Best Talent Assessment Tools For IT/Tech in 2023

By June 6, 2023Assessments
Best Talent Assessment Tools For IT-Tech

Have you been on the lookout for the right talent assessment tools to complement the hiring process?

Hiring managers know how important it is to hire top-notch talent—a single wrong hire could cost a company at least 30% of the hire’s first-year expected earnings, not to mention the valuable time wasted in the process. 

And with more than 77% of senior managers admitting to hiring the wrong candidate, it’s clear that there’s much room for improvement in the recruitment process.

Technical assessment tools are nifty solutions designed to help you in data-driven and objective decision-making as you evaluate candidates so that you’re only bringing the best of the best on board. Stick around as we look into some of the smartest, most efficient talent assessment tools that’ll take much of the stress and strain out of the hiring process.

What are talent assessment tools?

Talent assessment tools are software solutions specifically designed to help identify a candidate’s skills, competence, knowledge, and compatibility with an organization—essentially, pre-employment testing. 

Technical assessment platforms and talent screening tools are a trusted partner that confirms that your hiring decisions are well-informed and backed up by objective data.

While they won’t replace the human touch in the hiring process, these performance-based questions and tests are sure to complement your recruiting process by providing insights that might not be so obvious from a candidate’s resume or the interview process. This way, you’ll be able to make smarter, more accurate choices.

There’s a wide variety of talent assessment tools out there to assess technical skills, each with its own special features and benefits. 

For example, some focus on evaluating a candidate’s technical skills, while others focus on a personality assessment, cognitive ability, or fit in your company culture. And then there are your all-in-one solutions that offer a comprehensive suite of assessments to cover all bases of job performance.

Who uses talent assessment tools?

Talent Assessment Tools brainstorming on a white board

These types of tools have become increasingly popular across various industries, and it’s easy to see why. 

They’re incredibly versatile and offer a wide range of benefits for different key players involved in recruitment and talent acquisition. Whether a small start-up or large enterprise, recruitment agency, HR department, or individual hiring manager, the key objective for all these users is to minimize hiring errors, reduce hiring costs, and enhance their overall employee selection strategy.

Apart from organizations seeking new talent, educational institutions and professional certification providers also use talent assessment tools to gauge their students’ and participants’ skill levels, aptitudes, strengths, and weaknesses. This helps them tailor their educational programs and certifications to better match the needs of the job market and make sure their graduates or certified professionals are well-equipped with the relevant skills that employers want.

Why waste months “reinventing the wheel,” when you could just use ours? 

Questions to ask when choosing talent assessment tools

Not all talent assessment tools are created equal, which is why you’ll need to ask the right questions to find out which solution is the best fit for your organization. To help you find the best technical skills screening software that meets your specific needs, consider the following:

Does it offer online proctoring? 

Online proctoring is a feature that makes remote assessments more reliable, as it helps lower the risk of dishonest behavior by monitoring test takers through audio, video, and desktop streaming. A tool with robust online proctoring will assure you that you assess candidates fairly.

Is there a certification program included? 

A certification program can help validate the skills and abilities of qualified candidates, providing some added confidence in the hiring process. Some talent assessment tools may partner with recognized certification bodies or offer their own certification programs, which can be especially beneficial for credibility.

Can you customize the tests? 

Every organization has their own requirements when it comes to the skills and knowledge they want their job candidates to have. A customizable test feature allows you to tailor the assessments to your specific needs, so you can measure the right skills to find the perfect candidate for the job. Look for a tool that offers high levels of customization for assessments that allow you to create tests that reflect the skills you’re looking for.

Has the tool won any industry awards? 

While not a deal-breaker, industry awards and recognitions can provide an added layer of credibility to a talent assessment tool. Awards demonstrate that the tool has been recognized for its excellence, effectiveness, and innovation in the industry—which may make it more likely that the tool will be useful for your hiring goals.

What is the tool’s reputation in the industry? 

Even if the tool hasn’t won any awards, don’t forget to consider the overall reputation and track record of the talent assessment tool. Customer reviews, testimonials, and case studies can provide good insight into effectiveness, customer support, and reliability.

What additional features are available? 

In addition to the core functionality, some talent assessment tools have additional perks, such as advanced reporting and analytics, seamless integration with job boards or Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), and mobile app compatibility. These features can add to the overall user experience and streamline your recruitment process.

