Skills testing products for recruiters

Over the years I've looked at dozens of different psychometric products, however, I've never had much to do with skills testing.  So the other day I had coffee with David Gorton of MCS who provide the SkillCheck range of products. 

MCS have been around for 14 years and offer over 850 skills testing products.  They also have a psychometric assessment called P3.  The SkillCheck range covers software, call centre, clerical, etc assessments.  The full list is on their site.

I had a quick go at a few of the tests (they take between 3 and 25 minutes to complete).

The administrator and user interfaces are simple to use.  The results can be emailed to the administrator.  For the Word test I did (for which I got a measly 66%) you can view the scores for each level (basic, intermediate and advanced) and how long it took the candidate to answer each question.

I also tried out a "General Personality Profile test". These are identity behavioural tests used to evaluate a job candidates attitudes, aptitudes and characteristics to determine whether a candidate is a good fit for the job and for the organisation.  Worryingly my overall performance score was just 58% and my "attendance" score was only 62%.  I can honestly say I have never thrown a sickie in my life and have probably only taken half a dozen days off sick in my time employed. However, David informs me this is about my attitude toward the subject not necesssariy my propensity to do it.  With this test the recruiter is also given some suggested interview questions to "follow up" the results with the candidate.

David at MCS says they parcel the tests in "value packs" for recruiters.  Access to the main skills tests is £300 for a pack of 50 tests.  You can add on their Talent Scout pack to this and they also offer unlimited usage packages.  If you contact David via david.gorton@crisp-mcs.com and say you were referred from here he'll set you up a couple of free demo tests so you can try it out for yourself.