only streamlines the recruitment process by automating the initial stages of candidate evaluation but also reduces bias, saving time and expanding the talent pool by enabling remote assessments.

Customizable to suit various industries and job roles, Generative AI assessments in corporate hiring are more than a trend; they represent a transformative tool for smarter, more efficient hiring practices.

Conclusion

In the ever-evolving world of recruitment, utilizing effective candidate assessment tools is crucial for identifying the most qualified candidates.

From pre-employment assessment tools to job knowledge tests, these assessments play a vital role in the candidate evaluation process. Hiring managers rely on these assessments to gauge the suitability of applicants, ensuring a thorough and objective assessment for recruitment.

By leveraging the power of candidate assessments, organizations can make informed hiring decisions, ensuring that only the best-suited candidates join their teams. With the right assessment tools in place, the recruitment process becomes streamlined, efficient, and successful in identifying top talent for the job.

The main aim of the virtualization of the hiring process is to simplify the whole interview process. Conducting pre-hiring assessments virtually has also become crucial in current times of corona outbreak.  Thus, if the candidate is able to pass the tests mentioned above, they are for sure the right and the perfect candidate for the designation propounded by the organization. 

The Eklavvya platform developed by Splashgain Technology Solution Pvt Ltd has the facility to conduct any type of hiring assessment for any organization.

The two most important features of these assessments are remote proctoring and digital evaluation. 

The remote proctoring feature prevents any sort of cheating or malpractice carried out by any individual from any location while the feature of digital evaluation helps the organization to generate quick and accurate results online. 

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