How to Assess & Grow Tech Talent

What are the top trends in assessments for L&D and talent acquisition?

Recently, Mettl, a tech company that provides online assessment software, tools, and proctoring, set out to discover the answer.

What they found was incredibly informative and will help you better find and retain talent.

Mettl’s 2018 Talent Assessment Study looked at data usage of 2,338,734 talent assessments by 1,757,736 candidates spanning 21 industries from 2016 to 2017. Here are the key takeaways from their report.

The Tech Talent Assessment Landscape is Changing at a Rapid Pace

Mettl found there are three T’s changing the organization paradigm, namely:

  1. Talent: 87.6% of companies will be hiring more than the previous year
  2. Technology: Top tech trends include gamification, online assessments, simulations, assessment centers, 360-degree feedback, and behavioral assessments
  3. Transformation: Includes reduced cost and time, improved candidate experience, scaling securely and precise talent measurement

To adapt to the changing landscape, many organizations are adopting customized assessments, either created in-house or by an assessment company.

via Mettl

Top Talent Assessment Trends for the IT Industry

When it comes to talent assessment in L&D and talent acquisition, Mettl looked at trends for the IT industry.

As Mettl puts it:

With hiring in tech roles driving the talent demand across industries, IT and tech companies have to come up with a talent acquisition and L&D process that is fast, affordable, and effective. This shortage of tech talent is compelling organizations to transform their talent acquisition and L&D process, with the help of technology, to attract and retain quality talent.

This could be use of assessments in the IT industry has increased by 132% overall, by 141% for talent acquisition, and by 99% for L&D. In hiring, importance is placed on precise skill measurement, ensuring higher on-the-job performance, and when it comes to future retention, there’s been an increased focus on a better candidate experience.

Mettl recommends companies use a single vendor to provide all assessment platforms. This can help organizations avoid problems due to multiple platforms and platform integration. What’s more, these vendors can take creating customized assessments and simulators off companies’ to-do lists, saving businesses both time and money.

Why Is This Important?

The battle for top talent is fierce. Talent scarcity is becoming more of an issue, especially for industries like IT, manufacturing, consulting, pharmaceuticals, and others that require highly skilled employees.

That’s why Mettl believes the talent acquisition process needs to evolve in a manner that [is] more engaging, affordable, productive, and faster. By understanding the competency framework required for any given role and using technology-backed tools to measure those competencies, recruiters can find the exact talent they’re looking for. Once that talent is secured, it’s important to retain it via structured L&D programs.

Need help finding and recruiting top tech talent? Check out our staffing solutions, or develop the talent you need from within your organization using our upskilling and reskilling programs.