Sam, sorry if I missed it, but how do you address the following criticisms of assessments?
1. The candidate doesn't learn anything about the employer. In an (interactive) interview the candidate can ask questions, gauge the interviewer and the interview process.
2. I found many assessments to query skills already exhibited on my github or blog. If the hiring team can't take the time to review my portfolio, why should I complete the assessment?
3. I'd be happy to take the opportunity to learn a new framework/language required for the assessment, which would maximise synergies for me. But I'd probably fare badly in that assessment. Shouldn't a good assessment not only query knowledge but also the ability to learn?
In our interview process, there was a telephone call before the assessment and an in person interview after to cover off questions and getting a feel for the employer.
For point 2, I think that can be a fair criticism for development roles. Many developers don't have Github though.
For point 3, our assessment was DevOps focussed, and early on the examples used Puppet. We had quite a few candidates that previously used only Chef, gave it a go using Puppet, weren't sure if this was idiomatic and wrote comments on how they would have done it in Chef. Those candidates all got hired.
1. The candidate doesn't learn anything about the employer. In an (interactive) interview the candidate can ask questions, gauge the interviewer and the interview process.
2. I found many assessments to query skills already exhibited on my github or blog. If the hiring team can't take the time to review my portfolio, why should I complete the assessment?
3. I'd be happy to take the opportunity to learn a new framework/language required for the assessment, which would maximise synergies for me. But I'd probably fare badly in that assessment. Shouldn't a good assessment not only query knowledge but also the ability to learn?