6 Things To Look For In Your Coding Assessment Tool

Two years of the world adapting to new ways of working and the tech industry has pretty much seen it all. From working fully remote to transitioning to hybrid work models, recruiters know what kind of technology they need to streamline their hiring processes. Be it virtual coding assessment tools or online coding interview tools, the recruitment tech stack has vastly been improved to keep up with the ever-changing hiring landscape.

Consequently, there has been an explosion of tech interview tools that claim to help you at every step of the recruiting life cycle. You, as recruiters know what you need but how would you separate the wheat from the chaff—a good marketing pitch versus a functional tool that does what it claims to do?

And this is where we step in! Allow us to point out the most important elements of coding assessment tools that you need to watch out for.

6 things every online coding assessment tool should have

Choosing the right coding assessment tool may make or break your recruitment process. It is important that whatever tool you decide to run with meets all your requirements and helps simplify finding the best candidate for the job. 

We did our research and here are some of the features that constitute a capable and reliable coding interview tool: 

• Easy integration with your existing ATS

The modern recruiter cannot manage or sift through large volumes of candidate data on a spreadsheet. That’s a recipe for disaster right there. 

An applicant tracking system (ATS) is built to solve just that. Work with a tool that offers effortless integration with an ATS, where you can sync all candidate data in one place. It acts as a centralized repository of candidate data—keeps track of resumes and saves all received applications even if they were not hired.

Your ATS  helps you effectively screen applications by setting filters instead of doing it manually. It can also ensure that the candidates are all on the same page by sending them real-time updates about their progress at each stage of the interview. Your hiring team can easily check the status of any selected candidate directly from the ATS. 

You can create and send assessment invites from the ATS itself and do away with switching between multiple platforms.

Recommended read – Remote Work And Recruitment: An ATS Story

• Rich library of questions

Any good online assessment tool will offer a wide array of programming languages, and frameworks as well as tests for both modern and legacy coding skills. You should be able to test for all developer roles whether it is frontend or backend. It should consist of a range of programming languages and frameworks for all coding job roles such as iOS developer, Android developer, web developer, data scientist, and so on.

• Automated invigilation with proctor settings

When hiring remotely, it is not possible to closely monitor candidates during the tests. This is where automation takes over. A capable coding assessment tool provides automated invigilation with proctor settings. Proctoring allows you to observe candidates through video during the test and protect the quality of the assessment. 

The automated assessment tool should also report tab switching, prevent copy-pasting code, and eliminate candidate impersonation with the help of image processing.

Recommended read: 3 Things To Know About Remote Proctoring

• Assessments created for individual roles

What a hiring manager looks for in a candidate varies from role to role. The platform should enable you to build your custom coding assessments as per your requirements. You should have the choice of creating different types of questions like MCQs, project-type, or subjective questions that simulate on-the-job problems with the help of custom data sets and test cases.

Recommended read: 4 Ways To Create Tests With HackerEarth

• Grading based on standard evaluation parameters

It’s always advisable to conduct structured interviews to ensure that the hiring process is fair and impartial. One way to do this is by evaluating every candidate against standardized parameters to keep the assessment objective. Scoring reports that are automatically generated at the end of the assessment make it simple and quick for you to identify who goes on to the next round and who doesn’t. 

Not only does it cut bias out of the equation but also lets you update the candidate in real-time and ensure that they are kept in the loop at every step of the hiring lifecycle.

• Automated performance reports

Any coding test platform supplies in-depth analytics and insights into a candidate’s capabilities with summarized, auto-generated performance reports. You can identify top performers in an instant and screen them further based on work experience and other relevant criteria. This helps you make data-driven decisions in collaboration with your team as all candidate performance data is available on the dashboard.

