There is a phrase in the employment testing industry that’s popping up everywhere.
Skills-based testing.
The phrase has caught on with good reason because skills-based testing has proven to be accurate, fair, and highly predictive of future job performance.
As the topic of skills-based testing continues to grow in popularity, it’s easy for its definition to drift to encompass other types of tools, tests, and applications. Just as “behavioral testing” became a catch-all phrase when tools like personality tests were falling out of favor in the 90s, there are signs this type of drift or “mission creep” is occurring as it relates to skills-based testing.
For more than 30 years, the focus of our business has been skills-based testing. As popularity increases, our interest is to help HR professionals recognize what skills-based testing is – and isn’t – by maintaining a clear understanding of this type of testing and the advantages true skills-based testing provides.
DEFINING SKILLS-BASED TESTING
Skills-based testing is a process that assesses a candidate’s skills and abilities for a specific role. At its core, skills-based testing is a work sample. Work samples are contextually relevant to activities performed during work. Work samples, or skills-based tests, elicit actions that can be observed and measured for overall effectiveness or mastery.
These tests come in a variety of forms and complexity. They can focus on a specific skill or task such as a typing test, or a more complicated work product like a sales interaction or problem-solving scenario. Each test assesses and quantifies specific competencies or skills.
Today, work samples are often in the form of job simulations. The advantage of simulations is that they replicate real workplace situations where candidates must demonstrate their level of mastery related to cognitive, technical, or soft skills – with many simulations assessing all three.
RECOGNIZING THE DRIFT
Where the term “Skills-Based Testing” starts to drift is when it’s applied to a broader range of hiring processes and practices, such as “Skills-Based Hiring” that may or may not be tied to a valid, skills-based evaluation of job competencies. For instance, if a “skills-based” process is built around information gleaned from a resume scanner or keyword filter, it will never deliver the same rigor and impact as a skills-based test. Plus, these broader applications of skills-based hiring typically involve a more extensive restructuring of HR processes, which can be time-consuming, costly, and unpredictable for employees.
In contrast, skills-based testing avoids these complexities by offering clear, objective assessments without overhauling organizational structures or limiting employees’ career flexibility based on software-driven skills inventories. For companies seeking immediate, accurate, job-specific insights into candidate abilities, skills-based testing remains the most practical and reliable choice.
5 KEY ADVANTAGES TO SKILLS-BASED TESTING
1. Job Relevance – the Unique Difference
Skills-based tests are highly job relevant and directly link to key aspects of the target job. As a result, candidates must demonstrate their ability and skill to perform those specific tasks and activities. Employers can see and evaluate real performance then use the results to predict future job success. For example, consider the NFL. Before the draft, the NFL conducts the “combine” with college prospects. The purpose is to simulate game conditions and gather work samples such as running, jumping, and catching. The results are used to assess performance and decide if the prospect has a reasonable chance of succeeding in the NFL. These work samples significantly increase the odds of selecting the right players. For both the NFL – and for employers – seeing performance first is paramount in predicting the probability of future success.
2. Candidate Acceptance
Have you ever heard an NFL prospect complain about the combine? No! Obviously, the activities are directly relevant to success on the job. These candidates are being screened on job-relevant work samples. There’s no mystery about what is being measured or why.
In employment testing, most problems occur when candidates see no clear connection between the test and the job. That’s when trust and acceptance begin to break down, which is exactly what happened with personality testing. These tests lost favor because candidates found it difficult to see relevance to the job, and ultimately this resulted in numerous court challenges.
In contrast, skills-based tests enjoy strong candidate acceptance because the assessments clearly align with job requirements. Intuitively, they make sense, and candidates immediately understand their relevance. That’s why candidate reaction to skills-based testing is overwhelmingly positive, and organizations using them are viewed as employers of choice.
For examples of discrimination charges based on personality testing, see the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) website, including this major retail chain (2018) and this nationwide retail pharmacy and health care company (2018).
3. Candidate Fairness
The focus on performance also makes a significant difference in test fairness and legal defensibility. Assessing actual performance minimizes the influence and risk of bias. The measurement of skill-based performance is objective and standardized. Candidate results are determined by the extent of practice and mastery of the specific skill set. Biases related to ethnicity, demographics, or background have far less impact on the outcome of skills-based tests. As a result, these tests mitigate the risk of human biases, resulting in less adverse impact on protected classes.
4. Developmental Diagnostic
Another practical advantage of skills-based testing is the aspect of diagnostics. Skills-based tests are based on workplace skills that directly relate to successful job performance. Over time, job skills can be honed and strengthened with strategic coaching and feedback. Most other employment tests measure innate traits like personality, intelligence, or personal characteristics which are less amenable to change and development. In contrast, skills-based tests easily connect to personal developmental planning – and when skills are nurtured and developed, they quickly improve employee performance and effectiveness.
5. Predictive Precision
When comparing the predictive accuracy of different assessment methods, skills-based testing stands head-and-shoulders above the rest. A key goal of employment testing is to maximize predictive accuracy to minimize potential hiring errors. The good news is there are only two main types of hiring errors. Type I or “false positive” errors occur when a company hires a candidate that cannot do the job. Type II or “false negative” errors occur when a company rejects or passes over a candidate who could have done the job. The bad news is: all tests include both types of errors. So, the question becomes, How do I win?
The winning solution is to use the most accurate test available – as early in the hiring process as possible. This will help you reduce both types of errors. Since skills-based work samples and simulations are proven to be the most accurate, using them early in the hiring process will mitigate Type I errors (hiring candidates you should have rejected) as well as mitigating Type II errors (rejecting candidates you should have hired).
Placing less accurate screening tools before skills-based tests decreases their effectiveness and value. Using less precise tools first increases both types of errors. This also reduces your applicant pool by screening out potentially good hires before they’ve had a chance to prove their abilities.
Let’s Get Started
This is a bold statement, but it’s founded on more than 30 years of research: the highest accuracy in predicting future job performance and success is skills-based testing. By understanding and embracing the true definition of skills-based testing, you can avoid the drift and reap the benefits of what works!
To learn more about skills-based testing, click here, or call us at 888.332.0648 to discuss your specific hiring needs.