Recruiting a new employee for a company is a complex task that involves several steps until you find the right candidate. From CV assessment to interviews and challenges, all of these are essential to assess the perfect fit to fill a vacancy.
Besides these basic steps, each job category requires specific assessments in order to assess specific skills. That’s the case for tech recruitment, especially when hiring computer engineers and developers. When hiring a developer, you, as a recruiter, need to be able to assess their most specific programming skills, and that can only be done with coding tests and challenges that put their knowledge and comprehension of coding languages to the test.
In-person coding interviews can be a good way to test developers, but they have their inconveniences. You can only carry out a certain number of tests at a time, depending on the space and available resources you have at your company.
To get around this problem, there is a simpler solution that can be beneficial both for you and for your candidates: online coding tests. Bigger companies like Booking.com and Adobe already take advantage of this software to find the best developers for their teams – smaller companies and startups do too! Any company (regardless of size or industry) that’s looking to recruit the most talented developers can benefit from online technical tests.
These tests present several advantages (save time, erase bias, boost candidate experience, etc.), making them a perfect solution to update your recruitment process, test your candidates and select the best developer to join your team and add value to your company.
Why is it so important to find the perfect fit for the position you are trying to fill? A bad hire can carry with it a great cost for the company, both financial and in terms of team performance. Bad hires can increase your company’s turnover rates, demoralize your team and decrease productivity. Also, according to Business 2 Community, it can carry elevated financial costs, going up to 100,000$.
Using an online coding test can prevent all these scenarios, simply because it will give you a realistic insight on your candidates programming skills and abilities. Still not convinced? Keep reading to find out why you should be using this testing software in your recruitment!
Evaluate developers beyond their CVs
An academic degree and a set of good grades isn’t always relevant to spot the best developers. Also, as a tech recruiter, you know that developers are not always good when it comes to writing their resumes. A pre-employment assessment, such as an online coding test, is a great way to evaluate their actual coding skills, going beyond their academic background. By using this kind of software, you may be able to uncover some unexpected talent!
Get access to international talent
The world is becoming more globalized than ever, and candidates no longer restrict themselves to a singular geographic area when searching for a new job position, either for the lack of job opportunities in their own countries or the wish to have an international work experience.
Moreover, companies are looking to internationalize their teams in order to improve company culture and create a more understanding environment within the team.
Using an online coding test will allow you to test candidates’ skills even if they live in a different country, saving time and money in flights.
More convenience for the candidate
A large portion of candidates apply for a new job while still being employed. These so-called “passive candidates” are not actively looking for a new job opportunity but are willing to accept a better offer. With this in mind, you can expect for some candidates to have a busy schedule. Passive candidates will find it difficult to be available to take a coding test at your office, especially considering that coding tests can take several hours to complete.
With an online coding test, you are allowing your candidates to work around their schedules to complete the coding test in a calmer and more comfortable environment, and without the need for them to miss a day at work, in case they are currently employed.
Creation of an internal talent database
In case of a turnover, it’s always important to have an internal database of previous candidates. This will save you time when opening a new recruitment process, as you will have previously assessed good candidates that you can reach out to in case you need to.
Online coding test software allow you to save and rank your candidates’ information and test scores, so you can create an internal database in order to prevent any loss in case of turnover.
Easy integration with Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS)
As a recruiter, you are probably aware of the benefits of an Applicant Tracking System (ATS), and you probably already use one. Did you know that some online coding test software allow for a simple and easy integration with several ATS?
Integrating this type of pre-employment tests with your ATS will create a seamless and modern recruitment system that will create more qualified insights into your candidates’ programming skills.
Larger number of candidates tested at a time
During the recruitment process, even though you may use a coding test as an initial screening method, you will still be testing a large number of applicants. Considering this, it may not be the most practical to perform these tests in office.
By performing them online, you will be able to test a large number of candidates in a short period of time, speeding up the recruitment process and finding the best candidate in an easier and faster way.
How to choose the best online coding test
Now that you know all the benefits that come from using online coding tests, you should know some of the best tips to choose the best one that fits into your goals and business.
The first thing you need to know is: what are the programming languages you are looking to test? Is it HTML, C++, JavaScript, or all of them? Even though you might be tempted to choose the one that offers the largest number of options, you should think about the specific programming languages that your company uses. If your knowledge on this is limited, consult with the developing team and have them give you useful insights on the right way to go.
Once you decide the software you will be using, have the development team test it themselves. They will be able to tell you if it provides a user-friendly experience, if the tests are relevant for the tasks they perform, among other things. Also, ask your team to look into the custom question possibilities. Can you create and build your own questions, that reflect exactly what you’re looking for?
Finally, once you’ve selected the online coding test you will be using to assess your candidates, try to match the test options to the actual job tasks that are mostly commonly performed at your company.
Make the best choice for your company!
As you can see, there are many advantages in using online coding tests to assess your candidates’ programming skills. Choose the one that best fits your company’s needs and start taking advantage of a faster and insightful recruitment process!
