Knowledge AND Understanding

What Computer-based Assessments Lack When Hiring Technical Staff

As the landscape begins to change and companies look for better ways to validate and test technical positions in-house and with new hires, what works and what doesn’t depend on your idea of a solid technical screening. After 22 years of handling technical screenings and working with different industries, the hardest part of hiring solid IT technical administrators, engineers, developers, and project managers is having a good job requisition and a solid understanding of the candidate’s skill set.

What is on paper, in the resume, may or may not give a complete overview of a candidate’s foundation experience and cannot show the overall capabilities of the candidate.  In comes the technical assessment and working with the candidate to discover actual knowledge and potential.  I have seen computer-based tests that will check a candidate’s knowledge on specific subjects, but they are unable to go into the potential of a candidate and how one skill may translate into working with another.

Being able to speak with a candidate about what they have done, technical person to technical person, is key in determining a candidate’s real suitability for a role. Derrico technical screening specialists have the knowledge to go in-depth concerning both what the candidate has done and how their background would translate into working with new technology. We have helped many of our clients in assessing new positions and moving both employees and new candidates into the successful paths for growth.

While computer-based skills assessments do a good job determining what a potential candidate understands now, it has no way to assess what they are capable of or what true strengths and weakness the candidate possesses.  Computer-based assessments provide information, but no understanding.

We had a client working with a development project hiring software engineers and junior level developers to handle a re-engineering project.  The main position of a lead software engineer was being filled. One of the candidates had great credentials and on paper: straight knowledge.  When performing the technical screening, character traits became evident. Before the end of the technical screening, it was clear to the Derrico senior software engineer screener that while the candidate was technically sound in his knowledge, he was a little abusive with language and didn’t understand the fundamentals of leading in today’s diverse environments.

That is a small example of how a good technical screening can set apart your candidates.  It is also a way to see how the candidates will behave under pressure.  There have been plenty of times that a candidate has let their language slip into the gutter, or just flat-out believe that there is no one better than they are regarding a specific subject.  We even had one candidate express that not even God could question him on his expertise.

Let us help your company find the best possible candidates for a position or work with you in determining if a current employee is ready for the next level. When you don’t have the expertise in-house to make a solid technical assessment, Derrico is your partner in providing both knowledge and understanding for successful staffing.