Hiring new employees in the manufacturing or engineering industry requires you to conduct a mechanical aptitude test. People working in this industry should have a strong grasp of the daily tasks that will be performed. A single error can lead to huge damage to the machine and also be hazardous for the people working around it. Therefore, you must conduct a mechanical aptitude test for employment when hiring new people for your manufacturing units and factories.
A mechanical aptitude test for employment helps you understand the candidate's ability to operate machinery, apply basic mechanical and physical concepts, and handle tools to perform various tasks like fabricating goods and welding. After the test, you can provide your new hires with additional training on using specific tools essential for your company's daily tasks. If they do not have sufficient mechanical reasoning, it can be difficult for you to teach them new skills, as they may not understand the concepts behind the tools and machinery.
Mechanical reasoning skills tests help employers to make objective and unbiased hiring decisions. It can help you easily evaluate the candidate's skills and speed up your hiring process, thus helping you choose only the best one for a face-to-face interview. Mechanical aptitude tests should be an integral part of your pre-employment skills assessment in order to let you create specific questions that cater to your industry. You can receive the candidate's results immediately with these tests so that you can quickly review them. It also allows you to compare the candidate's results easily. The tests prevent cheating by using alerts to detect if someone does something unusual during the tests.
Which Roles Require Mechanical Reasoning Tests?
- Welders: A welder's work involves creating, maintaining, and repairing products using heat to cut or fuse different metals. They have a huge role in building houses, pipelines, bridges, aircraft, cars, etc. They need excellent mechanical reasoning since they use various tools to perform their tasks.
- Technicians: This may include equipment installation technicians, electricians, HVAC technicians, and anyone who works with the installation and maintenance of facilities. These professionals must understand how electric currents work and how they can use tools to repair and maintain appliances. If they lack sufficient knowledge, they will be prone to catastrophic accidents that could have life-threatening results.
- Engineers: Engineers are responsible for designing and building machines and other equipment. Hence, it becomes critical for them to have mechanical reasoning skills and understand how and why something works.
- Machine operators need to possess mechanical reasoning to know how to use technical equipment efficiently so that the machines run smoothly and are properly maintained.
- Technical salespeople: Technical sales people also need to have solid mechanical reasoning skills to understand the products they sell. If not, it can be difficult for them to sell the machines to potential buyers if they do not know how the products are constructed and how they work.
When Should You Give a Mechanical Aptitude Test For Candidates?
Candidates should be given a skills test before conducting interviews to help them decide which ones have the right skills for the job so that they can filter out early on. The whole recruitment process should go the following way:
Defining The Job Requirements
Make sure that you clearly explain the job requirements for the opening. Write out exactly what you are looking for in the candidate you want to hire, and list all the skills pertinent to the role.
Posting A Job Ad
Once the job requirements have been defined, you can advertise the open role on job boards, your company website, and social media platforms. Remember that the more you advertise, the more candidates it will reach.
Administer A Skills Assessment
Apart from conducting a mechanical reasoning skills test, you should also test their ability to solve problems, follow instructions and pay attention to details. Any employee that works with machinery should necessarily possess these abilities. However, you must also ensure you don't get overwhelmed by asking them to complete too many tasks during the recruiting process.
Interview The Best Applicants
Once you have tested the candidate's skills and filtered out the best ones, you can invite them for an interview during which you can ask industry-specific questions about their previous experiences. Their answers will help you determine if they would be a good match for your company.
Perform Background Checks
After being done with the interviews, you can conduct background checks to validate what the candidate has said and give you as documentation. You may reach out to their previous employers.
To Sum Up
Hiring technicians, engineers, and machine operators requires you to perform mechanical aptitude tests to help you evaluate the candidate's skills before inviting them for an interview. This will ensure that you get the best ones for a face-to-face interview. So you can look for a mechanical reasoning test to find applicants easily and hire the best ones.
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