technology in the hiring process

Reflections on 2020: How Hardships Led to HR and Hiring Innovations

January 25, 2021 by Michael Callen

It’s safe to say 2020 was unprecedented for all industries, and HR professionals are no exception. In modern history, only the 2008 financial crisis compares in terms of businesses being thrown into uncharted territory almost overnight.

Similar to the events of last year, the financial crisis created widespread uncertainty in the economy and caused an economic collapse. It forced us to be creative, hone our skills, and figure out how to be better once the storm had passed.

There are many similarities between these two cataclysmic events, but there are also important differences. The shock to the global economy due to the pandemic has been significantly more severe and come much faster; in 2008, the effects took years to play out. But the most significant difference relates to how and where we work.

When everyone but essential workers could no longer go into physical offices to work, companies had to shift suddenly from on-site to off-site working arrangements. This overnight change resulted in major HR challenges, but the outcomes have been incredibly positive.

Leaders have continued learning from these challenges and putting those lessons to good use. The pandemic forced businesses to look outside the box and sometimes take drastic steps to keep things afloat amid unanticipated conditions and uncharted territory. As a result of these challenges, these same companies are uniquely positioned to build on these experiences in the months and years ahead.

Positioned for the Years Ahead

These changes are already playing out in several sectors. In the banking industry, for example, risk management teams have had to work to keep up with credit risk and payment management. Some companies have taken notes from big finance and are developing automated underwriting services to help retailers and small business customers reduce their losses.

Similarly, the healthcare industry has seen some potential long-term benefits of being forced to innovate so quickly. Telehealth (i.e., connecting with a physician by audio and video) is on the rise due to COVID-19. The success and potential cost savings of this form of meeting with medical professionals have caused a reimagining of how healthcare will be offered in the future.

For HR professionals, the pandemic has created an undeniable need to invest in nontraditional HR tech tools and infrastructure that enable employees to work remotely. This necessary innovation and transformation have provided a catalyst for HR leaders to reevaluate how other HR services are administered. Ultimately, some of these incredible changes might not have happened for decades had it not been for the pandemic.

Innovations in Pre-Employment Testing in 2020

One of the biggest shifts and HR challenges of 2020 came in determining how to leverage technology in the hiring process. For instance, one of the key elements of the hiring process for many companies involves pre-employment testing. When the pandemic restricted in-person interactions, the HR world had to adjust how it approached testing.

The solution for many companies and HR professionals? Cloud-based pre-employment testing.

As an example, one of our clients had to transition to an online testing model to accommodate the increasing demand for office and clerical staff. This client needed remote pre-employment testing capabilities, and it’s now able to test remotely using our online platform. Because the company was agile and implemented this new way of doing things, it has been able to navigate the pandemic quite well — and set itself up to approach hiring differently in the future.

COVID-19 forced countless companies to reevaluate the way they conducted pre-employment testing in the blink of an eye. As 2021 sees ongoing efforts to combat the pandemic, there has never been more of a need for online testing tools in the hiring process.

Our platform, TestGenius Online, enables companies to conduct their pre-employment tests remotely in a way that is both safe and seamless. To learn more, reach out today.

Why You Should Continue Restructuring Candidate Screening

October 26, 2020 by Michael Callen

The COVID-19 pandemic caused firms to restructure candidate screening. While HR departments initially were concerned about being exposed to the virus by hosting on-site testing and interviews — or being responsible for exposing others — it wasn’t long before they shifted to an entirely virtual approach.

Now, job applications are almost universally handled online. Pre-employment assessments are taken and conducted remotely. Interviews happen courtesy of Zoom and Skype. Digital communications like AI job outreach programs enable recruiters to reach out to candidates, and texts and chatbots connect some job seekers with HR representatives. Some firms are even leveraging analytics tools to identify key applicant information.

Ultimately, the role technology plays in the hiring process has gone from an exciting new option to an absolute necessity. Everything has changed, and it will likely keep changing well into the future. So what’s next?

Candidate Screening in the Future

As we move forward, firms will continue to find ways to innovate with regard to their candidate screening processes. Adopting cloud-based software that functions both internally and externally should be a major focus, and so should casting a broader net and engaging with more applicants. As always, analyzing the results of this new approach to see what is effective and what has room for improvement is vital at every stage.

How can HR teams build on these changes for the future? Here are three ways to spark further innovation:

1. Gain a better knowledge of your candidates.

By making technical assessment tools a focus point of your hiring processes, you’ll ensure you’re never in the dark about a candidate’s potential performance or abilities. These pre-employment assessments let you understand candidates’ strengths and weaknesses and then compare them to one another. Ultimately, you can make data-driven hiring decisions based on performance-related metrics.

