IT STAFFING SOLUTIONS FOR THE NEW MILLENIUM
It would be nice to think, in today's technologically advanced society,that everyone is now capable of operating a computer. Even if that weretrue, it still wouldn't be a good idea to invite your company's IT specialistin from off the street. Yet without an objective method for identifyingthe most technically qualified candidates, that's exactly what many organizationsrun the risk of doing.
The modern solution to hiring knowledge workers in the new milleniumis computerized proficiency testing. Whether it's a consultant or a full-timeposition, now there is a way to integrate skills assessment and trainingwithout the cost and time consumption of lengthy technical interviews.
Computerized proficiency testing is an easy and effective way to gaugea candidate's overall knowledge and practical skills for hundreds of differenttechnologies. The exams are installed on a personal computer or a networkat the client site and can be connected to a server by modem. This is onegood way to insure security by making certain that answers are kept classifiedand cannot be obtained prior to testing time. Then, the test taker is givenon-screen instructions on how to take the test and the evaluation is underway.Of course, once the test taker has answered a question, there is no wayto go back and re-answer. Different questions are also given differentweight, awarding more credit to more sophisticated answers and taking awaycredit for obviously wrong answers. The best proficiency testing servicesprovide adaptive exams that actually adjust the difficulty of the questionsby responding to the skills of the test taker -- more skilled test takerssee more difficult questions while less skilled test takers see less difficultquestions.
accommodation in HeraklionScores consist of raw scores, percentile scores, strengths and weaknesses,and work speed. Individual scores can be compared to a universe of othertest takers, or broken down into various ratings that measure necessaryknowledge, practical experience, understanding of the subject, and demonstratedinsight. In most cases, scores can be returned to the client online ina matter of minutes and consist of a number of reports. Score distributionis first registered as a bar chart or graph, then synthesized into reportsthat can compare performance (either from one branch office to another,or across the entire organization over a period of time), identify themost qualified test takers in a company database given certain criteria,or summarize overall strengths and weaknesses. Ratings are given on thebasis of Non-Recognition (NR) for a person who does not recognize the basiccomponents of a subject, Recognition (R) for test takers who display elementaryknowledge, Recognition and Understanding (RU) or Understanding (U) forpersons able to work independently with some supervision, all the way upto Advanced Insight (AI) which is reserved for individuals with the highestlevel of proficiency.
Proficiency testing helps organizations improve their IT productivityin a number of ways. First, and perhaps most importantly, it is a meansto verify the technical skills of IT professionals, but proficiency testingis also useful above and beyond staffing solutions. Performance-based proficiencytesting services help reduce the risk and expense of having to replacetechnically unqualified personnel, improve project performance by appropriatelymatching skill sets, and increase the return on investment from technicaltraining programs.
Tests can be administered for a wide variety of technologies rangingfrom core programming tools such as C++, Windows SDK, and COBOL programming,to databases such as Oracle, Access, and Foxpro, to networking and internetapplications like Novell Netware and CGI/Perl. To find the right proficiencytesting service for any organization, look for those that rely upon expertpractitioners to author their exams and provide comprehensive program documentationto help proctor the evaluation.
No matter what the organization, computerized proficiency testing takesthe guess-work out of hiring, training, and managing skilled IT professionalsin the new millenium.