Employability skills are vital to employee success in the workplace. According to LinkedIn, 89% of recruiters say that poor hires often result from a lack of employability skills.
While technical skills like welding, plumbing, or carpentry are an important part of a successful workforce, well-rounded employees will have both technical and employability skills. Measuring those skills with an assessment can help employers decide if a candidate has the right skills for success before hiring them. Here’s what you need to know about employability skills assessments so you can decide if they are a good fit for your hiring process.
What Is an Employability Skills Assessment?
Employability skills are the non-technical skills needed for essentially every job. They include skills like reading, writing, communication and critical thinking. Employability skills are also sometimes called soft skills, workplace skills, job readiness skills, or essential skills.
A test that measures these general workplace skills is called an employability skills assessment. Tests are usually standardized, multiple-choice tests similar to the SAT many people take in high school.
What Does An Employability Skills Assessment Measure?
An employability skills assessment measures a candidate’s non-technical skills. The assessment is not job-specific, and candidates do not need specialized knowledge to pass the test. The specific employability skills measured by an assessment will vary depending on who developed the test and why.
Some tests like the NACA Employability Skills Assessment help high school students prepare for the next step after graduation. Other tests, like those from Nocti Business Solutions, are designed to help employers identify a candidate’s skills before they are hired.
Between our two employability skills tests, NBS can help employers accurately identify essential workplace skills including communication, critical thinking, work ethic, and computer skills.
Core Competencies Covered On Our 21st Century Skills for Workplace Success
- Reading Skills
- Math Skills
- Writing Skills
- Speaking and Listening Skills
- Computer Applications and Digital Media
- Reading, Problem-Solving, and Decision Making
- Understanding the “Big Picture”
- Work Ethics
- Positive Attitude
- Independence and Initiative
- Self Presentation
- Attendance
- Collaboration
- Personal Health and Wellness
- Entrepreneurship
- Personal Finance
A full breakdown of competencies and sample questions are available in the assessment blueprint.
Core Competencies Covered On Our Employability Skills Test
- Applied Academic Skills
- Critical Thinking Skills
- Resource Management and Systems Thinking
- Information Use
- Communication Skills
- Technology Use
- Interpersonal Skills
- Personal Qualities
A full breakdown of competencies and sample questions are available in the assessment blueprint.
Who Should Use An Employability Skills Assessment?
Employability skills assessments are most often administered by schools or employers and taken by students or job candidates. Specific applications for an assessment will depend on what the test is designed to measure.
At NBS, we specialize in assessments that help employers accurately assess the knowledge and skills of their current and potential employees. Our tests are a great fit for any employer who are looking for a pre-hire screening tool.
Many of our manufacturing clients use the 21st Century Skills for Workplace Success assessment to determine an applicant’s workplace readiness before moving through other stages of the hiring process. This test is similar to the ACT WorkKeys career assessments and can sometimes be used as a WorkKeys alternative. Please contact us if you have questions about this assessment and if it is a good fit for your hiring process.
What Are The Benefits of An NBS Employability Skills Assessment?
Quantifiable Data. Every hiring decision should be based on quantifiable data. NBS assessments give you the unbiased data you need to hire the best possible candidate quickly and confidently.
Comprehensive Tests. Our assessments are not self-guided ethics quizzes or twenty-question reading and math tests. They are robust assessments specifically designed to measure employability skills and give an accurate and reliable picture of a candidate’s workplace readiness.
Subject Matter Expertise. Both of our employability assessments were developed with NBS’s sister organization, NOCTI, and are based on industry standards developed by subject matter experts and industry professionals. A panel of subject matter experts regularly reviews the assessments to ensure they are relevant and accurately measure the skills most important to employers.
Legally Defensible. Any test used to make a hiring decision must provide accurate and fair results, or the employer may be at risk for a hiring lawsuit. Every NBS assessment follows rigorous test-development standards to ensure results are consistent, reliable, and completely unbiased.
Training Insights. NBS test scores are broken down by section, so you can see the candidate’s score for each competency. This helps you identify strengths and weaknesses. If someone scores poorly on technology skills, you can plan extra training to bridge those knowledge gaps and get your new employee up to speed faster.
Build A Skilled Workforce with NBS
If you are interested in adding a skills assessment to your hiring process, contact us today. Our assessment specialists can answer your questions and help you create a hiring process that gives you the data you need to fill every position with skilled and competent employees.
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