PRESS RELEASE: Accessible Skills Assessments Uncovering Hidden Talent
In October the National Skills Commission reported that Australia is facing chronic skills shortages with nearly a third of all Australian sectors facing worker shortfalls. This statistic is compounded by the recent Australian Talent Conference survey finding that a staggering 95% of CEO’s stated they are struggling to find talent.
As employers scramble to find staff, leading HR Technology provider, Testgrid has launched a solution to help add neurodivergent talent to the workforce by fairly assessing these candidates’ suitability to roles.
Many neurodivergent people have well documented natural talents, such as high levels of concentration, acute attention to detail, persistence, accuracy, and an excellent memory. Often a traditional recruitment process does not allow for identification of these skills or the ability for employers to leverage them in meaningful ways.
Partnering with neurodiversity specialist Xceptional, Testgrid can now offer access to unique activity-based assessments designed to uncover the talents of underrepresented groups.
Will Ainsley, Testgrid’s Chief Operating Officer shared, ‘I am really excited to be partnering with Xceptional as it furthers the aims of Testgrid to help our customers enable success through people. A core part of our mission is to ensure that assessments offer a valuable insight for hiring, whilst giving every candidate a chance to shine and show their potential. Throughout the discussions with Xceptional it was clear that both organisations share that aim, to help employers reach untapped talent and be fair and accessible to candidates.
‘I have been shocked by the level of unemployment and underemployment amongst neurodiverse people, even in the current tight labour market. Our clients are constantly saying that they cannot find the number of candidates that they are used to, and it is significantly increasing their hiring time and costs. I believe that those organisations who can think differently and take this opportunity will be streets ahead. I am confident that together, Testgrid and Xceptional, we can help uncover this untapped talent to improve outcomes for organisations AND candidates. We are passionate about diversity, and it is a core value of Testgrid, as we know what diversity can do to help organisations succeed’.
Xceptional’s Chief Technology Officer Gareth Thomas said, ‘Over the years our team has demonstrated that the strengths of neurodiverse employees, while often overlooked, are of significant value to employers. Building assessments to highlight the incredible skills of neurodiverse individuals allows for the identification of talent and skills which may not be uncovered using traditional recruitment methods’.
‘The Xceptional platform has been developed by a talented neurodiverse team of designers, software engineers and QA testers. We are proud of what we have created and thrilled to be partnering with Testgrid’.
About Testgrid
Founded in 1999, Testgrid is a proudly Australian owned employment testing, HR technology and assessment science company.
Testgrid assists customers to optimise selection, accelerate performance, realise exceptional talent acquisition results, excel and surpass your competitors; and achieve your goals.
Working in consultative partnership with their customers, Testgrid combine responsiveness and reliability with technical expertise to enable Australian businesses make smarter, faster and fairer talent acquisition and development decisions.
We exist to empower organisations to achieve success through people.
For Comments:
Will Ainsley
Chief Operating Officer
m: 0414 489 207
For Comments:
Aron Mercer
Chief Growth Officer
m: 0414 489 207
e: [email protected]
About Xceptional
About Xceptional
Since 2017 Xceptional have pioneered a range of inclusive talent solutions for the Australian market. Our mission is to provide meaningful careers for neurodivergent people, most of which have experienced lengthy periods of unemployment or underemployment. This work has been recognised by Google.org, AMP, TechDiversity, Westpac and Optus.
Xceptional has spent the last 2 years developing skills assessment technology. We have tested our assessments in the market through our own Talent Service and had them reviewed by academics and industry. We know this works for neurodivergent people who typically need an opportunity to demonstrate their skills. Our data shows 91% candidates would recommend this process and 92% of those placed are still in a job 12 months later.
About Testgrid
References
https://www.nationalskillscommission.gov.au/topics/skills-priority-list