How we evaluated the talent assessment tools in this article

talent-assessment-tools_online

When we set out to find the best talent assessment tools, we took a close look at a range of factors that would affect their performance and usability in real-life situations. 

These factors included how in-depth the talent assessments were, whether you could tweak them to your needs, the ease of use, integration possibilities with existing systems, scalability, and, of course, pricing. 

We also checked out what real-life professionals had to say about the tools, giving us insights into their satisfaction and areas where there might have been room for improvement.

We also made it our mission to find talent management assessment tools that were specifically tailored to the IT and tech industry. So we honed in on those that ticked all the right boxes: developer skills, technical assessments, psychometric tests, and cognitive ability tests, which are key factors to consider when hiring for highly specialized and demanding tech roles. 

Our talent assessment tools comparison analysis gave us this reliable list of top talent assessment tools to help pick the top contenders for your team.

The best talent assessment tools for technical skills in 2023

Let’s dive into our list of tools in the world of technical talent assessment.

1. True Ability

True Ability home page Testing by Doing Validating Employability for the 21st Century Workforce

True Ability home page

True Ability is a robust talent assessment platform that’s all about helping you discover exceptional technical talent as you go about your pre-employment assessment.

They’re an efficient and scalable cloud-based platform that allows you to deliver skill assessments anywhere in the world. 

What’s cool about True Ability is that their pure performance-based tests use real-world scenarios and job simulations to put candidates through their paces, so you get a true measure of the candidate’s ability and their job performance.

Pros

  • Comprehensive assessment library
  • Top job-readiness assessment software
  • Real-world scenario-based tests
  • Easy-to-use, cloud-based platform

Cons

  • Not a self-service platform (managed service)
  • Assessments must have a performance-based component (no MCQ-only tests)

Pricing: True Ability offers customized pricing depending on your company’s needs. They’ll work with you to create a package that suits your specific requirements.

Ideal for: Companies looking to evaluate the technical acumen of prospective IT/Tech professionals across various domains. True Ability is perfect for organizations that prioritize real-world skills and practical know-how over theoretical knowledge.

Companies like TrueAbility help reduce bias in hiring by providing a level playing field for candidates.

 

2. Testdome

Testdome home page 8,000+ Companies Use TestDome to Avoid Bad Hires Stop wasting time on people who look good on paper but can't do the job. Find top candidates with work-sample skill tests.

Testdome home page

Testdome is focused on helping companies avoid bad hires—those who look good on paper but can’t actually do the job. 

The platform divides their hiring assessment tools and questions by skills and roles, for example, frameworks and libraries or data science and big data. 

In this case, you get the flexibility to mix and match questions to create custom assessments tailored to your hiring needs. 

The platform boasts an extensive question library that is continuously updated, ensuring that the challenges presented to candidates remain relevant and up-to-date with the ever-evolving tech industry. Testdome also offers a 14-day free trial.

Pros

  • Comprehensive question library 
  • Customized test creation 
  • Automatic scoring and candidate ranking system 

Cons 

  • Heavily focused on programming and IT 
  • While there are many types of questions, many are multiple choice

Pricing: Testdome offers a variety of pricing plans that are not monthly subscription plans. They have a starter plan at $20 per candidate that accommodates 5 candidates, totaling $100, and plans going all the way up to the extra large plan at $7 per candidate that accommodates 600 candidates, totaling $4,200.

Ideal for: Companies that are looking for a versatile and adaptable pre-employment assessment tool to help them create customized assessments targeted at their specific hiring requirements.

3. Testlify

Testlify home page Finest talent assessment platform Recruiting is complex, time-consuming, and risky. Take the stress out of finding the best candidates with deep analysis that’s accurate, automated, and unbiased. Make hiring exciting again.

Testlify home page

Testlify similarly hones in on testing on-the-job skills over arbitrary trick questions. They boast tests that are adaptive and take just 30 minutes to finish, making them especially candidate-friendly.

The platform uses AI-powered assessment technology to give detailed insights into the technical skills and psychometric insights of each candidate. A bonus? They’ve got plenty of awards from G2, and the platform integrates with ATS.

