Before the actual interview process begins, there is often a need to collect candidate information related to a defined set of skills or qualities that all competitive applicants should have. Using Zoho Recruit’s Assessments feature, recruiters can rate an applicant on quality, as well as supply notes and feedback. This enables hiring managers to quickly compare applicants based on their average ratings and give the interview team a head start.
The Assessments you create are divided into three Categories, namely,
- Recruiter's Assessments - Used by the recruiter to assess candidates for skill sets or characteristics associated with the job the candidate has applied for.
- Candidate Assessment - Filled in by the candidate and evaluated by the recruiter.
- Interviewer's Assessment - Used by Interviewers to assess applicants for the character required for the job.
For the process of evaluating applicants, Zoho Recruit uses questionnaires for its multiple Assessment Types, namely, general screening, pre-screening, behavioural screening, and background screening.
- General Screening - May contain questions from any or all of the Assessment types.
- Pre-Screening - Used to gather key candidate information as soon as they submit their resumes.
- Behavioural Screening - Helpful in gathering information on the candidate’s EQ and behaviour.
- Background Screening – Used to verify the information provided by the candidate.
Zoho Recruit already has a set of default questions. However, you may add more of your own set of questions and create questionnaires that can be used across different verticals, as required for your hiring needs.
Edition Required: The Assessments feature is available for the Professional and Enterprise editions only. Rating Type
Availability: Available only for interviewer's assessments.
When creating interviewer's assessments Zoho Recruit provides you with two rating options, Thumb Rating and Star rating. The rating type you choose will be applied to all reviews made using the assessment. Thumb Rating uses Thumbs-up and Thumbs-down and Star Rating ranges from 1-star to 5-stars.
You can change the rating type whenever you wish to. Refer the details given below if you want to learn more about rating conversion.
Converting Thumb Rating to Star Rating
Thumbs-up will become 5-stars and Thumbs-down will become 1-star.
Converting Star rating to Thumb Rating
Reviews of 3-stars and above will become Thumbs-up and reviews of 2-stars and below will become Thumbs-down.
Note:
Say you originally added a review using Star Rating and switched to Thumb Rating. If you you switch back to Star Rating, then your original rating will be restored.
Adding New Assessments
Profile Permissions Required: Only users with the Add/Edit Reviews permission can add Candidate/Recruiter's assessments and Interview Review permission can add Interview Assessments.
To add a new assessment:
- Click on the Assessments module.
- Click on the Add button.
- Select an Assessment Category, i.e, Recruiter’s Assessment or Candidate Assessment.
- You will then be taken to the Create Assessment page.
- Give your assessment a name and select a type.
- You can then start adding questions to your Assessment Questionnaire.
- Once you’re finished with a section of the questionnaire, you can either add another section or clone questions from an existing assessment.
- Click on Save.
Qualifier & Weighted Questions:
Zoho Recruit lets you add weightage to each answer but, only if the question type is objective (i.e, Radio, Multi-select, Drop-down or Yes/No questions).
You can also enable the Qualifier Question toggle, which will disqualify applicants if they don't achieve the benchmark score that you set for the question.
To do the above stated;
- Click on the icon next to the question in the Add Assessment page and then click on Edit Properties.
- Specify the weightage for each answer and enable the Qualifier Question toggle. You can specify the benchmark score for the question below.
Assessing Candidates
Profile Permissions Required: Only users with the Add/Edit Reviews permission can assess candidates.
To assess candidates:
Assessment-based Filters
By filtering records by assessment answers, recruiters can narrow down their talent pool based on the results of screening tests or assessments conducted during the hiring process. This option empowers recruiters to efficiently identify candidates who meet specific criteria, streamlining the selection process and enhancing overall hiring quality.
Follow the steps given below to filter records based on assessment answers;
- Navigate to the Candidates/Applications module and select the Assessment Name option from the Filters panel on the left.
- Select the Assessment Category, Assessment, Question and Answer from their respective drop-downs.
Optionally, you can change the Operator used for the filter (is, contains, does not contain, etc.). - Click Apply Filter. A list of candidates who match your filter criteria will be displayed on the right.
- Now, if you click the Rating icon of a candidate, only reviews that match your filter criteria will be displayed.
Note:
Keep in mind that upon clicking the Rating icon when an assessment-based filter is applied, only assessments that match the filter criteria will be displayed. If you wish to see all assessments/reviews, you will need to go back and Clear the applied filter.
Associate Assessments to Job Openings/Interviews
To associate Assessments with Job Openings,
Note: Only Candidate Assessments can be associated with Job Openings.
- Click on Job Openings module.
- Click on the Add icon.
- Fill in the job opening details and click on Save & Publish.
- Select your desired job boards, a candidate application form template and the Assessment with which you wish to screen your applicants (or create a new Assessment).
- Click on Publish.
When applying for a job opening, the candidate would first see the embedded application form which generally comprises of basic questions.
On clicking "Next", the candidate would see the attached Assessment form.
To associate Assessments with Interviews,
Profile Permission Required: Only users with the Interview Review permission can evaluate candidates using Interviewer's assessments. Note: Only Interviewer's Assessments can be associated with Interviews. - Click on the Interviews module.
- Click on the Add icon.
- Associate your assessment with the interview using the Assessment field.
- You can then evaluate candidates using the associated assessment during the interview.
- The ratings and feedback you provided on the candidate during your evaluation can be found under the Ratings and Reviews section of the Candidate Record.
Email Assessments to Candidates
To email assessments to candidates,
- Click on the Candidates module.
- Select the candidates to whom you want to send the Assessment and click Send Mail.
- Select an Assessment from the Email Template drop-down box.
- Select a Job Opening. You may even associate the current mailing candidates with the selected job opening.
- Click Send.
Note:
- The selected job opening must have an Assessment associated with it.
- Candidates will receive a mail containing the Assessment.
- Candidates who apply for a job will see the Assessment just after the candidate application form.