How to Use Next-Generation Assessments to Navigate the Soft Skills Gap

May 6, 2019

 

iCIMS Staff

4 min read

There’s nothing worse than finding a candidate whose resume hits all the right marks for your open position but lacks experience and key soft skills required for the job. Finding this out late in the hiring process puts you back at square one, looking for a candidate who can perform at the level you’re looking for.

There are many ways to screen candidates for soft skills earlier in the hiring process, but are you doing this in the most effective way?

The technology to assess candidate soft skills is improving – rapidly. This is much needed, given 50-75% of applicants are not qualified for the jobs they apply for, across all job classifications. To weed out the candidates who just don’t hit the mark, you’re going to want to have the best screening tools in place to automatically sort your candidate pipeline.

That’s where assessment testing comes in. You may be familiar wmailto:https://www.thetalentboard.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/2015_NAM_Talent_Board_Candidate_Experience_Research_Report_FINAL_160208.pdfith standard application pre-screening questions, which typically consist of multiple-choice tests that automatically knock out disqualified candidates. But are you familiar with the next generation of assessments that go beyond a standardized-test format?

According to an analyst report from Gartner, employers have been hit with a tight labor market, shrinking talent pools and a shortage of candidates with sought-after soft skills. It’s not enough to just be able to “do the job” anymore – employers are requiring applicants to demonstrate skills such as effective communication, problem-solving, critical thinking and time management. To secure a fruitful candidate pipeline, consider more modern pre-hire assessment tools.

Next-gen assessment testing screens talent quickly and efficiently.

These offerings provide companies with an easy way to accurately measure their applicant’s competencies, while also making the candidate experience a lot easier – and sometimes even fun. The types of testing – and the areas of which they are able to measure (i.e. soft skills) – go much further than your standard pre-screening offerings.

Drive stronger decision making without interrupting current processes.

Assessment solutions should integrate directly with your applicant tracking system, providing a true end-to-end recruiting experience. This allows you to quickly run candidate assessments and access their results without having to leave your recruitment platform. Should the candidate meet your needs, you can easily move them through the hiring process, freeing up the time recruiters have to spend with high-quality potential talent.

Save time and money with easy-integrated assessment screening tools.

Through using easily-integrated assessments, you open the door to:

• Identify viable candidates earlier, who not only meet job requirements, but who have the right soft-skills to perform well at your organization
• Have an easier time fulfilling any hiring gaps that may have existed within your business due to a lack of qualified candidates
• Coordinate screening within your trusted recruitment platform to reduce time and costs to fill roles and offer a smoother experience for candidates waiting to hear back

Assessment solutions solve a lot of issues for employers – integrating them seamlessly with your recruitment platform makes the hiring process that much more seamless and easy-to-navigate, therefore improving your time-to-hire, and saving you time and money.

Our recent announcement of Prime Connectors for assessments eliminates the cumbersome task of toggling between your recruitment platform and partner solution offerings. With little-to-no technical support, employers easily plug-and-play third-party assessment applications. For more information, please view our Power Your Platform demo webinar, featuring Optimize Hire’s prime assessments integration.