How to Use Employee Skills Assessment Beyond Hiring
What are Employee Skills Assessments?
Employee skills assessments are specialized tests that help employers evaluate a candidate’s skills, personality, and job fit. By using these tools, HR pros can spot strengths and skills gaps, helping you make smarter hiring decisions and support performance reviews.
Hiring the right people is only the beginning. You carefully screen every new hire, but what happens once they’re on board? With employee skills assessment, you can go beyond pre-employment checks and turn these tools into a game-changer for your team’s growth and success.
What Are Examples of Employee Skills Assessments?
Employee skills assessments measure a person’s skills, personality, or cognitive abilities. Whether you’re hiring new employees or assessing current ones, these tools give you insights that go beyond a résumé or interview.
- Cognitive and Reasoning Tests measure a person’s ability to think critically and solve problems, skills essential for most roles.
- Attention to Detail Tests show how accurately someone completes tasks, a must-have skill in administrative or data-heavy positions.
- Emotional Intelligence Assessments – Emotional intelligence assessments focus on a candidate’s capacity to understand and manage emotions—a critical skill for leadership or client-facing roles.
- Skill-Based Tests – These employee assessment tools focus on the specific skills needed for different roles. For example, clerical workers’ proficiency in Microsoft Office tools can be assessed with Microsoft Skills Tests.
Pre-Employment Screening: Hiring Smarter, Not Harder
Employee skills tests paved the way for a huge leap in how companies and even government agencies hire. In 2020, an Executive Order shifted federal hiring practices to value skills over degrees. The change prioritizes skills assessment programs to determine applicant suitability for available jobs.
Reducing Bias
Hiring often involves unconscious bias. You might unintentionally prefer a candidate who shares your background or someone with an impressive résumé; even though that doesn’t always mean they’re the best choice for the job.
An employee skills assessment helps you reduce bias by focusing on the candidate’s abilities, not just their resume.
For example, when hiring for an accounting position, it’s important to assess a candidate’s proficiency in essential skills, such as Microsoft Excel. Instead of solely relying on their work history, conducting an Excel skills test can provide a clearer understanding of their abilities in this crucial area.
Reduce Turnover with Better Hires
One of the top reasons employees leave within their first year is a mismatch in skills or culture. By assessing technical and work personality fit before hiring, you increase the chances of long-term employee retention.
Hiring the wrong person can be costly. Business News Daily shows a bad hire can cost up to $15,000. That’s enough to make anyone reconsider their hiring strategy.
Streamline Your Hiring Process
Pre-employment tests can highlight the top candidates early in the hiring process, so you can focus your efforts on the best fits. Instead of spending time interviewing 10 people, you might only need to meet with three—all of whom are qualified for the job.
For example, imagine you’re hiring a project manager. One candidate has several years of experience, while another performs better on a Cognitive and Reasoning Test. This test shows that the second candidate has stronger critical thinking skills, which are key to managing complex projects.
Employee Skills Assessment in Developing Your Current Workforce
Assessments aren’t just useful when hiring—they’re equally important for evaluating your current employees. Employee skills assessments help you understand where your employees stand, making it easier to provide the training they need.
Assessing Current Employees and Identifying Areas for Growth
Want to upskill your team? Data from tests can pinpoint exactly where each team member could use improvement, making training more focused and effective. For instance, if someone needs better attention to detail, you can direct resources toward that area specifically.
Meanwhile, a Supervisory Skills Test can help determine whether an employee is ready for a leadership role. If they score well, you can plan their promotion confidently. If not, you’ll know they may need additional training to succeed.
Closing the Skills Gap for Ongoing Success
As technology evolves, so do the skills your employees need. 87% of employers say they have a skills gap, meaning their teams lack key abilities. These gaps can harm productivity.
Regularly using employee skills assessments helps you spot and address gaps early on. If several employees struggle with Excel, a Microsoft Office Excel Test will show this, and you can offer training to improve their proficiency.
Encourage a Learning Culture
When employees can track their progress and see their improvement, they’re more likely to stay engaged. LinkedIn reports that 94% of employees would stay at a company longer if it invested in their career with professional development opportunities.
Making Performance Reviews More Effective with Employee Skills Assessment
Annual reviews often feel like a box to check. You go over what the employee did over the last year, but it’s not always useful for ongoing improvement. Employee skills assessments make reviews more meaningful by providing continuous feedback.
Using tests throughout the year can help you spot small errors in an employee’s work before they become bigger problems. You can offer help or training when they need it rather than waiting until the end of the year to address performance issues.
Use Data-Driven Insights for Fair Reviews
Performance reviews are often subjective. Maybe an employee feels like they’re not being recognized enough, or you’re unsure how to track their growth.
With employee skills assessment, you have data to back up your feedback. If an employee improves in certain areas, you can show them the proof. And if there’s room for improvement, you can clearly explain what needs to change and offer support. This transparency makes the review process more helpful and beneficial for both parties.
Set Clear, Achievable Goals
Employee skills assessments reveal tangible areas for growth, which you can translate into actionable goals for the next quarter or year. For example, if an employee has high potential in leadership but lacks time management skills, their goal can focus on enhancing this skill for a future role.
Identify Future Leaders
Performance reviews supported by assessments can reveal employees with strong leadership potential, making it easier to spot those who are ready for promotions. By tracking development over time, you create a pipeline for filling management roles with proven, prepared internal candidates.
Practical Steps for Implementing Employee Skills Assessment
Ready to put these tools into action? Here’s how to get started:
Choose the Right Tool for Your Needs
Not all assessment tools are the same, so select those that align with your goals. Choose tests that are expertly researched and developed, so you can accurately and consistently measure desired competencies.
Communicate the Benefits to Your Team
Employees may feel apprehensive about assessments, especially if they think these will affect job security. Emphasize that assessments are for development, not judgment, and outline how they’ll benefit both individual career growth and the company.
Integrate Tools into Regular HR Processes
Instead of viewing assessments as one-offs, incorporate them into annual reviews, which creates a routine of continuous learning and improvement.
Provide Constructive Feedback
Use assessment results to offer specific, actionable feedback. If an employee scores low in a certain area, offer resources, training, or coaching to help them improve.
By following these steps, you’ll be able to seamlessly integrate assessment tools into your processes, enhancing your team’s potential with every assessment.
Wrapping it Up: Take Action and Reap the Rewards
While employee skills assessments have traditionally been used for applicant testing, their value extends far beyond the hiring process. As you start using these tools for ongoing employee development, your organization can unlock a new level of team potential.
Assessments pinpoint skill gaps, so you can personalize training and help your team reach new heights. The result? A flexible, skilled workforce that’s always ready for the challenges ahead.
Ready to build stronger, more capable teams that can adapt and grow with your business?
Talk to a customer success manager about how you can try our advanced testing platform today!
