In many companies, administrative assistants ensure everything operates smoothly because they know where to find everything and know how to get things done. Anyone who has ever worked for a company can name an administrative assistant who made their job easier. In many organizations, they are the glue that holds everything together.
Admin staff order and inventory supplies, research and compile reports, work with customers, manage appointment calendars, and schedule meetings. Therefore, they must be organized, be good time managers, and have excellent verbal and written communication skills. They must also have strong MS Office® abilities and be able to learn computer applications quickly.
Why Organizations Use Administrative Assistant Skills Tests
HR professionals used to screen candidates by reviewing resumes and conducting interviews. This is no longer true because almost 80% of applicants lie on resumes and during interviews. Because of this, more employers are turning to skills tests for administrative assistants because they can instantly see which applicants are qualified for a job instead of making hiring decisions based on information that may not be accurate.
These are some ways organizations use administrative assistant skills tests to hire and onboard new employees.
- Expedite Employee Screening: Companies often receive hundreds of applications for a single job posting. When applicants complete skills tests for administrative assistants, HR teams can instantly see which ones have the required skills and experience by reviewing the results.
- Customize Assessments: A good assessment solution like the eSkill Talent Assessment PlatformTM allows HR professionals to customize assessments to match job roles, where they can use pre-prepared skills tests for administrative assistants or select questions from multiple assessments to build tests from scratch. For example, if a law firm recruiter was recruiting for an administrative assistant position, they could create a test using questions from the Administrative Assistant, Office Manager, Legal Typing, and Legal Terminology tests and add questions from the MS Office® assessment.
- Realistic Job Simulations: If you can observe applicants completing tasks they will perform on the job, you can confirm they have the required skills. Therefore, offering job simulations such as MS Office®, chat, multitasking, and digital literacy is a desirable feature in an assessment solution.
- Expedite Onboarding: Training new hires on material they already know wastes time that could be better spent learning on the job. HR teams can expedite the onboarding process by using the results of skills tests for administrative assistants to identify areas new hires already know. Then they can skip those topics and concentrate training in areas where the new hires need more help.
- Minimize Risk of Hiring Mistakes: Hiring mistakes are costly and hurt productivity and staff morale. According to CareerBuilder, a bad hire costs between $17,000 and $240,000, including recruiting expenses, staff disruption, loss of customer goodwill, incomplete projects, and potential litigation. Using administrative assistant skills tests minimizes the risk of hiring mistakes because candidates who lack the required experience can be weeded out immediately.
How Companies Use Skills Tests for Administrative Assistants
Companies in virtually every industry use administrative assistant skills tests to identify and hire top candidates. These are some examples of clients that improved hiring outcomes, decreased time-to-hire, and reduced turnover.
- A placement service matches executive assistants with CEOs and C-level executives at top companies like Intuit, Chime, Terminus, Loom, Mozilla, Teach for America, and Indeed. The organization implemented skills tests for administrative assistants to identify applicants’ skills gaps so they can provide the tools and training they need to be successful. The result was faster placements, which reduced time-to-hire by about 40-50%.
- Chemonics, a multinational consulting and solution development company, implemented basic administrative assistant skills tests and other pre-employment assessments. It has reduced time-to-hire to 55 days and is working to reduce it to 45 days from the initial interview to a job offer being accepted. It has also reduced turnover by 43%.
- Houdini, Incorporated provides wholesale gift baskets to warehouse clubs, mass merchandisers, liquor purveyors, and specialty stores. It implemented skills tests for administrative assistants and was able to instantly select 30 top candidates for seasonal work from a pool of 458 candidates.
- Conservice, a large utility management and billing company, was using a homegrown assessment solution that required tests to be administered in person. They also had to give separate MS Word and Excel tests. The HR team created one administrative assistant skills test covering both applications and tailored it to fit each job. It previously took the HR team about 20 days to fill a position, from screening job applicants to extending an offer. It now takes 15 days—a 25% decrease in time-to-hire.
Get Started with Skills Tests for Administrative Assistants
Organizations that want to hire top candidates use administrative assistant skills tests to get the measurable data they need to evaluate candidates accurately, efficiently, and fairly.
Do you want to learn how skills tests for administrative assistants can help you recruit the best candidates and improve hiring outcomes? Contact us to request a demo.