Eric Friedman is the Founder and CEO of eSkill, a global leader in skills testing and behavioral assessment solutions for employers.
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As an HR leader, you probably agree that computer skills are a must-have instead of a nice-to-have for many jobs. You would be right. In 2002, 44% of U.S. jobs required medium-high digital skill levels. By 2016, 70% of jobs required good computer proficiency.
Data entry is one example of a key digital skill. Employees need access to correct information to do their jobs effectively, so skilled data entry operators who can input and organize data quickly and accurately are a necessity. When your organization is hiring for one of these positions, consider using data entry and typing tests as part of your application process to identify candidates who understand basic spreadsheet functions and can type quickly and efficiently.
The Benefits Of Data Entry And Typing Tests
To understand how data entry and data entry typing tests help companies, you need to put on your HR hat to appreciate how much time and effort is required to hire top candidates. When your HR team posts a data entry job, it often receives hundreds of responses. Some are from highly qualified candidates, but many are from applicants who don't have the skills required for the job as information on résumés and during interviews is often incorrect. So your HR team has the unenviable task of weeding out all the unqualified candidates to identify top contenders, which distracts from other, high-value tasks.
Data entry and data entry typing tests can help take the guesswork out of hiring. If applicants complete data entry and data entry typing tests, it'll be easier to sort and review the results and instantly see who's worth pursuing. This will also help you focus on candidates whose values are a good fit for your culture. If people are excited to come to work, they arrive with a positive attitude that rubs off on other employees.
Assessments Can Help Minimize Hiring Mistakes
As the following scenario will show, data entry and data entry typing tests are essential tools in helping you hire top candidates and minimize hiring mistakes.
Audrey, an HR professional, needed to recruit a new data operator. As she screened applications and held initial interviews, the top contender was an applicant named Steve. He went on to have highly successful interviews with Mike, the hiring manager, and prospective team members. His references were also excellent. So Mike extended an offer, and Steve accepted.
It soon became obvious that Steve's skills and experience weren't even close to the minimum requirements for the job. He was remedial at Excel, couldn't perform basic data entry tasks and made countless errors that required extensive rework. His typing speed was also very slow.
Audrey and Mike had several performance meetings with Steve and provided training, but nothing worked. The situation finally reached the boiling point when Mike received extremely negative feedback from several other senior managers about the quality of Steve’s work.
3 Reasons Why Data Entry And Typing Tests Can Help
Audrey and Mike learned the hard way that résumés, interviews and even references don't always mean someone is truly qualified for a job. These are some ways data entry and data entry typing tests could have helped them.
• Screen All Applicants: By reviewing skills test results, you can instantly identify candidates with proven abilities. You won't need to rely on information solely obtained from résumés and during interviews, which might be inaccurate.
• Customize Assessments: Job requirements often differ by company, division and even within a single department. So a standardized data entry test might not always be effective at assessing applicants for your unique needs. Modern assessment solutions can help you build validated skills tests that perfectly match the jobs available. This means Audrey and Mike could have easily created a shortlist of highly qualified candidates who passed the more-customized tests.
• Job Simulations: One of the best ways to know whether candidates can do a job is to present them with scenarios they'll encounter on the job and evaluate their performance. If Audrey and Mike had required candidates to complete simulation questions that measured proficiency in software like Excel, as well as their multitasking and time management skills, they could have immediately eliminated Steve from consideration.
If Audrey and Mike had used data entry and data entry typing tests to evaluate candidates, Steve's assessment results likely would have shown he didn't have the skills and experience required for the job. Then the recruiting team also would have avoided wasting thousands of dollars on hiring, onboarding and training only to incur the same hiring expenses three months later.
Finding an employee who checks every skills box on your new hire wish list is almost impossible, but computer skills and technical understanding are nonnegotiable for today’s businesses. While it would be nice to be able to believe everything a résumé claims, it’s just not realistic. Leveraging tools to verify a potential dream employee's essential skills and qualifications will help ensure you avoid a nightmare situation later.
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