CIOL: Most of the players in the BFSI segment prefer in-house evaluation for recruiting fresh talent? What is your thought on this?
MP: The general industry belief was that candidate evaluations are better developed in-house than outsource. But the proper assessments involve more than just assembling a bunch of questions. A lot of research is required to develop frameworks for tests, which involve expertise in the science of testing. Any assessment needs to be geared to consider aspects of difficulty levels, topic coverage, questions patterns, testing formats to meet globally accepted standards for validity and reliability. These concepts state that a test has to measure what it has to measure and do so consistently.

CIOL: How relevant is Skill Assessment for lateral hiring in the BFSI?
MP: With increased hiring action in the hiring market for the BFSI vertical and the attractive opportunities on offer, there has been an increased load of candidates vying to enter the industry. With such frenzy, it becomes that assessments are applied to select the best. On a second level, candidates with experience need to be rigorously and comprehensively tested on all parameters related to the job role as they present a bigger bet for the organization in terms of hiring. Assessments play a critical role in comprehensively mapping skills sets of experienced candidates and presenting an objective picture of them. With such comprehensive insights, interviews can be restricted to reconfirmation and for focused questioning.

Other aspects like the fake credentials issue also make assessments highly relevant in the lateral hiring context. With the fake cv assuming alarming proportions, it becomes important for companies to comprehensively measure skill sets to know the true worth of a candidates and assessments present the perfect antidote.

CIOL: Do your assessments also include psychometric tests?
MP: MeritTrac offers the 16PFä tool and is a recognized partner of OPP Worldwide to offer the tool in India. The 16PFä tool is recognized globally as highly reliable and valid predictors of personality. Based on 16 researched personality factors, the tool presents interview inputs on the behavioral aspects of a candidate as part of the assessment process.

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.