On Sunday, July 12th 2026 the Washington Post’s Jon Marcus published “Why recruiters can’t find workers and new grads can’t find jobs (it’s not AI)”. In it, he states that, it’s the “largest labor shortage the country has ever seen,” and that it “could hobble the...
These days there are, literally, thousands of assessment options available, and an entire industry in place to support those in hiring-mode. When employers need to confirm an applicant’s skills and abilities or develop the competencies of an existing employee, the world’s their oyster.
Whether it’s a basic skill like reading comprehension or numeracy, knowledge of HVAC or inventory management, accounts payable/receivable, or the ability to spot quality imperfections, there’s a plethora of reliable and accurate measures to choose from. Savvy employers who want to help ensure that they get it right the first time, identify and separate the winners from the losers, and save tens of thousands of dollars by avoiding a bad hire, will need something more than a Microsoft Word or Sales Aptitude test.
That’s where tools like the AtmanCo Assessment Platform come in! It’s an all-in-one platform designed to respond to your hiring, leadership, and talent development challenges. It is a comprehensive psychometric assessment that provides easy-to-interpret results you can use to boost performance and foster happiness at work that can be leveraged throughout an employee’s work-life.
People with low literacy skills face considerable challenges in a modern, complex work environment that demands adaptability and continuous learning. It is a considerable problem for employers, and costs them a lot in terms of productivity, mistakes, re-work, customer service, and workplace safety. Unlike complete illiteracy, functional illiteracy (as its name implies) enables the poorly literate to ‘hide’ their dysfunction because they’re able to get by without their poor reading skills being obvious.
Many of us have a fairly poor ability to understand how others perceive us or accurately assess our strengths and weaknesses. 360-degree tests are an excellent and effective way to ‘fix’ problem employees who are sometimes blithely unaware of how their behaviours impede the performance of those around them. 360-tests ‘hold up a mirror’ to help people see exactly how their work behaviours and skills (or lack thereof) are viewed by those with whom they interact.
The top job-skills that will be most in demand by employers in 2025 have been identified and soft skills and thinking top the list. Communication skills and leadership have long been on employers’ talent wish lists, as have work ethic and professionalism. The gap in entry-level skills has become more pronounced over the past five years, highlighting a noticeable decline in readiness. Only 48% of employees and just 12% of mid-level executives believe today’s entry-level workers are well-prepared for the current job market, [and] 49% of executives and 37% of employees point to a lack of soft skills such as communication, teamwork, and problem-solving.”
Recent studies have found that Gen Z (individuals born between the mid-1990s and early 2010s) and who are graduating from colleges now, are posing a significant problem for employers these days. Our clients are also complaining about the same things that these studies have highlighted. It seems to be a nearly universal occurrence across North America. The findings are concerning, widespread, and difficult to resolve. None of this bodes well for employers or for young people entering the workforce. Gen Z will overtake Boomers in the full-time workforce and so, employers (and the rest of us) will have to deal with them one way or another.
Corporate management is currently under siege, and senior leaders are retiring in record numbers. When these people leave the workforce, they’ll be taking years of training, knowledge, and mentoring opportunities with them. Many of those left standing will not yet be ready to assume the responsibilities of the roles left vacant, and their organizations will suffer a variety of negative consequences unless they act proactively to ensure a smooth transition as senior team members age out of the workforce. Savvy and forward-thinking organizations need to ensure that the next generation of managers is ready to step into leadership positions and be successful in them.
A 2024 report on “Communication in the Workplace Statistics 2024” indicates clearly that effective communication skills are critical skills for job success. One might think that that’s a bit of a no-brainer. However, this topic comes up again, and again, in workplace surveys and articles about career success, and has done for years. Just one example is Debra Hamilton’s Top 10 Email Blunders That Cost Companies Money from fifteen years ago in 2009.
The statistics show that 86% of employees and executives cite the lack of effective collaboration and communication as the main causes of workplace failures. Lack of effective communication creates big problems for everyone in many organizations. According to the Workplace Statistics 2024 report, 70% of people surveyed believe that wasted time is one of the worst consequences of poor communication, and 81% of global recruiters believe that cross-cultural competence is the most important communication skill job candidates should have, followed by multilingualism (77%), and active listening (75%).
CNBC recently ran an article about Mark Cuban and his February Master Class “Win Big in Business”. According to Cuban, there are “two things that matter the most [when it comes to hiring people]. Are they competent enough to do the job? And do they fit in the...
Advance Notice - COD Will Be Closed from Monday April 29, 2024 through to Friday May 10th 2024 inclusive. We will re-open for business on Monday May 13th 2024 at 9 AM Eastern. Please expect delayed responses. Those who rely upon COD to deliver completed assessment...