Technical Skills

Before you begin screening individuals, you must establish your screening criteria based on the job requirements and required degree of competency. You can use a competency framework or a Technical Skills matrix to define the necessary and desirable talents for each role and assign a score or rating to each one. This will help you establish a clear and consistent criterion for evaluating candidates while also reducing bias and subjectivity in your screening process.

Use online evaluations

Online exams are one of the most effective and scalable methods for screening technical skills in a high-volume recruiting setting. Online assessments are tests or exercises that examine a candidate’s knowledge, skills, and abilities in a particular topic or technology. You can utilise online exams to screen out candidates who do not meet your basic requirements and score them based on their performance. You may also use online assessments to verify candidates’ résumé claims and evaluate their problem-solving and coding abilities. There are numerous online assessment platforms and tools available, such as HackerRank, Codility, and TestGorilla, that provide pre-made or customisable examinations for a variety of technical professions and abilities.

Conduct telephone or video interviews

In a high-volume recruiting environment, phone or video interviews are an efficient way to assess technical abilities. These interviews can assess a candidate’s communication abilities, motivation, and suitability for the role and corporate culture. They can also be used to ask technical questions about the candidate’s approach to a problem, the tools they use or desire to learn, how they test and debug code, and how they work with other engineers or stakeholders. To ensure consistency and objectivity while interviewing candidates, it is recommended that you use a structured interview guide or scorecard to compare responses and evaluations.

Review portfolios or projects

In a high-volume recruiting environment, assessing candidates’ portfolios or projects might help screen for technical skills. These examples of work or accomplishments demonstrate their technological talents and abilities, including GitHub repositories, personal websites or blogs, online courses or credentials, and hackathons or competitions. During the review, you can assess the quality, inventiveness, and relevance of the portfolios or projects to the role. You can also ask candidates follow-up questions on the goal or purpose of their portfolio or project, the problems they encountered and overcame, how they applied their technical abilities or expertise, and how they assessed the impact or outcome. Using a checklist or rubric to assess portfolios or projects might help applicants receive feedback and praise.

Ask for suggestions or recommendations

In a high-volume recruiting environment, you can check technical skills by soliciting references or recommendations from current employees, your network, or the community. These sources of information can attest to candidates’ technical proficiency and talents. You can contact your present or past coworkers, managers, mentors, professional contacts, industry peers, experts in your sector or specialisation, and online or offline communities or organisations. This allows you to gain insights or thoughts on candidates’ technical skills and talents while also developing trust and rapport with them. Furthermore, referrals and recommendations can be used to reward or motivate your referrers and recommenders while also expanding your talent pool and reach.

Read More: What Are the Most Effective Retention Strategies for Technology Recruits?

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