How to Track Candidate Progress in Real-Time

Tracking candidates' progress while they complete their assessments helps you see where each candidate is at any given time, e.g., whether they have started the assessment, how far into the assessment they are, whether they passed a portion of the assessment or are stuck, whether they are finished with it, etc. Tracking candidate progress in this way allows hiring teams to run faster, as well as identify any issues that arise, and maintain control over the process in general. 

TestnHire has features that enable these types of tracking, and when you pair them with effective process design, you can greatly increase the value of real-time progress tracking.

This article explores the logistics of tracking candidates' progress in real time, why it is important, and how to do it effectively.

The Importance of Real-Time Tracking

Before getting into the "how," let's discuss why real-time tracking is beneficial:
 

1. Accelerating Hiring Decisions
   Once you can easily view who is moving forward, who has completed the assessment, and who is behind, you can make much faster decisions. There is no need to wait overnight for reports or worry about the lag in hurricanes.
2. Improved Candidate Experience
   Candidates do not like to be left in a black hole. If they can see progress and timely feedback, they feel appreciated and respected, and they are less likely to disengage. Programs like TestnHire promise to have features such as "track participation and progress in real time from your dashboard." testnhire.com
3. Identifying Problems Sooner
   If candidates become stumped on a question, several candidates do not complete the assessment halfway, or something is hard to interpret in specific sections, real-time data will inform you of the problem as it happens. This enables you to perform timely remediation.
4. Improved Organization & Fairness
   The entire hiring team will have the same live data to check: who started, who paused, and who completed the activity. This limits the confusion of each member of the hiring team when performing the same actions unless other problems are identified. Ultimately, this helps provide better, bias-free treatment of candidates.
5. Optimizing Resources
   If many candidates are stuck assuming the same stage, maybe that stage either requires simplified instructions, more time, or a different format. Real-time tracking will tell you exactly where you are losing all of your candidates regarding assessment or the recruitment process.

Real-Time Tracking in TestnHire

1. Dashboard view of progress: Once you have invited the candidates, if you are a TestnHire user, you can see from your dashboard how many candidates have accepted the invitation, how many started, and how many completed the assessment.
2. Real-time performance analytics: You can see how candidates are performing as they finish, you can compare their performance to role-based benchmarks and summarize results as soon as you finish.
3. Tracking participation: It is possible to identify who joined the test, who is engaged in test-taking, who hasn't joined the test, etc. This level of tracking allows for follow-up with candidates who are behind.

These types of real-time insights can be useful because you don't have to be completely in the dark about the circumstances until you reach the end - you may be able to see patterns and act on them at the time of assessment if necessary. 

Implementing Real-Time Monitoring to Your Hiring Process

With the following steps in mind, implement real-time monitoring into your assessments in the most systematic and organized way possible, especially if you are using TestnHire.

01. Set up your process with real-time in mind

When you develop your assessment, ensure your platform allows you to track progress and see live dashboards. In TestnHire, this is built in.

Clearly define segmenting points during your assessment: invite sent, invite accepted, test started, section 1 completed, etc. When you have particularly defined metrics in mind, tracking becomes meaningful.

02. Select metrics to track

Going back to the table above, select a few metrics that you care about. For example, maybe you care about drop-off once at section 1 the most, and time spent per section.

Define what a "red flag" is or a benchmark. For example, if you see that more than say 30% of test takers drop off after section 1, or that the average time is 2x what you expected per section, you would investigate.

03. Use dashboards/reports

Use dashboards that are part of your dashboard options that are real-time and you can view on your TestnHire platform “track participation and progress in real time from your Dashboard.”

Utilize summary reports that automatically refresh that documents performance vs the benchmarks.

04. Work with the team

It is important to provide team members (HR managers, hiring leaders, etc.) with the capacity to view the dashboard in real time.

When team members observe an area for improvement then team members need an opportunity to take action regarding the assessment.

This action could look like sending a soft reminder message if an invited candidate hasn’t started the assessment, or to see if a candidate seemed to be stalled or paused on a question or section.

05. Adjust the assessment in real time

At the moment, if a lot of candidates are breaking down (e.g., many candidates failing/stuck in the same questions), consider making adjustments. For example, you could change wording, increase the time limit, provide optional hints, etc.

Review your data and iterate on your process and/or content after watching your batch of candidates complete.

After a group of candidates completes the assessment, review your data about how things worked, what worked, and what did not work. Then you can update your assessment content and/or processes for the next round. Real-time access/visibility helps your data be collected for adjustment sooner and more accurately.

Here are a few specific ways TestnHire assists you in real-time tracking on candidate progress, for you to leverage:

• Bulk invites + monitor participation: You can send multiple test invites in bulk and then see which candidates accepted or started and which candidates haven't. This will help you reach out to candidates in a timelier manner.
• Real-time ranking + AI-generated summaries: As candidates finish the various parts/sections the scores appear and are compared with benchmarks. This helps you narrow down candidates quicker.
• Deep performance insights: TestnHire provides deep analytics per candidate per skill/topic, so you can see in real-time how someone is performing on different parts.
• Dashboard: You can set a benchmark for what is expected for a role and as candidates progress you will see who is above or below what is expected.

Key Metrics & Signals for Tracking in Real Time

It is important to track the right signals that matter once you initially begin tracking the candidates in real time. For instance, if you are tracking a project where, say, candidates have been invited to take an assessment, an important signal is how many candidates invited actually begin the assessment versus accepted the invitation.

This gives you a quick insight into the clarity of your invitation process and accessibility to the assessment. If a number of candidates accepted the invitation and subsequently began the assessment, you may want to consider the clarity of the instructions as to why they are not beginning, or it could be indicative that the link for the assessment is not functioning properly.

The time spent in each section is another metric that you can track. You can monitor if some sections may be too challenging or unclear on their directions by looking at the amount of time each candidate takes to finish the sections in assessment. In addition to tracking overall progress (who is finishing, who is halfway through, or who may be stuck) helps you to monitor candidates that might want a gentle prompt or need a bit of follow up.

Conclusion

Tracking candidates' progress in real-time shifts hiring away from the passive waiting game, to a proactive approach based on candidate data. With platforms like TestnHire you can view the attendance, engagement, time, performance data, and drop-outs, as they occur. This results in a faster hiring process, a better candidate experience, and fewer surprises.

If correctly leveraging between metrics, dashboards, early warning signs, and evaluation updates, you will be continually improving your hiring candidate evaluations. Real-time tracking will identify kinks in the assessment process, issues with your test design, or candidate issues before they become an even larger issue. 

Ensure that your hiring team understands what to look for, when to respond to it, and how to ensure that you are using the data fairly and equitably. Lastly, don't forget about the candidate experience - fair, transparent, and timely communication is just as important as an efficient hiring process. Over time, this transition to tracking in real-time will be less of a new process and more of a responsible way to make more equitable, informed, and faster hiring decisions.