When hiring for shipyard positions, does your company use skills testing? If so, how do you use the results to make informed hiring decisions? There are a variety of skills you can test for, including fabrication, math, and specializations such as welding or electrical experience. Not all skills testing is created equal, and it’s important to know what to do with the results when you’re moving to the next phase of hiring. Here are a few ways you can improve skills testing in your shipyard hiring process.
Avoid Subjective Indicators
This means that you shouldn’t use your personal experience to evaluate other people. Skills tests at their best are designed to be objective. That is to say, they measure skills based on a series of criteria that’s been established. If you add something more subjective into the mix, you run the risk of ruling out suitable candidates for inappropriate reasons.
Use a Standardized Process
Testing should always be standardized. This allows every candidate to have the exact same experience so you can compare apples to apples at the end of the process. You will also want to make sure the tests that you use are certified and repeatable, so the variation is only in the person taking it, not the test itself.
Pre-Determine the Important Metrics
You can’t change the rules of the game once you’ve already started playing. It’s not fair to anyone involved, and your candidates will face a disadvantage. When you don’t do this, you allow unconscious bias to dictate your hiring decisions. You need to know what metrics you want to measure before you administer the test to any candidate.
Work with a Staffing Partner
The single best thing you can do to improve your skills testing in your shipyard hiring program is to partner with a staffing agency. An agency that specializes in staffing for your industry will understand your specific needs and provide standard tests to measure all candidates before submitting them for your consideration.
Can you streamline and improve your hiring process by partnering with a staffing agency specializing in shipyard placements? Call Hutco to learn more now.
