Technical assessment is crucial in recruiting programmer candidates. You want to assess programming skills quickly and accurate, but in a friendly way – not to put off valuable candidates. That’s where coding tests can help. But remember that if you want assessment tests to work, they have to check if programmers can resolve real problems and not memorize book knowledge to answer algorithmic questions. Use your real projects and test not only programming languages, but also knowledge of frameworks and libraries that you use. Your tests should imitate 1st day at work of a programmer, only then they can truly support your recruitment process.
Coding tests are fast becoming a crucial part of the recruiting process in IT. How much can the right programming tests impact your efforts to find and hire top tech talents? Check out below:
1. Coding Tests Tools for Screening Candidates
Challenge:
Screening is very time consuming, but necessary, part of IT recruitment process. Tech recruiters spend countless hours going through resumes and screening phone interviews. One of the main challenges they meet is choosing candidates that are likely to perform at the job they are recruited for, especially regarding, what’s basic, programming skills.
How coding tests can help:
Programming tests can be a great tool for screening technical candidates, quick and effective without engaging your busy developers. If you even have the smallest hint that a candidate can perform, then just invite them for a test.
Such an approach prevents you from rejecting the candidates that have programming skills but just didn’t show it in CV and qualifying weak candidates, who will waste your time during technical interview.
If you screen your candidates with programming test, where their skills are assessed in an automated way, then you will have more time for sourcing which is today’s no 1 issue for tech recruiting.
2. Coding Tests as Supporting Tools for Technical Interviews
Challenge:
If your company is recruiting developers, it means that you don’t have enough programmers to get the job done. Your developers don’t have time either for long interviews or weak candidates, so don’t waste it. The main goal of technical interviews with internal developers is to confirm whether a candidate is up to programming tasks he is hired for. To see how candidates think, how they work in a team, and how they come up with solutions.
How coding tests can help:
Coding tests won’t replace the interview with developers but they can shorten it and make it more efficient. If the candidate passes the coding test in which you verify their skills with a programming challenge based on your own code, you know that he is up to the job you offer. What’s more you can also use such a coding test during the technical interview to discuss programming issues.
3. Coding Tests Ways to Build Positive Candidate Experience
Challenge:
IT candidates understand that you have to verify their coding skills. They just want it to be the right way. If you are recruiting for a senior position they don’t want to take the abc test which verifies book knowledge or pass some algorithmic programming tasks, they want to show their skills in action.
How coding tests can help:
The more coding test resembles real life work experience, the better. So don’t verify book knowledge or force programmer to use certain IDE to solve the programming challenge. Give them some freedom and create natural coding environment for them. Let him use Google, StackOverflow and other resources to resolve problems, just like he does at work. I always say, that a good coding test should imitate what I call 1st day at work experience. Only then programmers can show you their programming skills and their value for you.