Role-specific skills assessment for hiring

What the 159 tests cover

Each test covers the knowledge one kind of job uses, so the groups follow job areas. Marketing is the largest, with 27 tests that run from Email Marketing to Technical SEO. Finance and accounting has 21, among them Accounts Payable and Budgeting. Operations and supply chain has 11, from Warehouse Picker to Purchase Manager. Data and analytics has 9.

Sales, healthcare, engineering and manufacturing, and design each have 7 tests. Human resources, hospitality and retail, project and product management, and software development each have 6. Smaller groups cover customer support, legal and compliance, AI and machine learning, cybersecurity, IT support, cloud work and a few business tools such as Salesforce CRM.

The subjects are specific. Health Care Aide covers safe patient care, help with daily living tasks and first response in an emergency. US Contract Law applies core rules on formation, breach and remedies to short business scenarios. B2C Telesales looks at judgment on consumer sales calls, from rapport to objections.

Every test is multiple choice, with 12 to 20 questions. Most take 10 minutes. Budgeting, B2C Telesales and Customer Service Skills take 13. Each test page lists what it measures and the roles it suits.

Which tests suit which roles and levels

Start from the job, then check the level. Of the 159 tests, 149 are intermediate. Four are entry level: Computer Literacy (PC) and Computer Literacy (Mac) for early-career roles that use a computer every day, such as reception and customer service, Software Engineer for a junior developer or other junior engineering hire, and Fundamentals of Electricity for electrician helpers and apprentices.

Six are advanced. Advanced Accounting (GAAP) and Advanced Accounting (IFRS) suit accountants and senior bookkeepers. Financial Modeling in Excel suits finance roles that build models, and Microsoft Excel Advanced suits analysts who work in spreadsheets every day. Cybersecurity is for security analysts and penetration testers, and Software Architect for architects and principal engineers.

Many intermediate tests name a role outright. For a bookkeeper, Financial Accounting (US GAAP) fits. For a sales development rep, try B2B Sales Lead Generation. For a receptionist, use Front Desk Receptionist. Customer Service Skills suits a customer support agent.

Some subjects come in versions for different rules or systems. Pick the US GAAP or IFRS version of Financial Accounting to match the books the role keeps. Do the same with the US and UK versions of QuickBooks Online, and the PC and Mac versions of Computer Literacy.

How to combine them

Most roles draw on more than one body of knowledge, and these tests are short enough to pair. Two or three of them take about 20 to 40 minutes. Add a test only when the job description calls for its subject.

A few pairings follow from what the tests name. A bookkeeper could take Financial Accounting (US GAAP) with Budgeting, since both name bookkeepers. Add QuickBooks Online (US) if the books live there. A support agent could take Customer Service Skills with Zendesk for Customer Support when the team works in Zendesk. A sales development rep could pair B2B Sales Lead Generation with Salesforce for Business Development. A billing role in a clinic could pair Medical Billing with HIPAA.

Job knowledge is only part of a hire. The rest of the test library has cognitive, judgment, language and software tests to add beside it.

Read the results as signals. Each score shows how a candidate did on that subject, with sub-skill detail on the report. There is no pass mark, and no score moves a candidate forward or back on its own. Your team reads the results with the resume and interviews and makes the decision.

How the tests are kept fair

Each test is written so that knowledge of the job decides the answer, not where a candidate trained or which employer they worked for. The 159 fairness notes share a set of common rules.

Every fact, policy or account name a question needs is stated in it, so no company-specific knowledge is required. Where money appears, amounts are mostly plain numbers with no currency symbol. The exceptions are deliberate: Financial Accounting (US GAAP) uses US dollars because it covers US rules, while the IFRS version uses neutral currency units. Names come from many backgrounds, and scenarios avoid stereotypes. The wording is plain, with no idioms, sports or holidays, so reading speed matters as little as possible.

Tests tied to one country's rules say so in their name, as with US Contract Law and HIPAA. Even there, US Contract Law turns on widely followed general rules rather than one state's law. Health Care Aide tells candidates to call the local emergency number, not a particular one.

Aids are the same for every candidate on a test. Scratch paper is allowed on 123 of the tests, and a calculator as well on 45 of them. No test in this group needs a desktop computer.

See Fairness and accommodations for how candidates request support, and How we build our tests for how questions are written and reviewed.