​Help Talent Shine Through with These 3 Practical Assessments

Traditional interviews are a solid way to gauge a candidate’s suitability for a role, but they can only go so far. When everyone looks good on paper, it can be tough to sort the real talent from the crowd. The cost of hiring poor candidates is colossal – on average, replacing an employee costs over £30,000 – so making sure you hire the right person in the first place is vital. Practical assessments are a useful way to test people’s skills and see how they cope under pressure. Let’s take a look at three types of tests you can use as part of your selection process.

Choosing the right type of assessment

Setting a Project

Giving candidates a short project to complete in their own time either before or after a formal interview is a good way to see how they apply their skills in practice. The form this takes will depend on the type of role and knowledge required for it, but should be based on something that is realistic to your business. Projects are ideal for more creative roles involving design and writing, but aren’t limited to these.

You can set a task at any stage of the hiring process – use a pre-interview project for every applicant to create a shortlist for interview, or set the task after the interview for the best performers.

Whatever you decide, you should make sure the project gives candidate’s the chance to show off their skills and creativity. Have a clear brief and measurable objectives – you’ll gain valuable insight into how a candidate approaches work, their ability to interpret briefs effectively, and how they work independently. 

Role-play

This is a handy way to test people’s ability to think on the spot and see how they cope with unplanned scenarios. It gives you the chance to assess their character and see if they’d fit in with the rest of the team. You’ll also get a feel for their communication and interpersonal skills.

Role-play is particularly useful for roles including Sales, Retail and Customer Service, where people need to be able to engage and interact with customers and clients effectively.

Interview Task

A written assessment taken at during the interview shows how well people work under pressure with a set deadline, which is great for mimicking a realistic work situation. Bearing this in mind, it’s important to also set a task which can realistically be achieved in the time given. Though it may be tempting to try and squeeze as much as possible out of an interviewee, it’s far better to set one task with the appropriate time allocated to it, than to cram in several tasks with shorter time frames. Let them focus on one task, and do it to the best of their ability, rather than tackling several different ones.

For tasks requiring a degree of creativity, remember to factor in some thinking and planning time. Most people can’t just sit down and produce something great off-the-cuff – time to read and interpret the brief, plus any accompanying materials, is just as important as the time taken to actually create something.

Tips for getting the best out of your candidates

Practical assessments should not be designed to trip candidates up – set them up for success and help true talent to shine through. To do this, you need to consider a few key things:

1. Help them to prepare

For starters, ensure candidates are given plenty of warning that there will be an assessment – don’t just spring it on them mid-interview. Give your candidate’s as much information as possible prior to an assessment. The brief and accompanying materials should be clear and concise whilst giving enough detail for them to understand what is expected of them and what the end result should be.

2. Be consistent

Make sure the assessment is conducted under the same conditions for each candidate – the equipment, materials, brief, location, time and stage of the hiring process that the assessment occurs in should all be kept the same so it’s an even playing-field. Have specific, measurable criteria to mark the assessment.

3. Consider the whole picture

Assessments are a valuable tool to learn more about candidates’ abilities, but sometimes even a talented candidate might not perform their best on the day. Nerves and the pressure will get to some people – just because someone doesn’t do well in an assessment, it doesn’t mean they don’t necessarily have the skills or ability to do the job. Look at the bigger picture, and use assessments as one aspect to test against, rather than the sole deciding factor.

With the cost of replacing employees being so high, recruiters can’t afford to hire the wrong people – having a strong and rigorous recruitment strategy is the key to finding and hiring talented candidates. Creating a fair, consistent and effective assessment will help you see which applicants have the right skills for the job. Use practical assessments combined with traditional interviews to let that all-important talent shine through!