Hi Christina

Possibly you might be asking for people to do this "skills test" too early in the recruitment process? Asking for a lot of applicants to do bespoke hard work from a candidate at the very first hurdle.

So may be set out a job description and (the rarity of) a realistic person specification, and ask for a CV and a covering communication.

Then when you have a long list, time to think about some "skills test" for the smaller number you choose to shortlist, but consider what is appropriate for the level of position on offer. Easy to mention "policy" but what do you actually mean by that. Most OSH professionals don't get much chance to be spearheading policy development as they are busy advising on the implementation of what already exists.  

Recruitment is resource costly but that applies to the Candidates as well as the Recruiter and the balance is skewing back towards the Candidates so that the Recruiter is unwise to put up too many complex demands particularly at the first stage of the process. If you make it hard to apply then there are other jobs out there  or a Candidate might just decide that their current position is not so bad after all.

Edited by user 05 December 2024 16:26:53(UTC)  | Reason: Gremlin

Having manged Poland and other eatern european countries over the years from an EHS point of view in a previous employ (High Hazard industry)...I don't think there is anything wrong with the skills tests...however in my experience they want to do well but just don't know how to...most of my time was coaching and mentoring staff to get to the point you are looking for...and they do very well...at the moment forcus is on what happens in Ukraine and the Russian boarder...so a skills test may not be a priority..my adivce is find a person that has the potential and invest time and effort in bringing them along...I had said to them teach me polish and I will teach you how this works...and you know it is working when you are taught swear words ;)