Computer Adaptive Testing helps in 40% faster screening of job candidates

Assessment methodology used earlier only by GRE and GMAT is now available to everyone thanks to Cloud Computing.

It' a common complaint of test takers that questions asked were either too easy or too tough and does not allow them to showcase their abilities. The traditional approach to testing administers a fixed set of questions to all test takers. This works reasonably well for the average middle-of-the-bell-curve crowd but fails badly in assessing top or bottom rankers.

That's why every reputed assessment test like GRE and GMAT has moved to Computer Adaptive Testing or CAT.

 

A Computer Adaptive Test works just as it sounds. It adapts. Based on your response to a given question, the system determines the next question to be asked. The CAT provides a more accurate assessment of candidate’s abilities because it administers a customized test that adapts, challenges and showcases candidate’s abilities. A CAT exam needs 40-50% fewer questions to accurately assess a person’s skill, compared to fixed online or paper-based test.

Until now, CAT methodology was available only to large assessors, employers and University. Cloud-based testing service providers have now brought the power of CAT to every recruiter, employer and coaching center. You can now create tests on various online assessment platforms and benefit from superior and faster assessments using adaptive testing.

SkillSign is one such platform which leverages on a cloud-based platform to provide cutting edge Computer Adaptive Testing capability on pay-per-use basis without needing any technical knowledge or expensive IT infrastructure. A recruiter or an employer can now easily differentiate run-of-the-mills from the best and improve their revenue.

If you are interested in knowing more about Computer Adaptive Technology and Online Testing, please visit our website www.skillsign.com

Developing an aptitude test for Freshers

It’s fun to create an aptitude test for new hires. All that you have to do is to add some subjective, some 'IQ' types, some technical question and get those hapless candidates to take the test. Your organization will be thankful to you for the test that you have created and those hapless candidates will rarely complain if you, in an unlikely case, make any mistake!

Right? Wrong!! Are you sure that your new test 

• meets the requirement given in role or job description?
• weighs the different questions in scorecard appropriately based on their difficulty and criticality levels?
• conforms to equal opportunity employment requirement?
• does not give undue importance to a skill or attitude that are not that critical in the job, and vice versa?
•  is not too easy or too difficult to make results useless in screening candidates?
•  has adequate, not more nor less, number and variety of questions to assess the desired skills and behavior.

Creating an aptitude test for new hires is not really difficult but it’s easy to make mistakes and a wrong hiring decision can be very expensive. The above check list was useful when I created or administered tests to thousands of employees for my employers.

Happy Assessing....

Project Management Institute Asia-Pacific events July-Sep 2011

For more details, please visit www.pmi.org

Event	Date	Location
PMINZ National Conference	5-7 Jul-11	Auckland, New Zealand
PMI Japan Forum	16-17 Jul-11	Tokyo, Japan
PMI India National Conference	8-10 Sep-11	Bangalore, India
PMI China Congress	16-17 Sep-11	Beijing, China
PMI HK PM Forum	24-Sep-11	Hong Kong

Developing an aptitude test for recruitment - a Basic Primer

It’s fun to create an aptitude test for new hires. All that you have to do is to add some subjective, some ‘IQ’ types, some technical question and get those hapless candidates to take the test. Your organization will be thankful to you for the test that you have created and those hapless candidates will rarely complain if you, in an unlikely case, make any mistake!

Right? Wrong! Are you sure that your new test

1.       meets the requirement given in role or job description?

2.       weighs the different questions in scorecard appropriately based on their difficulty and criticality levels?

3.       conforms to equal opportunity employment requirement?

4.       does not give undue importance to a skill or attitude that are not that critical in the job, and vice versa?

5.       is not too easy or too difficult to make results useless in screening candidates?

6.       has adequate, not more nor less, number and variety of questions to assess the desired skills and behavior.

Creating an aptitude test for new hires is not really difficult but it’s easy to make mistakes and a wrong hiring decision can be very expensive. The above check list was useful when I created or administered tests to thousands of employees for my employers.

Supervised versus Unsupervised Online test

Unsupervised or unproctored online tests are cost effective and saves time for assessed as well as assessor. If you are looking to hone your skills, these unsupervised tests provide you all the flexibility that you need at a very little cost as I believe that you will be honest to yourself. For behavioral assessments, where there is no clear right or wrong answer, unsupervised tests provide very reliable results.

However, as you would have guessed easily, unsupervised tests expecting specific answers are prone to identity fraud and can be compromised. Many organizations hesitate to use unsupervised test for this reason. But organizations can gain from the flexibility provided by unsupervised tests without losing the integrity of assessment by using one or more of the following methods.

1.       Post-test Validation:

Follow up with questions based on the test during the interview for the shortlisted candidates. This can be very effective if planned right.

2.       Unsupervised screening followed by supervised test for shortlisted candidates

By comparing the scores achieved in different modules of the two tests, one can filter out majority, nut not all, of identity frauds. Assessor also has a choice of using only the latest test score or a suitably weighted average of two tests.

3.        Access control

Allow only previously validated users (student or job candidates) to take the test at a specified time, possibly in conjunction with extra identity validation features like keylogging or webcam snapshot recording.

6 things to keep in mind while administering written tests to job applicants

1.       Make it short and snappy. Unless, you are hiring IBM’s new CEO or new Secretary General of UN, your written test for almost any job applicant should never go beyond an hour or 40 questions.

2.       Make your tests before the actual need arise and pre-stress them.

3.       If you need to administer tests to a large pool of candidates, take advantage of technology to

a.       Auto-randomize questions  or use Computer Adaptive Testing to improve test results quality and reduce possibility of cheating.

b.      Allow tests to be taken at different times and locations.

c.       Provides quick result and statistical analysis

4.       Don’t forget to explain the scope and objective of the test before the start and then make sure that you provide feedback to test-takers on their performance

5.       Provide a comfortable, secure and quite place to test-takers to minimize extraneous factors affecting results

6.       Keep refreshing your test contents at regular intervals.