Tech Tests: Are they really worth it?

There are two certain things in tech: Windows Updates and Tech Testing. But are these constant assessments really valuable and necessary, both from the perspective of the candidate and the recruiting company?

There’s really no way around it: since we’ve been wee little toddlers, we’ve been used to taking assessments to prove our worth in different fields. At some point, we’ve all felt a test was unfair, inadequate, or just plain silly. When that happens we generally end up being frustrated with the situation and questioning why the hell we’re there in the first place.

It’s a feeling some developers are left with when faced with yet another tech test while searching for a new job.

From our experience here at Landing.jobs, our candidates find technical assessments quite a pain and they do have a point. Their feedback includes the fact that:

1. Tests are composed by general questions which don’t assess the specific knowledge needed for the position they were initially designed for;
2. The skills which are tested by these challenges are often disconnected from what’s needed to “get the job done”. This is especially true with social skills, which are critical for successful teamwork, but most often completely overlooked by the assessments;
3. Several companies present their own take on the assessment. Candidates end up performing X tests with X unique formats, causing stress and ambiguity about what happens when they press the “start” button.

So why don’t we just stop with the testing already?

Settle down, cowboy! The truth is, companies need a way to filter their candidates upfront in a relatively effortless but objective way, and that’s exactly what technical assessments provide them with. Companies will maintain tech tests as part of their processes for the time being, even if that means doing that recursive implementation of a Fibonacci sequence for the ten thousandth time (oh boy, here we go again).

Remember: soft skills and experience will get you hired in the end, but hard skills are what gets your foot in the door to begin with.

In that case, why are we talking about this?

We here at Landing.jobs are determined to take away the pain of a recruitment process (yes, your pain). And for you to be top-notch at job searching, we want to make the process as simple and efficient as possible, which applied to testing means minimising the number of tests you have to do and increasing the occasions their results can be applied to.

So we did it: our Tech a Break Challenge is now live and includes a technical test of your skills in back-end development. Besides giving you a self-assessment of your capabilities, you’ll also be able to attach the results to your Landing.jobs profile. And that’s when it gets interesting:

1. With a grade attached to your profile, our beloved Operations team will instantly know how much of an expert you are in your field;
2. Companies you apply for will have access to this information when considering taking you to an interview, giving you an edge over your competition;
3. You only have to do the test once, which saves you a lot of the repetition hassle.

And companies will thank you for it because:

1. Candidates who perform these assessments are much more likely to be engaged during the process, which increases the chances of a positive outcome;
2. Having a seal of approval from Landing.jobs, straight in their dashboard, reduces the risk when selecting candidates;
3. They can save time of their engineering team with this first assessment; time which can be dedicated to find a real fit with the candidates.

In general, doing your technical assessment with Landing.jobs shortens the duration of the recruiting process by creating shortcuts, and it also reduces the duplication of efforts, both for the candidate and the employer.

The existence of generally accepted tests is not a novelty; we just consider our tech assessments useful because of their integration with our platform: it becomes pretty straightforward to use the results you just scored when you apply to our lovely positions. Test once, apply for many!

At the end of the day

While we agree that traditional tests do have their shortcomings, they still have a role to play in the recruitment game. We just want to make them a little bit smarter and a whole lot more efficient.

If you have any thoughts on tech tests and how to improve them, be sure to share them with us!

BONUS: Tech a Break with Landing.jobs

If I still haven’t convinced you to join our summer checkup, I don’t know what will! Our Tech a Break challenge includes:

1. An online technical test to assess your back-end development skills, which you can later compare with your peers’;
2. Exclusive access to two webinars with industry experts, where you can get advice on the next best step for your career, both from a technical and a personal perspective;
3. The matching of your profile with top employers from our platform we think are a good match for you.

Just one more test? 😉

CHECK OUT TECH A BREAK