There are many ways to handle recruitment. The process covers everything from initial CV submissions through to assessments and interviews. While every business has its own way of doing things, many would likely agree that things are changing. The COVID19 pandemic is changing workplaces up and down the country. People who took for granted the daily trip into the office are now working from home for the foreseeable future. Homeworking has become more common and is likely to remain so. In some instances, it can be done easily and safely. However, where does this leave recruitment?
In-house recruitment tests no longer work in a remote setting
Many businesses have spent considerable sums of money creating and tweaking various employment tests in-house. Years of experience have been poured into them and shortlisting candidates against trusted benchmarks for available roles.
Today, however, companies can no longer use or access these assessments for recruitment. They still work, of course, but with more stages of recruitment taking place remotely, it is no longer as simple as arranging attendance in person and assessing in a controlled exam environment.
The rule of thumb going forward is this – if you can find, interview, test, and recruit someone remotely, it’s best to do so. For many businesses, this has been common practice for some time; whilst others are now taking this route for safety amid the uncertainty of the future; and/or because of time constraints of what are typically smaller numbers of key staff often doing the job of their furloughed colleagues as well as their own.
Do you switch to online tests provided by a third party?
This is one option, its simple quick and has minimal impact. However, you can also have your home grown, trusted tests securely put into the Skillsarena platform by the expert team at a nominal cost.
You get to keep your trusted content, don’t have to lose everything that has worked well for you so far and as is often the case you mitigate any resistance to “change”. Converting to online means you will have the assessment centralised, online, globally available 24/7, scored automatically with real-time results and management information.
Off the shelf versus bespoke content
Off the shelf employment tests work in many different scenarios. They are designed by experts and contain many methods for highlighting the best individuals who meet the requirements for each role.
Bespoke content is tailored to your business. Each role may involve its own bespoke employment tests. By tweaking what would otherwise be standard tests, you can improve the information gleaned from each one.
And if you already have bespoke tests, it would be a shame to let them go, even if only temporarily. With the backdrop of a pandemic playing out around us, temporary could still mean for months to come.
If you take those tests online in a safe, secure, and organised fashion, a huge chunk of your recruitment process is taken care of. You can review the results remotely too, considering the top-performing candidates to go through to the next stage.
With many roles seeing a huge increase in the quantity of applicants, being able to weed out the unsuitable ones is more important than ever. Save time, money, and frustration by staying with your existing content. All you need to do is to change the way you use it.
Do you switch to online tests provided by a third party?
If it works why change it? Of course, you need to make sure your content is accessible online, and that’s where we can help. If you trust your content and don’t want to change it, the Skillsarena team can convert it for you.
Get in touch today on 0203 693 2201 or send an email including further details to info@skillsarena.com. There is no reason why the pandemic should prevent you from using employment tests that have worked well for you until now.
