Taking tests are never fun, but they are a window into a person’s abilities and aptitudes. That’s why more and more employers are using them as a tool to pre-screen candidates for the right combination of Competence, Ethics, Emotional Intelligence, and Ambition/Drive.

According to Harvard Business Review, 76% of organizations with more than 100 employees use tests for external hiring. And the more senior the role, the more likely the employer is to use assessments to identify candidates with the right traits and abilities. According to HBR, it is estimated that 72% of middle management positions and up to 80% of senior positions have pre-qualification tests.

There are several reasons why pre-employment assessments are useful.

1. Resumes don’t paint the whole picture

Resumes are a great starting point to view a candidate’s summary of experiences, but it talks nothing of their other attributes like interpersonal skills, management skills, ability for defusing confrontations, nor their level of ambition, as examples. That’s when employers turn to pre-employment assessment tools to gain a better picture of whether the candidate will be a good fit to the corporate culture.

2. Specific Skill Test

Certain jobs require a specific skill set that is difficult to convey within a resume. Imagine a surgeon who must perform triple bypass surgeries, or a pilot that must fly a jumbo jet. We cannot rely on resumes to simply assure us that people who claim they can do it can actually do so. Imagine the chaos that will ensue. There needs to be a qualifying test (or in the case of the two examples above, real-life demonstrations and proof) before the person can be placed.

3. Ethics and Morals

It’s fairly easy to convey experience and ambition during interviews, but how do you measure someone’s ethics? It’s an important aspect to consider when hiring, as ethics and morals can ultimately drive a company’s corporate culture. Jack Welch said it best, “First we get the right people on the bus, and the wrong people off the bus, then we’ll figure out how to take it someplace great.” The last thing you want is someone who doesn’t buy into your corporate culture, or even worse, will derail the bus.

Great! Let’s do it!

Let’s do it! I hear you say. But administering all these tests requires a lot of resources. You need professionals to find the relevant questions and put the tests together; technology tools to administer and grade the tests; and finally you need people to comb through the results of the tests to ultimately select the right candidate. All of this takes effort that an SME (or even a corporation) might not have the resources for. Not to worry, simply outsource the admin tasks to someone who is best at it. Workholler has the platform to not only filter and matches candidates by experience, skill-set, and availability, we also offer a wide range of aptitude tests that are used to pre-qualify candidates for a wide-variety of roles. With our six-step pre-qualifying assessments, we take vetting to the next level.

According to Statistics Canada, the number of temporary workers in Canada increased by 50 percent in the last 20 years, compared to a 33% increase in permanent employees. This trend is showing no signs of slowing as businesses and workers both seek flexibility with regards to finding work and staff. Temporary work serves a useful purpose in the following scenarios.

• Students looking for work and income while attending school.
• Seniors nearing or in retirement looking for reduced work hours while remaining active in the workplace.
• People with constrained work hours such as parents of young children or caretakers of family members.
• Those with stable jobs but are looking to supplement their income with side hustles.
• People who are investigating a new industry during career changes.

On the other hand, there are also a multitude of reasons why a business should consider hiring temporary workers.

1. Limited Resources

Small businesses or start-ups that do not have resources to hire and retain full-time staff.

2. Seasonal Demands

Seasonal Businesses or a sudden spike in demand where the staff is needed only for a short period of time. For example, after a promotional event, there is a sudden spike in inbound calls

3. Immediate Need

To cover for immediate needs such as sick leave, maternity leave, vacations, and other short-term staffing gaps.

4. No dedicated HR

Small & Medium Enterprises including Start-ups that do not necessarily have a dedicated HR department can trial new staff on a temporary basis to test for skill and fit, as well as to see if a full-time position is necessary or if the gap can be filled by part-time or temporary staff.

Workholler’s technology platform allows businesses to connect with qualified, available, and pre-vetted local talent, who can be invited to apply for open positions. Since candidates have already passed Workholler’s 6-step validation process, the hiring process for employers is drastically shortened, and staffing gaps significantly reduced.

Having worked in both corporate and tech worlds, I have come across countless admin tasks on a daily basis, which although boring and redundant, can take up a good chunk of my time. Whether you’re a lawyer, a sales director or a people manager, there always seems to be an endless stream of admin work waiting for you no matter what role you have.

While it’s important to maintain core competency in-house, oftentimes it’s more efficient and cost-effective to outsource the following tasks.

1. Customer Service (Inbound/Outbound): CSR’s are needed to field inbound calls, and to make the necessary outreach to potential new clients.
2. Social Media Coordinators: The importance of social media in business is growing at warp speed. Whether it is about brand awareness or boosting sales, social media has an important role to play.  Most studies say that there needs to be a minimum one post per day for improved customer engagement.
3. Finance Admin: A perfect fit for financial services companies and accounting firms where someone can quickly step in and provide support in basic financial procedures and checklists, handle bookkeeping, accounts payable and receivables.
4. Marketing Admin: Do you need to keep an eye on what the competition is doing, prepare marketing material or perform market research? Seasoned marketing pros can be the best fit to offload these tasks.
5. Sales Admin: While your sales team is focused on developing new markets, the Sales Admin can help enter leads in CRM tools, follow up with potential clients, answer any product related questions, and overall provide support to your sales team so they can focus on getting more sales.
6. Office Admin: This role is often overlooked. However, Office Admins are often the lifelines of a growing business, who ensures smooth day-to-day running of the company’s activities, and contributes greatly to driving growth and operational efficiency. This role requires excellent organizational and leadership skills.
7. HR Admin: HR Admin can help to provide support in both hiring and general HR requirements, including benefits, pension, and workplace safety.
8. Law Clerk/Paralegal: Those who have worked in law firms understand the mountainous quantity of admin tasks required to run a law office. The paperwork alone is staggering. It takes a skilled Law Clerk or Paralegal to take care of these tenuous admin tasks, and they are an absolutely invaluable part of the team.

Workholler has the technology platform to help your business find great candidates for your next support staff.

The Canadian economy has been a benchmark for the rest of the world ever since the Great Recession. We have a strong financial system, an educated worker class, and solid resources & manufacturing base.

However, November jobs data posted the largest job loss in the country since 2009, with unemployment rate jumping to 5.9 percent from 5.5 percent in October. Labour participation rate (the number of working age adults with jobs or actively looking for jobs) has also inched lower to 65.6%.

Coupled with a global slowdown and on-going trade tensions, what does this all mean for job seekers?

It’s yet unclear whether the global macro events will lead to another recession, however it is prudent to prepare in case of such an event.

Here are some common sense suggestions:

1. Top up your reserve fund. The general wisdom is to have 3 months of spending saved up. To be conservative, target 6 months.
2. Find ways to cut spending. Does anyone really need a $15 organic anti-oxidant enriched kale juice? Eat an apple instead.
3. Pay down high-interest debt.
4. Update your resume in case of layoffs.
5. Supplement your income with a side-hustle.

In today’s world, it’s not survival of the fittest, but survival of the most prepared.