Be prepared for the new way of hiring.
A lot of my clients do not feel that the Skills Assessments are important to complete.
Think again!
HR professionals value skills-based hiring assessments, and some would weight them strongly as alternatives to traditional education and experience qualifications, according to research from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).
SHIRM, conducted a survey of 1,688 SHRM members shows more than half of employers—56 percent—use pre-employment assessments to measure job applicants’ knowledge, skills and abilities.
The survey of 1,688 SHRM members shows more than half of employers—56 percent—use pre-employment assessments to measure job applicants’ knowledge, skills and abilities.
SHRM found that:
- 79 percent of HR professionals who use rehire assessments said that the skills evaluations are just as or more important than traditional hiring criteria.
- 36 percent said a job candidate who scores high on an assessment but doesn’t meet the minimum years of experience is very likely to make it onto the list of final candidates.
- 28 percent said a job candidate who scores high on the assessment but doesn’t meet the minimum education requirement would be very likely to make it onto the list of final candidates.
“With employers still struggling to fill vacant positions, HR professionals are leading the way in using skills-based hiring and skilled credentials to acquire top talent,” said SHRM Chief of Staff and Head of Government Affairs Emily M. Dickens.
The SHRM survey also found that 78 percent of HR professionals said the quality of their organization’s hires has improved due to their use of assessments, and 23 percent said the diversity of their hires has improved using assessments.
Twenty-five percent of employers plan to expand their use of rehire assessments in the next five years, and 10 percent plan to start using them within five years.
Rethinking recruiting and hiring screening criteria is a timely consideration, with reported labor shortages and record levels of job openings, as well as more employers trying to reach candidates with more diverse backgrounds.
For so long, we’ve relied on education and experience as a proxy for things we think are important. We assumed that college graduates have a certain amount of intelligence and drive. We assumed that people with a certain amount of experience have the behaviors and knowledge necessary to do the job. There’s a lot of assuming with traditional hiring criteria. Not only does this method introduce bias, but there is data that shows that education and past job experience are not good predictors of job performance.
Employers have historically inflated degree requirements for jobs, asking for a bachelor’s degree or higher even when it’s not really needed to do the job,
I have found that bias to be true. Why does an Administrative Assistant need a Bachelor’s degree?
If you set the expectations that you must have a degree to qualify for a job, you are automatically excluding a large number of people.
I believe that recognized skills and competencies are enough for workers with the right training.
As part of your interview prep you should ask if there will be a skills assessment. So, you can be prepared to answer those questions as well as your basic interviewing questions.
Email Cindy at cindy@cindyfassler.com
Or book your free consultation session Schedule a 30 Minute Appointment – Cindy Fassler Career Coaching to prepare for that interview.