Best Software Assessments for HR Department

In today’s corporate environment, where competition has reached its peak, hiring a person based on pen paper assessment have become tedious. As more and more people apply for a job for social, economic and career goal reasons, the idea of assessing them, their skills etc. for HR departments is definitely a challenge.

Today, the Internet and technology have taken over many things, including the replacement of manual labor, storage of huge data sets and what not. But technology can help in reducing the tediousness of hiring people for a job. The HR departments of many companies all over the world have resorted to on-line assessment software for every applicant. These software applications not only get the job done in a less tedious manner for the HR, but also if designed appropriately they give the HR department a complete overview of the applicant's suitability for position or not.

On-line assessment should be selected on the basis of some important criteria while designing it for choosing the best candidate.

1. It should be categorized into various sections like knowledge testing, skills testing, situation handling assessment (if required by the job profile) etc.
2. It should have a uniform distribution of questions based on the job profile of the vacant position.
3. Making sure that the test-questions focus on real time situations and not hypothetical ones.
4. It should be designed in such a way that it is adapted to the candidate. The smarter the candidate, the more challenging the assessment should be.
5. It should not be too long such that the candidates get bored and unwilling to answer further questions effectively.
6. Making it accessible to many people at the same time increases the convenience for the HR department as well as the applicants. Applicants can take the test from a place and time convenient to them. On-line assessment marks the end of the conventional way of taking written tests by a large number of people in batches which was cumbersome for organizations. The service provider of the on-line assessment should be thoroughly prepared for any sort of system failure or network traffic in case many candidates attempt the test simultaneously.
7. The software and the service provider should be reliable in terms of fair assessment and making sure that the confidentiality is retained.
8. The software should be thoroughly tried and tested before its official execution.
9. The software should be capable of testing thinking skills of the candidate in challenging and difficult situations. It should also be able to assess the way candidates tackle problems in a methodical manner.

Skills assessment software can be incorporated in platform on-line tests to help the company assess that apart from knowledge what other skills the candidates possess, e.g. Speaking, Interacting, writing, typing, listening, etc. These can turn out to be useful in the future for the company while interacting with client, filing reports etc.

Countries like UK, UAE, South Africa & Saudi Arabia have been using online test software for a long time now and they have proven to be better than the traditional assessment approach. On-line exam software not only helps employers to take clear decisions as to which candidate is right for the job based on his knowledge, but they also get to know the kind of environment which is best suited for the candidate to be able to give the company nothing but the best results.

These tests can be clubbed with the assessment of social skills of the candidate. These should not be restricted only to the recruitment of new employees, but they should be periodically conducted by HR to know whether the person is still fit to do the job or to know whether he is happy with the environment provided by the company etc.

Designing the best things is never easy, similarly making the best online assessment software is not easy and many things need to be taken care of while designing it. But if all the above points are kept in mind, then it can turn out to be a superior method of skills testing. A great example of these can be found out in the education sector, and similar tests can be easily translated to suit the needs of the business sector.

James Colmen working with Dwao. He specialize in Business and Technical Writing including Training Materials Development; General Topics, Leadership, Management and Change Coaching; and Professional Resumes.