Selecting A Skills Evaluation Tool
August 8, 2008
We have a lot of hiring planned between now and the end of the year. In order to add some consistency and a bit more predictability to the process we’ve decided to use a skills assessment tool. Brainbench is the obvious and probably most well known solution. So we’re evaluating that. Wanting to spice up the mix a bit we’ve also decided to evaluate the IKM TeckChek product. I expect to select a product by the end of the month.
So why am I telling you this? Because one of these two companies blew my expectations out of the water.
I talked to a Brainbench rep and setup our account to do some evaluations. We were given one exam at no-charge to evaluate the product. I fully expected, and did, pay for the other seven or so tests that we evaluated. Reporting for the Brainbench product is really very nice. You get comparisons against others in your company as well as the entire set of Brainbench test takers that have taken the same test. The product has a very nice administrative interface. All signs pointed to this being our selected product.
I left a few messages for IKM. We tried contacting them through the “contact us” link on their site. Silence. For about 4 days we heard nothing. Now, to their credit, IKM did follow up with me in June when I started this process, and I never got back to them. So I searched my email, found some contact information, and left another message. A day passed with no return call. I’m ready to give up at this point. I give it one more try and leave one final message.
Later that morning I get a return call with apologies because the rep had been travelling and could only now return my call. Expected, and nothing special. So I talk to him about our strategy and let him know we’re evaluating the TeckChek product against Brainbench. He took all this in stride. I told him I needed an account next week so we could evaluate some tests and that I expected to pay for them. Then the good part.
Right then, TeckChek sent me an agreement giving me site-wide access for two weeks allowing us to complete any exam we wished at no cost to us. Our agreement was in place within minutes. Then he had a training person reach out to us to train us on how to use their product. And none of this took any special efforts on their part. This is the way they do business. I did not have to bend around their processes.
They are holding our hands and making sure our business processes move forward as expected. Their processes are setup to provide this level of customer service, even to smaller accounts. The attention and the speed at which they responded once I contacted the right person made me think twice about our final selection.
I don’t know where things will fall out. We haven’t taken any of the TeckChek assessments yet. But if their tests are anything like their customer service, Brainbench has some pretty hefty competition. I’ll let you know how this all plays out.
- Andy
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Andy
Just wondered how TeckChek fared once you had done the assessments. Can you give us an update?
Thanks!