Almost every type of role in every type of industry requires strong skills in communication, whether that is the ability to follow verbal instructions or to craft in-depth technical reports. Testing a candidate on their communication skills helps recruiters make the right hiring decisions.
A communication skills test is an assessment that focuses on the soft skill of communication. Not just the ability to read, write, and speak, but also using active listening and responding to non-verbal cues.
The communication skills test looks at every aspect of communication, assessing each candidate to see how proficient they are in this important aptitude. Combining questions that look at understanding and analysing with a gauge of empathy and a grasp of etiquette, the communication skills test should be an important part of the recruitment process for a number of roles.
The communication skills test assesses how well a candidate can convey an idea, share a point of view, make a convincing case, and other tasks that require employees to correspond with others or exchange information.
To do well on the test, candidates also need to show a tendency to actively listen and accurately interpret non-verbal cues, which is an essential part of verbal communication and is necessary for almost every type of job role.
Candidates should have a strong understanding of empathy and professional etiquette in communication, necessary for the workplace and especially for working with others in a leadership position.
Soft skills are not easy to assess by reading a CV or even in an interview. This is why using a communication skills test as part of the recruitment process can save both money and time.
For popular job postings where dozens or even hundreds of candidates apply, weeding out those who are unsuitable can be a long and laborious process, especially when on the face of it they are all similarly qualified.
A CV sift might help, narrowing down the candidates based on specific criteria like education and experience, but when it comes to important soft skills, a mention on the resume does not mean they have the right level of communication skills for the role you are advertising.
The communication skills test is simple to administer to a large number of candidates, and the easy-to-read results provide quantifiable data that you as a recruiter can use to select the top performers. Each candidate is faced with the same test, the same questions and content, so it levels the playing field and takes away any bias.
Then, it is a much simpler job to choose the applicants who meet or exceed your standards to put through to the next stage (often an interview), reducing both the time and financial cost per hire.
The communication skills test can be used for recruiting candidates for roles such as:
Your line manager has requested a meeting. She explains that she has received some negative feedback about your performance from a colleague. You know the person who made the complaint as you have worked with him in the past. The project he refers to in the feedback was demanding. You worked long hours and did everything you could to ensure you met all requirements. He had very little to do with this project though. You're surprised that he would even know anything about your performance.
How would you respond to your manager?
Explain that this person had very little to do with the project and their feedback can probably be disregarded.
Point out to your manager that you did try and go the extra mile on this project, and that it's difficult to please everyone.
Ask your manager to share the details of this feedback and then reflect on it together, considering how you might use it moving forward.
Say that you are shocked to hear that, as you did try hard on this project, but offer to arrange a meeting to discuss it with the person in question.
Results for the Communication Skills Test along with other assessments the candidate takes will be compiled to produce a candidate report.
The report is automatically generated and available both online and as a downloadable pdf so they can be shared with other team members and employees alike.
In Neuroworx's communication test, candidates will need to answer a range of questions in the situational judgement format that are designed to indicate how well a candidate can communicate with different key stakeholders in the business or team. Their final test score can then be compared to the scores of other applicants.
The test presents a scenario for the candidates to review before selecting what they believe to be the most and least effective actions to take in response. The other available options are mostly generic mistakes or misconceptions, which makes the test challenging and helps measure a candidate's ability more accurately.
During the development process, the test was rigorously analysed to maximise reliability and validity in line with industry best practices. It was created and tested by psychometric experts, and designed to assess communication in a sample of job applicants who have varying professional experience.
Each test is reviewed by a panel of individuals representing diverse backgrounds to check for any sensitivity, fairness, face validity and accessibility issues. This ensures each test-taker has a fair chance of demonstrating the true level of their communication skills and feels the test is high quality.
Our communication test is monitored to ensure it is up-to-date and optimised for performance.
Validated
Neuroworx provides evidence-based recommendations for tests to use for over 750 jobs. Our recommendation engine leverages data from the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) developed by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA).
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Provides all the data and high-level metrics we need to make fast hiring decisions. Neuroworx has been particularly helpful in scaling our operations since we moved to remote working.
Focusing on data reduced the subjective decision making from our hiring process and allowed us to reduce bias and make better hiring decisions.
We used Neuroworx as part of our Finance Graduate Scheme recruitment and it was just what we needed – really simple to send candidates the link to complete and clear to see how they all compared. And great value for money!
Origins
Testing for communication skills can be as simple as asking questions in an interview situation, but with a communication skills test, each candidate is asked the same questions, in the same way, making it quantifiable and removing any unconscious bias from the process.
A conversational skills test looks at all the aspects of communication to see how skilled an applicant is. It includes speaking and listening skills, as well as reading and writing, and also assess clarity, understanding, empathy, and active listening.
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