Top 5 Online Assessment Tool

Choosing the right online assessment tool can streamline your hiring process, ensuring you find the best candidates for your technical roles. Here are the top five coding assessment tools that stand out for their features and effectiveness:

HackerEarth: 

HackerEarth combines coding challenges, hackathons, and real-world projects to assess candidates’ skills. It’s known for its user-friendly interface and detailed analytics, making it easy to identify top talent.

HackerRank: 

Known for its extensive library of coding challenges and competitive coding environments, HackerRank, the online assessment tool is ideal for assessing a wide range of programming skills and languages. It offers robust reporting and benchmarking capabilities.

Codility: 

This online assessment tool excels in evaluating candidates’ coding skills through real-world tasks and coding scenarios. Codility’s automated grading and anti-cheating measures ensure a fair and efficient assessment process.

LeetCode: 

Popular among developers, LeetCode provides a vast repository of coding problems that cover various topics and difficulty levels. It’s excellent for both preparing candidates and assessing their problem-solving skills.

CodeSignal: 

With a focus on providing a comprehensive evaluation, CodeSignal offers coding tests, technical interviews, and custom assessments. Its advanced coding environment supports a wide range of programming languages and frameworks.

HackerEarth, the best coding assessment tool for your organization

Online Coding assessment toool enable you to assess a candidate’s technical skills objectively. It helps recruiters zero in on the right talent from among a vast talent pool, quickly. Do your research wisely and choose the best coding assessment tool that fits all your needs. 

As we discussed before, a good tool is simple to use, has an enormous question bank, uses a combination of knowledge and application-based techniques such as MCQs and simulators to measure job-relevant skills, and provides data-rich insights into a candidate’s performance.

Here’s why we think HackerEarth Assessments is a great option for a coding assessment tool:

• A rich library of 13,000+ questions across 80+ programming skills helps you to create highly specific coding assessments with zero technical understanding. 
• Creation of your assessment for any job role or expected skill in under 5 minutes or based on job descriptions, with the option to build custom questions.
• The choice of designing various types of questions like MCQs or project-type questions that simulate real-time problems.
• Seamless integration with popular ATSs like LinkedIn Talent Hub, Lever, Workable, JazzHR, and more, which means you can sync all your candidate data with your ATS. 
• Instantly invite candidates to take the assessment you created on our platform. See at what stage each candidate is in throughout the hiring lifecycle, and avail performance reports, all from your ATS—without switching between multiple tools.
• Robust proctoring efforts with the choice to customize the stringency, data-rich insights on each candidate’s performance, and built-in PII (Personal Identifiable Information) feature that mitigates bias in the process to offer an objective, accurate, and impartial screening process.
• Auto scoring based on standardized evaluation parameters to ensure each candidate is assessed fairly.
• Provides actionable insights into a candidate’s skills with summarized, automated performance reports.

Go on, take HackerEarth for a spin and see for yourself if everything we claimed checks out! Remember, you only know the difference between a tool that’s good on paper and a tool that can provide good results when you actually test it out. 

Keep the top features of a coding assessment tool in mind while making your decision, to find the perfect fit for your recruitment tech stack!

FAQs about Coding Assessment Tools

Q: What are coding assessment tools?
A: Coding assessment tools are software platforms that help employers evaluate the coding skills of potential hires through various challenges, tasks, and tests.

Q: How do coding assessment tools work?
A: These tools provide a range of coding challenges and scenarios that candidates must solve. They often include automated grading and performance analytics to streamline the evaluation process.

Q: What should I look for in a coding assessment tool?
A: Key features to consider include the variety of coding challenges, language support, ease of use, anti-cheating measures, and detailed reporting capabilities.

Q: Can coding assessment tools prevent cheating?
A: Yes, many tools include anti-cheating measures such as webcam proctoring, plagiarism detection, and controlled coding environments to ensure the integrity of the assessments.

Q: Are coding assessment tools only for recruitment?
A: No, they can also be used for employee development, training, and identifying areas for improvement within your current team.

Further Reading

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Ruehie Jaiya Karri Author 58 Blogs