Talent Assessment

Talent assessments are a set of tools used by HR managers and recruiters to identify the best-matching candidate for the position. The main criteria being assessed are soft skills, cultural fit, values, and the potential to perform according to requirements of the IT company. In the competitive environment of the IT industry, technical skills and previous software development experience are not the only things that play a role in whether the candidate will acquire the desired position.  

In fact, according to a study conducted by LinkedIn, no less than 57% of recruiters use soft skills talent assessments as a part of their talent acquisition process, while 60% of hiring specialists claimed that such talent assessment will play a bigger role in the next five years. To add to the previous facts, it’s critical to consider the match of potential candidates with the company's values, as value-driven companies tend to attract more people and inspire their teams to perform with 400% higher return. 

Forty recruiters from Alcor admit the importance of talent assessment and thus dedicate significant attention to this factor. The talent assessment process was integral to the success of our work with BigCommerce. Our recruiters especially focused on checking candidates’ English proficiency as a critical factor for successful work in the international team. Additionally, we scheduled HR interviews to check the soft skills and motivation of candidates. Such a move allowed us to understand if these candidates aligned with client values. Over a year, our recruiters expertly selected and hired 58 highly skilled software engineers for their team. 

Here are some practical ideas to help you with talent assessment: 

1. Simulation tasks - The situational interview question is a reliable way to check the skills and way of thinking of the candidate. All you need to do is create a potential problem that is possible to appear in the workplace. In the case of software developers a code review can stand as such a task. Ask potential candidates to take a look at a piece of code and discover some mistakes, bugs, or possible ways to improve it. It will let you see how diligent and focused specialists are in their approach to work.  

2. Assess the cognitive qualities - Have you ever heard of “General Aptitude Tests”? It’s a great tool for talent assessment. These tests can measure a wide range of skills, such as numerical reasoning, verbal reasoning, abstract reasoning, and spatial awareness. They can also evaluate a candidate's personality traits, such as conscientiousness, openness, and emotional stability. 

3. Check ethical values - It is unwise to rely on a candidate who claims to have never encountered an ethical dilemma. To reveal their real behavior, ask them ethical-based questions like ‘What would you do if you witnessed a colleague acting unethically?’, ‘What would you do if you suspected a manager was behaving unethically?’, or ‘How do you handle your mistakes at work?’ etc.  

Use these talent assessment methods as they are critical to identifying dedicated software developers for your tech team.