Finding the right person for an open role can be difficult. It is not only about finding someone with the right technical skills, but also about finding that person who fits seamlessly into your culture.

Candidates can look good on paper to both the recruiter and hiring manager, seem like a good culture fit but may not necessarily have the depth of experience or knowledge the role requires. So how can you ensure a good culture fit has the right technical skills before the first round interview? You can technically test them.

What is personalised technical testing?

Personalised technical testing is the process of using senior technical staff such as SAs and engineers from your talent management service provider to perform a technical interview with potential candidates, prior to the hiring manager interviewing them. The testing is customised to the role, and the organisation, by building a detailed brief on the areas and skills that are critical to the role they are hiring for. Once the brief has been built, the interviewer is selected based on the expertise needed to uncover the candidate’s skillset.

The technical expert will then build a set of interview questions to discover the depth of knowledge the candidate has and provide feedback to the recruiter and the hiring manager based on their findings.

The report details the candidate’s areas of strengths and weaknesses and their experience in delivering projects in the areas specified by the brief. One of the best parts of this report is that it allows the hiring manager to focus on the key areas they want to delve even deeper on with the candidate in their interview as they have the data at their fingertips.

The main benefit: time

Hiring candidates can be a time-consuming process, especially if you don’t get it right the first time. Recruiters will screen a range of CV’s and provide only the most suitable to the hiring manager for review. Most hiring managers will then proceed to interview these candidates and may find the technical skills needed aren’t quite up to scratch once they dig a little more.

Technical testing allows the hiring managers to gain a deeper understanding of the candidates without having to take time out of their day so they can focus on what matters most, delivering business outcomes.

Another benefit is the quality of candidates placed into a role. We all know someone that can talk to the talk in their interview but may not necessary be able to deliver on what they promise as there may be a skill gap that wasn’t uncovered. This results in a cost to the business in the original recruitment fee, the time to train the new hire, and then the time and money associated with going back out to market to find the right candidate. By technically testing, you eliminate unsuitable candidates, resulting in a quicker recruitment process from the start, a higher performing candidate and better retention.

AC3 is here to help you find the right people. Talk to us today about how our talent management and technical experts can help you recruit for your next role.