CIOL: IT / ITES are using Skill assessment extensively. How about the other verticals?
MP: Historically when the assessment sphere actually took off in India with the start of MeritTrac, it was the IT & ITES companies, which were the early adopters of the concept. But off late, verticals like BFSI, Retail, Manufacturing, Healthcare and even PSU companies have realized the value and difference assessments can bring to people acquisition.

CIOL: Are Indian companies seeing value in the Skill Assessment of MeritTrac?
MP: Over 150 companies across industry verticals rely on MeritTrac's expertise in identifying the right candidates for various roles within their organization. MeritTrac's assessment solutions have clearly demonstrated tangible benefits such as selection of right fit candidates, reduction in interview bandwidth, operational efficiencies in multi-city and multi-layered recruiting, and in procuring intelligent insights on talent pools. It has also helped recruitment teams to concentrate their efforts on formulating more effective recruitment strategies. Further to talent acquisition, the talent management practices of organization have also benefited through MeritTrac's offerings. MeritTrac's assessments have helped evaluate employees' capabilities and address the identified gaps through appropriate training and orientation programmes, efficient resource allocation and career/succession planning.

CIOL:How scientific are the test tools?
MP: Assessment tools are scientific evaluators of talent that are based on sound testing methodology and robust research. MeritTrac's unique assessment process is structured and scientific in its approach. It involves the identification and definition of key attributes required for the various roles in each company and industry vertical. Based on these competencies, Standard Test Templates are designed. These Standard Test Templates outline the distribution of questions from various Subject Areas and the appropriate difficulty levels within the Subject Area.

The Tests are administered and research is conducted by systematically tracking the actual performance of tested candidates in their roles within Companies. This vital information is then utilized to validate the test and enhance its reliability.

CIOL: How your test development & delivery and recruitment analytics are helping HR assessment processes, hiring strategies and training methodologies?
MP: Content for the Tests are created and managed by MeritTrac. Developed while keeping in mind specific industry needs, MeritTrac's question bank with proprietary IP is tagged for difficulty levels, topic/sub-topic, proficiency levels, etc. and entered into our Test Content database. MeritTrac continuously updates its question banks by adding new questions and weeding out old ones that have been used several times or have lost relevance. Questions in new Subject areas or Industry verticals are added as they emerge.

Another interesting offshoot, which makes a company like MeritTrac, a valuable partner is the accurate intelligence on talent pool dynamics provided by us. With the experience of testing lakhs of candidates across sectors, MeritTrac is in the perfect position to analyze the first hand performance of students on various parameters and give the industry much needed inputs on the availability and quality of talent. These insights are extremely valuable for companies in defining their talent acquisition starategies, an essential for business success.