How to ensure candidates complete your assessment You've created a fantastic assessment, now how do you get candidates to complete it? Find out here.
You've gone to a lot of effort creating a fantastic assessment. It will filter out the unsuitable candidates, and quickly identify the best. But if candidates are put off and don't complete it, then all that effort is wasted.
Based on feedback from hundreds of recruiters and thousands of candidates, we've created the following step-by-step guide to making sure you maximise your completion rate.
1. Let them do it at a time that suits them, on any device
It goes without saying that Tazio enables candidates to complete your assessment on their computer, tablet or smartphone, but not all assessment platforms support mobile. Today, around 30% of assessments are completed on a mobile device.
However, although candidates can complete your assessment on their mobile, it's important to consider how your questions will appear on a smartphone or a small tablet.
If your questions are overly long or you present candidates with lots of options to select from, this may require them to scroll a lot.
In this case, you are better to ask your questions with a video and provide just a short summary of the question as text.
2. Explain why you're asking them to complete an assessment
If your assessment is the second or third stage in your recruitment process, tell candidates they've already got through the first stage. Tell them it is good news!
They are one step closer to their perfect job.
Explain that by completing an online assessment you can progress far faster, than having to schedule a telephone or face-to-face interview. Explain you want to match them to the perfect role at your organisation and that an online assessment is the most efficient way to achieve this.
3. Include a video introduction
Including a video introduction, provides a fantastic opportunity to sell the benefits of the job and working at your company. Creating a video introduction no longer requires a big budget. Some of the best video introductions we've seen have been recorded on a mobile phone.
The best ambassadors for the job and your company should be your current employees. So use last year's graduate intake, or your top-performing salesperson to explain what they love about the job.
As well as a video introduction, asking questions with video will improve candidate engagement and make the whole experience more personal.
4. Break up long assessments into sections
If your assessment contains more than 10 to 15 questions we recommend you break it up into sections by using intermediary text or video clips. This gives candidates a chance to take a break and return to the assessment later.
It also gives you an opportunity to encourage them to complete the assessment, "Congratulations, you're already halfway through, not long to go now" for example.
5. Set a deadline for completion
Although you should give candidates an opportunity to complete your assessment at a time that suits them, if there is no deadline, it's easy for them to put it off.
Normally, we recommend giving candidates five to seven days to complete an assessment. Ideally, that should include a weekend.
6. Send them friendly reminders
If you're inviting candidates to complete your assessment by email, make sure to schedule timely and friendly reminders.
You can set up automatic reminders from within Tazio to prompt candidates to complete your assessment. You can also send a reminder to candidates that have started, but not completed an assessment.
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