Software skills assessments for hiring

What the 58 tests cover

Each test is about one product, so the group reads like a list of the software teams use. Office and productivity apps are the largest set, with 12 tests, from Microsoft Word and Email with Microsoft Outlook to Google Docs. IT support and administration has 9, such as Active Directory and Linux. Databases has 7, among them PostgreSQL and Microsoft SQL Server.

Data and analytics, and cloud and DevOps, have 6 tests each. The first includes Power BI and Tableau; the second includes Docker and Terraform. Design has 5, from Figma to Canva. Engineering and manufacturing has 4, such as AutoCAD. The rest cover finance software such as Xero, security tools such as Splunk, developer tools such as Git, and project, procurement and CRM software.

All 58 tests are intermediate. Fifty-seven are multiple choice. Most take 10 minutes; Microsoft 365 takes 11 and Microsoft Word takes 12. Google Sheets Tasks is different: six tasks done in a working sheet in 60 minutes, covering formulas, sorting, lookups, conditional logic and pivot-style summaries.

Which tests suit which roles

Match the test to the software named in the job description, not to a broad family. A test of one product is not evidence of skill in another, so a Tableau result says little about Power BI.

For an office administrator or a receptionist, Email with Microsoft Outlook names both roles, and Email with Gmail suits front desk and office staff whose day runs on email and shared calendars. For a junior data analyst, Microsoft Excel Intermediate covers junior analyst work, and Data Analytics in Excel covers turning spreadsheet data into figures and charts. Power BI and Tableau suit analysts who build reports in those tools.

For system administrators, Active Directory and Windows Server Administration fit Windows estates, and Linux fits teams that run Linux servers. For DevOps and platform engineers, Docker, Kubernetes and Terraform each name those roles. For a marketing coordinator who makes social graphics, Canva names marketing and social media roles. Figma suits product and UX designers.

Every test here is intermediate. Eight tests ask for a computer so worksheets, charts and code listings are large enough to read: the Excel, Google Sheets and BI tests, Kubernetes and Microsoft SQL Server. The rest also work on a phone.

How to combine them

Most jobs use a handful of tools, and a 10-minute test per tool keeps a set short. Choose the two or three products the role touches most, and leave out the rest.

Some sets follow from the roles the tests name. An office administrator could take Email with Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel Intermediate. Microsoft 365 alone gives a broad look across the suite instead. A Google-based office could swap in Email with Gmail, Google Docs and Google Sheets. A reporting analyst could pair Microsoft Excel Intermediate with Power BI. A database developer on SQL Server could take Microsoft SQL Server with SQL Server Management Studio.

When the job is spreadsheet-heavy, Google Sheets Tasks shows the work itself rather than knowledge about it. At 60 minutes it is long, so it fits a later stage better than a first screen.

Software knowledge is one part of the job. The test library also has cognitive, language and role-specific tests to add beside a software test.

Each score is a signal for your team to read with the resume and interviews. There is no pass mark, and no result moves a candidate on or out by itself.

How the tests are kept fair

Software changes often, and candidates learn it on different versions, plans and machines. The fairness notes for these tests deal with that directly.

Questions ask what a feature does and when to use it, not where a button sits or which shortcut opens it. Word names ribbon tabs and commands in words, AutoCAD uses commands by their typed names, and Microsoft 365 questions hold for the desktop and web versions alike. Where behavior differs between releases, the question states the version or settings it assumes, as Microsoft SQL Server and Linux do. Every output, file or setting a question depends on is shown in it, so nothing rests on memory of one screen.

Plans matter too. Figma asks only about features on every plan, including the free one, and Canva covers the free version, so no candidate needs a paid account to have learned them.

Sample data is neutral, with orders, tickets and stock rather than any one industry, no money symbols and names from many backgrounds. Charts in the Power BI and Tableau tests are read by values and labels, never by color. The wording is plain US English without idioms.

Google Sheets Tasks uses only functions that behave the same in Google Sheets and HireValid's sheet. See Fairness and accommodations for how candidates request support, and How we build our tests for how questions are written.