While recruiting for laboratory assistants or technicians, merely overview the resume will not suffice. You need to check practical skills related to laboratory work that proves one can conduct experiments, operate the equipment, and adhere to safety measures efficiently. Come today’s virtual hiring world, this all is somehow apparently challenging to be conducted over the net. However, using an ideal tool, you will come across a perfect glimpse into a candidate’s capability to showcase the required skills. How to conceive of an online laboratory skills assessment and use tools like OnlineExamMaker to effectively screen candidates is the focus of this article.
- What Is An Online Laboratory Skills Assessment?
- Which Skills and Traits are Important for Laboratory Assistants?
- 4 Steps To Make An Online Lab Competency Test With OnlineExamMaker
What Is An Online Laboratory Skills Assessment?
The online laboratory skills assessment is designed to test the candidate’s execution of core laboratory tasks in a controlled and simulated environment. It typically includes questions or practical challenges that focus on technical knowledge, safety procedures, problem-solving abilities, and laboratory techniques. While lab work is hands-on, online assessments allow you to test a candidate’s theoretical understanding, decision-making skills, and technical competence in a virtual format for easier candidate screening.
These assessments could also test the performance of the candidate with respect to a wide range of real-life situations that involve experimentation and critical equipment.
Which Skills and Traits are Important for Laboratory Assistants?
Some of the important skills and traits in hiring laboratory assistants include the following.
Technical knowledge
The candidate will have great knowledge in fields of laboratory techniques, such as tools and equipment necessary for operation and troubleshooting.
Attention to detail
The lab actually requires precise measurement and keen observation; therefore, attention to detail is much needed.
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Safety awareness
This is a must in a laboratory where rules for safety should be known and followed in order not to have any accidents and to handle hazardous materials properly.
Time management
Laboratory assistants can be involved in several duties simultaneously, and this requires strong organizational skills for prioritizing activities.
Communication skills
Laboratory assistants have to present findings clearly, whether in reports or in discussions with team members and supervisors. Clear and concise communication is vital for ensuring that data is recorded accurately and collaboration runs smoothly.
Adaptability
With every now-and-then-changing scientific atmosphere, a lab assistant needs to update himself with the new technologies, methodologies, and protocols that are being introduced now and then. How they learn on the job and adjust to unforeseen challenges will make all the difference.
4 Steps To Make An Online Lab Competency Test With OnlineExamMaker
An online assessment is the best way to evaluate the skills of laboratory assistants in hiring, here is the step by step guide to make one using OnlineExamMaker.
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Step 1: Sign Up to onlineexammaker.com
Sign up with OnlineExamMaker and, once logged in, build your laboratory skill assessment test. You may be enabled to manage any number of assessments and present candidate comparative progress across different levels of hire.
Step 2: Custom assessment questions
Develop questions that reflect the actual work candidates would be required to do in the lab. Examples include:
How To Dispose Of Hazardous Chemicals?
Describe the steps to calibrate a pH meter.
If a reaction doesn’t go as expected, what are some troubleshooting you would do?
With the presented program, you can also add multimedia, such as images or videos of laboratory equipment, to make the questions more interactive. Visual aids will help candidates better express their knowledge of certain lab equipment/settings and further challenge their preparedness.
OnlineExamMaker supports MCQs, short-answer questions, and practical coding or scenario-based questions. In the skills lab, include MCQs on safety protocols, equipment usage, and best practices, along with scenario-based questions to assess problem-solving skills.
Step 3: Create an assessment
Once your questions are ready, it time for you to set up an exam in OnlineExamMaker dashboard, and you are required to fill the title and description of the exam in this step.
Step 4: Set parameters and distribute the assessment
After the exam is created successfully, you can configure parameters like time limits and grading criteria. You can randomize questions through OnlineExamMaker to make things fair. After configuration, share the exam link via email or direct message to candidates.
You will be able to track the responses in real-time and generate very detailed reports for analysis. This will ensure that candidates are assessed consistently and objectively due to the flexibility of this procedure. All that is to be done is an efficient and effective online assessment of laboratory competency with the right tools at hand.
To assess the general technical competencies, problem-solving, and safety awareness of a candidate, the tool may be tailored according to preference. OnlineExamMaker adds time management, randomized questions, and detailed reporting while making the hiring less painful and letting you make full-informed decisions on more complete skill assessments. Be it a research laboratory, a clinical facility, or a manufacturing plant that requires an assistant, OnlineExamMaker makes the process easier in conducting online candidate selection of laboratory assistants.