Pros

  • Candidate assessment tools cover technical skills, psychometry, and aptitude skills
  • Diverse range of pre-built tests for role-specific assessments
  • Plans can accommodate extra candidates at a small fee

Cons

  • Focuses predominantly on programming roles
  • Pre-made test questions can be highly textual and repetitive

Pricing: Testlify has both yearly and monthly pricing plans. Their lowest tier plan, the Starter plan, is $38 per month, accommodates 10 candidates, and costs $3 per extra candidate. Their high-volume hiring plan, the White label plan, is $1,198 per month and accommodates unlimited candidates.

Ideal for: Companies that want an in-depth evaluation of technical candidates, particularly those specializing in programming roles. It’s a great assessment tool for organizations that want insights into candidates’ skills and problem-solving approaches.

4. iMocha

iMocha home page

iMocha home page

Boasting “the world’s largest skill library,” iMocha has a vast range of tests available that cover everything from app development to cyber security to cloud and coding skills, making it a truly versatile option for your hiring needs.

The platform also offers AI-powered proctoring, which adds a layer of security to maintain the integrity of your recruitment process, not to mention interactive live coding assessments.

Pros

  • Extensive library of premade assessments
  • Live coding interview process feature
  • AI-powered proctoring for secure testing

Cons

  • Difficult to manage emails that go out for each test
  • Can be difficult for non-technical employees to interpret results

Pricing: iMocha’s pricing structure is a little different—each plan accommodates a certain number of recruiters, interviewers, and assessments. While the Professional plan starts from $5000/year, the Enterprise plan uses custom pricing.

Ideal for: iMocha is a solid option for organizations that prioritize both candidate assessment quality and test-taking security to hire the best candidates for the position.

5. TestGorilla

TestGorilla home page TestGorilla works. CVs don’t. Our talent assessments screen and identify the best candidates and make your hiring decisions faster, easier, and bias-free.

TestGorilla home page

TestGorilla is an innovative talent assessment tool that goes beyond evaluating technical skills. This comprehensive platform offers an impressive selection of 310 scientifically validated tests covering job-specific and general skills. 

One of TestGorilla’s standout features is its focus on soft skills, emotional intelligence, and cognitive abilities, providing a more holistic assessment of candidates that helps you make well-rounded hiring decisions.

Pros

  • Wide variety of pre-employment assessment tools, including technical, cognitive, and soft skills assessments
  • Diverse library covering programming languages and IT skills
  • Easy-to-use test builder allowing custom assessments

Cons

  • May lack tests for very niche technical skills
  • Some assessments might be too generic

Pricing: TestGorilla offers four pricing plans to cater to different organization sizes and needs: Free, Pay as you go, Scale, and Business. The free plan gives you access to 10 free tests and all personality tests, while the Business plan gives you everything from custom question types, PDF reports, brand assessments, and more at $2,200 per month.

Ideal for: Companies that require a multi-faceted talent assessment tool capable of evaluating candidates for their technical skills, as well as their cognitive abilities and soft skills. TestGorilla is an excellent choice for organizations that want a more comprehensive understanding of a prospective hire’s potential fit within the team.

In conclusion

Finding the perfect match for your tech team in 2023 doesn’t have to be a frustrating process, especially with the powerful talent assessment tools available. 

These platforms work to make the hiring process more efficient and unbiased, confirming your candidates have the right mix of technical expertise, cognitive abilities, and soft skills that fit your business needs. 

Keeping ahead of the curve with cutting-edge talent assessment tests is how your business can attract and retain top talent. So, take the time to check out all the talent assessment tools at your disposal and start transforming your hiring process.

Learn more about TrueAbility—an industry leader in providing assessment testing and has experience offering testing, certification, and training to companies, such as Google, SUSE, VMWare etc.

About TrueAbililty 

TrueAbility is a trusted global performance-based technical assessment provider offering a community ecosystem allowing technical professionals and employers to collaborate and measure skill sets through AbilityScreen®. AbilityScreen is the only fully-managed performance-based technical assessment platform operating in a live, cloud environment that automates recruiting and hiring processes to definitively assess and qualify a technical professional’s technology experience.

TrueAbility has executed over 20,000 technical assessments logging more than 18,000 hours of live server practical skill evaluations. Employers have collectively hired hundreds of qualified technical professionals for specific job positions across an array of industries. Founded in 2012, TrueAbility is privately held and headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. For more information, please visit www.trueability.com.

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AbilityScreen is a registered trademark of TrueAbility in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks, trade names or service marks used or mentioned herein belong to their respective owners.