How Online assessment technology is a boon for HR managers?

According to a survey of job seekers, conducted by career coach, Jane Downes- “40% of candidates experienced an ‘unacceptable time lapse’ between response to a first-round interview and receiving a second interview.” While this is on the candidate side, on the organization side, there is always a pressure of filling a certain vacant position and the looming possibility of “wrong hires”. Obviously there is a disconnect, and the onus is on the HR managers to fix it. HR managers of business organizations have to embrace a calculated approach to exploit technology to the best advantage of the “people business”.

To achieve these objectives, existing recruitment systems need to adapt. The long and tiring process of a manual pen and paper test, which often lacks transparency and adds on to physical logistics, has to be avoided. Need of the hour is to balance between lowering the operational risks and improving HR communication through valid and reliable methods of assessments. Taking a cue from online assessments platforms is the first step.

As a strategic consultant having a good know how of HR Processes, I can firmly say that online assessments are a cost-effective way to ensure that business organizations are hiring the right people. Here are a few reasons why,

Online assessment platforms offer a variety of tools including pre-employment screening, personality assessments and skills testing to navigate the swamp of CVs and applicants that can easily drown a recruiter. Since tests are web-based there is no need for the candidate to come for the first round of interview (written test). This type of examination significantly reduces the time recruiters spend making phone calls, arranging venues to schedule written tests and often preparing the tests themselves. Recruiters can easily skip the first level screening to directly interact with pre qualified candidates who have higher probability of getting selected.

My campus recruiter friends will not deny the tedious job of conducting campus recruitment or college recruitment/walk-in drives. Not only do we end up wasting time and money, there is always a limitation to the number of campuses we can reach. With online assessment platforms, providing auto-invigilation via online proctoring, campus recruitment tests can be conducted across multiple campuses at the same time, without the actual presence of an invigilator.

So he can sing, he can dance but can he code? If you are a technical recruiter, don’t let these questions haunt you. The “wrong hire” situation can be easily avoided by measuring skills of a candidate using short skill-based simulation tests. As someone involved in the HR processes it is interesting for me to know that how easily one can bring innovation into hiring by adding a quick puzzle (Fizzbuzz), quiz or test using an online assessment platform. While geeks have fun cracking the “code”, you can have fun hiring the right candidate.

According to CBS, recruiters often hire for positions that they know “nothing about”. This truth is no solace for the HR department where turn around time and turn over go hand in hand. This I feel is the best part about an online assessment platform, it lets you customize. Operational Manager instead of a HR recruiter can create a common test for a desired profile and voila! recruiters can simply send the standard online test to the candidates. This eliminates two rounds of technical and operation manager interviews. As an extra measure recruiters can easily add a layer of psychometric assessment to the online test to check the interest level, job-fit and stress-tolerance of a candidate.

It is interesting to note that, how these same features can easily transform to become a seamless employee engagement tool; allowing training managers to track performances, measure learning needs and enhance training effectiveness. To top it all, the support is always a phone call away. With these features and many more, embracing online assessments make the all-important task of measuring the suitability of a candidate streamlined and light on logistics.

This is my take on online assessment platforms and its role in expediting and streamlining the recruitments processes. Think of anything you would like to add or write about- simply put your suggestions in the comment box below.

Anand Bardhan has more than 2 years of experience in Consulting and HR in Top IT and Consulting MNC. His areas of expertise include Consulting, Lead Generation, Market Research, Process Management, Business Strategy and Business Analysis. He is an adventure enthusiast, avid topography navigator and loves reggae & indipop music.- (Linkedin)