Technical testing in action on a pc
IT Recruitment & Management

How Technical Testing can improve your IT recruitment process

January 14, 2014 by

As an IT recruitment agency, Blues Point has been using IKM technical assessments for several years to differentiate the service we provide to our clients.  This has proved really popular but some people don’t realise just how clever and versatile the service is – so for today’s blog, I wanted to do an overview of how Blues Point and IKM can help you to recruit for IT professionals.

Technical testing

If you are not familiar with IKM, essentially we believe it to be the best and most versatile product on the market for technical testing.  Unlike many rival products, IKM offer adaptive methodology which means that the test is set up to find the candidate’s level of ability as they make their way through the multiple choice questions.  Once it has established their level, it will adapt accordingly, ensuring that the candidate is challenged to the best of their abilities.  A detailed breakdown of the candidate’s performance and ability is provided on completion of the assessment, and their performance is assessed relative to other test takers.  IKM also recognise that there is no ‘one size fits all’ for technical tests, for IT roles the employer might want to assess  the candidates’ abilities in a very wide range of technologies.  For this purpose, we can create a bespoke test based on your requirements.  The library of topics is expansive and for any technology you can select older or current versions (eg, MS Exchange Server 2000, 2007, 2010).  Tests are constantly under development so the library is kept up to date with emerging technologies.

Below are some common questions that prospective clients ask about IKM technical tests, and the answers we would provide:

‘We do our own technical testing here at interview stage, so how can this help us?’  

Well, there are a number of ways:

  • It is a major time saver – the candidate can take the test remotely which can remove a whole stage of your interview process.
  • You can ask us to administer the test ahead of interview to eliminate candidates that don’t perform well, so you don’t have to waste time interviewing candidates that don’t have the skills you’re looking for.
  • You can use the detailed breakdown of results to design targeted questions in order to probe the candidate’s technical skills further in areas where they did not perform well.
  • You can benchmark the test within your team and identify particular skills of interest that you would like to bring to the team.
  • You can use the assessment to identify any training needs the candidate or your existing team might have.

Some of our clients prefer to maintain their own own technical testing process at interview stage, but choose to use IKM early in the process to eliminate weaker candidates.

If the candidate takes the test remotely, how do you know they don’t cheat?’ 

IKM is pretty clever and doesn’t tolerate cheating – if it detects any ‘abnormal activity’, ie, that the candidate is taking too long to answer the questions and may be referring to text books, the test will be suspended.  At this point, our consultants will receive an email and they will speak to the candidate to find out what has happened, and if it’s just a simple error we can choose to re-set the assessment so the candidate can carry on.  Years of experience in administering these tests has taught us that it is nigh on impossible to cheat – it just doesn’t work.  So you can be certain that the score the candidate receives gives an honest reflection of their abilities.

‘So, what will this cost us?’

Actually there is no additional cost for using the IKM assessments as part of your process – it is included within the recruitment fee.  However if you want to purchase tests from us independently without using our recruitment services, there is a cost involved.  If this is something you are interested in, it’s best to contact us.

We value IKM as part of the process and we know our clients do too.  To find out more about our recruitment process, give us a call on 01283 530923, or visit our technical testing page to find out more and to read some testimonials from our clients on how Blues Point and IKM have helped them to recruit top performers for their IT teams.

Steph joined us in 2010 having previously worked in IT recruitment, marketing and retail. Steph has an MA Hons degree in Philosophy from St Andrews University. Her role at Blues Point entails managing our service delivery team and supporting candidates through the recruitment process. Interesting fact: not content with dedicating her life to IT recruitment, Steph also moonlights as a wine writer!

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