There can be no single skill or trait that guarantees success at work but a combination of the right skills and traits has proven to predict success. While the in-demand skills are changing, the focus is on hiring and developing those who are willing and able to gain new skills and knowledge - behaviours that will help employees adapt and thrive in an uncertain environment. The pandemic has changed the way we work and hiring is no exception. The challenge is to identify the best fit candidate while hiring remotely, without affecting the employee engagement and branding.

The talent assessments are the go-to tools used by HR and talent acquisition leaders to identify the best fit. The assessments are undergoing sea change to keep pace with the uncertainty and the new demands for the HR leaders and market dynamics. Here is our list of talent assessment trends to keep a watch for in 2022.

1. 
   1. Game-based assessments
2. The mix of people joining the organizations is changing and the Gen Z and millennials will make up over 60% of the workforce by 2025. They are born digital and are gamers by choice. So, when their lives are woven around games, why should hiring be any different. Game-based assessments are psychometric assessments intentionally built as games. Organizations across industries are taking a game-based approach to assessment for informed decision making.
   
   Because of their fast-paced and immersive nature, game-based assessments reveal a candidate's natural behaviour and responses in a way that traditional testing methods cannot. Unlike traditional assessments, game-based assessments are progressive-they adapt as the candidate engages with them. Framing the assessment as a 'game' rather than a 'test' reduces anxiety, making the hiring process more inclusive and accurate for candidates who get nervous during formal testing. Game-based assessments also allow for an array of personality traits and cognitive skills (problem-solving, memory, attention, mental agility, information processing, etc.) can be assessed in just a couple of minutes.
3. 
   2. Much more engaging and stress-free assessments
4. Because of the long raging pandemic, employees are bound to get stressed due to the monotony and a lack of work-life balance. This stress prevails on job seekers as well in a process that is already stressful for a lot of candidates. The immersive nature of the game reduces stress resulting from the so-called stereotypical threat, i.e. negative stereotypes about culture or gender differences inhibiting doubts and high-pressure anxieties in the test taker's mind. Games help in minimizing socially desirable behaviour by eliciting authentic responses.
5. 
   3. Blend of AI & Data Analytics
6. With a lot of data getting captured at every stage of the employee and candidate life cycle, the future of assessments is based on AI and data analytics. Another trend that is impacting hiring is the lack of skilled candidates and the volume of candidates applying for the job. In a candidate-driven market, remote work environment, the candidates need flexibility to apply and be assessed anytime-anywhere.
   The future of assessments has AI to identify the best fit and shortlist candidates based on the selected profile. The future also entails using bots and automation to reach out to the candidates to ease the workload for the already burdened talent acquisition teams. Many organizations are experimenting with bots to handle the administrative part of rolling and managing the assessments. The online assessments allow organizations to offer the flexibility of anywhere-anytime access to provide great employer branding.
7. 
   4. More candidate-centric
8. In a candidate-driven market, the talent acquisition leaders are putting candidates at the centre and taking care of their needs and experience. It means having a long-lasting relationship with the candidates.
   
   Game-based assessments help candidates make better career choices by making them more self-aware about their strengths, weaknesses, interests, values & work styles. Being less stressful, they help reduce test takers' anxiety and create a better candidate experience.
9. 
   5. Simulation
10. With the increasing cost of human capital, there is an increased focus on improving new hire productivity. There is no better way of assessing a candidate fitment than to let them actually do the work they will be doing once on the job.
    
    Hiring simulations are not like any other tests and they aim to recreate virtual workplaces that immerse applicants in key job roles where they perform critical job tasks and solve real-life workplace issues. While other assessment tools provide an ability to get in insight into the personality of a candidate or thinking pattern, job simulations provide a direct measure of functional skills related to performance. As a result, they are proven to be the best predictor of job fitment accurately.
11. 
    6. Increased Security
12. With the increased dependence on virtual hiring, the need to secure the assessments and make sure that the bona fide candidate only attempts the assessment has increased. Online proctoring has surged during the pandemic and the talent assessments of the future will include a proctoring layer to ensure the genuineness of the assessments. The proctoring layer can vary between image capture, continuous video proctoring, and monitored proctoring to ensure maximum effectiveness.
    
    Talent assessments would continue to be the mainstay of tools available with HR and talent acquisition leaders to hire for the best fit. With changing times they have evolved in terms of their presentation layer but the underlying psychometric principles have remained intact to offer validity and reliability. The data-based modelling and use of AI will only make it more accurate. The inclusion of game-based elements helps with employee engagement and great employer branding.