What is a Skill Assessment?

A good assessment captures the level of proficiency for each skill, to categorize the knowledgebase and identify skill gaps entirely. There are several different ways to assess an individuals skill set, including in person or online, through simulations, tests, questionnnaires, or observations.

Regardless of how the assessment is conducted, it should conform to a specific guideline or requirement to produce valid and reliable results. An unstandardised assessment does not produce results that can be used in any context.

Skills assessments are frequently used in the workplace for recruiting or employee development.

For vacant positions, hiring managers can use a skills assessment test to reduce the number of candidates they must interview or decide among finalist candidates. Besides, Learning and development initiatives for employees are backed up by skills assessments, which are an objective checkpoint that ensures the training is effective as employees start or proceed along a learning path.

Benefits of a skill assessment

• Reduce Bias — the more weight we give to skills assessments, the less we give to factors like age, gender, previous employer, education, address, and other factors that can influence hiring decisions.
• Consistency — in the absence of an assessment, hiring managers rely on human reports of proficiency - which provide no objective definition of a scale.‍
• Personalized Development Plans — skills assessments can pinpoint exactly where someone needs to develop skills, making it easier to develop a relevant, personalized learning plan based on their skill gap and ensure adaptive learning.
• Measure Progress — it is important to regularly assess skills, regardless of whether monitoring the development of in individual or a team is being undertaken. This will confirm progress or identify areas where training and support are not enough.
• Employee Engagement — in fact, skill assessments are all about employee growth; recognizing and supporting their success keeps them motivated.