2. Offer an improved candidate experience.

Creating a positive candidate experience is an essential part of business success. Because the hiring experience is the first interaction most applicants have with your company, you want to offer an excellent first impression and engage them well. By positively welcoming candidates, you compel them to care about your brand — and perhaps become brand ambassadors and high-quality hires.

3. Cut costs.

Using different types of pre-employment tests can also help you cut hiring costs. Candidates can take these tests from anywhere they have an internet connection (and at basically any time). As a result, internal resources that you would typically use for every step of the hiring process — from application to testing — can instead support other initiatives.

To be certain, the pandemic has caused extensive devastation and disruption. But by learning from the changes and focusing on the positive possibilities ahead, we can break away from old paradigms and create new ways of operating that are more effective than ever before.

Why Businesses Should Keep Using Online Pre-Employment Testing Long After COVID-19

September 24, 2020 by Michael Callen

When the COVID-19 pandemic began (and changed life as we knew it), the economic impacts were unprecedented. While many businesses struggled, others faced increased demand and had to adapt their processes and operations to meet the moment.

Part of that shift involved hiring processes, as more business often meant the need for more employees. For many HR departments, moving to online pre-employment testing was a way to source new hires while adhering to social distancing guidelines that make in-person assessments nearly impossible.

Now, as businesses around the country reopen, employers are evaluating the current state of testing as it pertains to the new rules of operation. With 72% of job seekers expressing hesitance about returning to physical office spaces and almost 40% of employers putting measures in place to reduce employee capacity and maximize the distance between workers, many don’t know what to choose: return to in-person pre-employment testing or continue with online exams?

Let’s dive into why online pre-employment testing should remain a staple of hiring processes; we’ll then answer some lingering questions employers might have about how to use it moving forward.

Determining the Role of Technology in Your Hiring Process

Online testing isn’t new. It is only new to those employers forced to use it in light of the pandemic. Some still have questions and reservations; many worry about applicants cheating by either having someone else take the test for them or using technology to help them find answers. Just like applicants can make their skills sound better on a résumé, employers fear that some candidates could try to make themselves look stronger on assessments than they actually are.

There is no doubt employers should be vigilant — but that’s true regardless of whether testing occurs in-person or online. It’s critically important to ensure that these assessments truly test the skills needed for a position so that the time and resources put toward advertising are worth it in the end. Employers in the U.S. spend roughly $4,000 and 52 days hiring a new worker, and that investment shouldn’t be wasted.

Part of ensuring that online pre-employment testing remains safe and protects your investment, then, is using a testing platform like TestGenius that lets employers test 100% online or 100% in-person if they want to — we also provide a hybrid option that combines in-person test proctoring and online testing. This hybrid approach enables employers that have limited time and resources the ability to assess candidates remotely. Further, employers have found that merely threatening to give a proctored confirmatory test to those who advance in the process is enough to discourage cheating.

Embracing Online Pre-Employment Testing

Viewing online pre-employment testing solely in the context of the pandemic limits the ability to see just how much of an asset it can be in hiring processes long after the pandemic is under control. As businesses develop plans for post-COVID recovery, skills testing will become even more crucial.

Hiring the right talent will be more important than ever, and pre-employment assessments should play a key role. When adopting online pre-employment testing or incorporating an online-proctored hybrid, it’s essential to take full advantage of technology in the hiring process while remembering these three things:

1. Keep connecting. Making online assessments one of your primary methods of screening applicants can feel a bit like you’re distancing from prospects — even after social distancing becomes unnecessary. Trust that you still have the ability to connect with employees or candidates and build relationships with them. Develop a plan for touch points to help ensure engagement remains high and authentic.

2. Trust the results. You may feel wary of online test results when comparing them with in-person results, but there’s no need. Online assessment results are scientifically sound. Trust that you’ll become more comfortable with these findings as you see them bring an influx of great candidates over time.

3. Remain agile. Flexibility has been more necessary than ever over the past few months, and that won’t change. Being agile and ready to pivot when circumstances change should be a top priority as you implement this new kind of testing and prepare to meet any changes the future might bring.

The COVID-19 pandemic has altered numerous aspects of the business landscape, including the shift toward using online pre-employment assessments. Long after the virus is under control and the world moves on, online pre-employment testing should remain a key part of your hiring processes.

Try a demo of one of the most flexible skills testing applications on the market to see how it can strengthen your hiring processes.