Communication skill assessment is no longer an afterthought!
Hiring managers do not rely on subjective astuteness to determine the communication skills of candidates. Only an appropriate communication skills assessment tool can give accurate results. Considering the growing importance of communication skills and its direct impact on employee performance, recruiters should standardize communication skill assessment.
Communication in advanced business English at work is important, both verbal and written. Organizations are perpetually looking out for talent that blossoms in their ecosystem, works cohesively as teams, contributes to projects positively, and maintains excellent interpersonal relationships with stakeholders and clients. In the future, corporate communication skills will be more widespread.
Though the expected language and communication skills vary depending on the role, how companies can effectively test candidates to assess these skills in the recent job market will be the key. Moreover, striking the fine balance between sourcing talent possessing capabilities across logic, languages, interpersonal skills, and behavior would be determinants. The answer to this lies in technology-based communication skills assessment tools – the widely accepted tools to filter the best-fit candidates for specific roles.
As the digital future looms upon us, companies should invest in intelligent tools and make smart decisions. This will intrinsically lead to a paradigm shift in acquiring skilled talent and retaining the workforce.
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Noted below are the top 10 communication skills assessment tools for the future:
#1: iMocha
iMocha is a powerhouse skills assessment platform that not only evaluates tech and domain skills but also assesses business English proficiency. Using this communication skills assessment tool, hiring managers can evaluate the reading, writing, listening and speaking skills in a single test. AI-EnglishPro is an AI-enabled solution to evaluate the business communication proficiency of candidates.
Features
- AI-EnglishPro is a business communication English assessment that uses Natural Language Processing (NLP) models for a holistic, scientific, and accurate assessment of candidates
- It tests candidates for Listening, Reading, Speaking, and Writing based on different parameters
- Listening test evaluates candidates for understanding of language and vocabulary; attention span and memory; information retaining ability; cohesiveness of lexical and grammatical thinking; ability to grasp, incorporate, and condense; and phonemic awareness and word decoding
- Reading test assesses candidates for language understanding, grammatical accuracy, vocabulary use, paraphrasing ability, information retaining ability, critical thinking ability to infer and interpret, and phonemic awareness and word decoding for pronunciation
- Speaking test evaluates candidates for speech-to-text transcription accuracy, filler words removal (auto), benchmarking word-count-per-minute, vocabulary quantity and quality analysis with 14B+ word corpus, language detection, profanity filter, content moderation, and automatic topic and entity detection
- Writing test assesses word count based on benchmarking and internal sampling, grammatical accuracy, Cambridge-certified EVP (English Vocabulary Profiling), CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference) Level analysis, vocabulary categorization, Flesch reading score for better readability, and linguistic diversity
- MCQ assessment for Listening and Reading
- AI-powered assessment for Writing and Speaking
- World's largest Business English assessment library for 10+ specific domains covering a wide range of topics
- Assessment report in a single tool that provides actionable insights on vocabulary, readability, and oral fluency
- Smart image and video proctoring to prevent cheating; identify verification for candidates appearing for the test
G2 Rating & Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars, 189 reviews
Price: Available on request
Customer Segment: SMBs, Enterprises, Startups
Extra Mocha Shots: Introducing AI-EnglishPro
#2: Mettl 
Mettl conducts holistic communication skills assessment to test English communication skills. This tool evaluates candidates on business-critical communication skills. Tests are divided into Speaking, Listening, Reading, and Writing assessments.
Features
- Speaking skills test to evaluate the ability of candidates to speak correctly, coherently, and clearly
- Listening skills test to evaluate candidate’s ability to listen attentively and understand others communication clearly
- Reading skills test to assess the ability of reading, processing, retaining, and synthesizing written information
- Writing skills test to assess the ability of writing clearly and fluently, to express thoughts and ideas effectively
- AI-enabled tools to provide validated and accurate communication skills assessment
- SpeechX, Reading Comprehension Assessments, Writing Skills Simulator, Listening Comprehension Assessments, and Verbal Ability Assessments
- This communication skills assessment software also assesses soft skills, behavioral traits, and non-verbal skills for communication
G2 Rating & Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars, 412 reviews
Customer Segment: SMBs, Enterprises, Startups
Explore the competitive advantage of iMocha over Mettl.
#3: eSkill 
eSkill is a platform that delivers the highest accuracy with regulatory compliance. The platform offers communication skills tests in different formats focused on specific settings of the domain or industry. It provides general assessments and cognitive assessment for communication skills.
Features
- General communication skills assessment
- Assessments ensure highest level of accuracy with regulatory compliance
- Includes video response questions in tests to evaluate candidates thoroughly and not just for a particular skill
- Verifies candidates’ identity through picture ID or driver’s license
- Evaluate verbal communication skills for multiple languages, including English
G2 Rating & Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars, 312 reviews
Customer Segment: SMBs, Enterprises
Explore the competitive advantage of iMocha over Eskill.
#4: Criteriacorp 
Criteria is a talent success organization helping companies make objective and evidence-based talent decisions to minimize bias and drive better results. This tool includes a complete suite to validated assessments with decision-making solutions highlighting the potential in candidates. It takes a scientific approach to deliver excellent candidate experience.
Features
- Candidate screening tool for personality, aptitude, job and work-related skills essential for specific roles
- Customizable content library based on industry, company culture, and position
- Provides detailed reports with analytics and filter options to compare, analyze and sort results
- Features video interviews for communication skills assessment
- Covers cognitive aptitude test, personality test, emotional intelligence test, and other skills assessments
G2 Rating & Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars, 40 reviews
Customer Segment: SMBs, Startups
#5: Testcandidates 
Testcandidates is a pre-employment testing tool that evaluates candidates’ communication skills during hiring. It tests candidates for soft skills and corporate language communication skills to gauge them. Candidates face series of work-related scenario-based questions in the test. They have to choose the least and most appropriate course of action from multiple options.
Features
- Identify the best candidates through a series of pre-employment communication tests
- Candidates face real-life work-based questions to prove their effective communication skills and recognize others’ point of view
- The assessment results in quantifiable data, which can be used for selecting the best candidates and leading them through the recruitment channel
- Communication skills assessment for specific job roles like sales assistant, team leaders, call center operators, team leaders
- Hire faster with one-click
G2 Rating & Review: NA
Customer Segment: SMBs, Enterprises
#6: Picked.ai 
Knowing the exact proficiency of a language is critical for business communication. Picked assesses candidates’ communication skills through its language tests, which covers the most common languages that employers seek. All the communication skills tests feature a wide range of language-based questions covering vocabulary, grammar, spelling, reading comprehension, and common phrases.
Features
- The tool tests candidates for spelling, grammar, vocabulary, common phrases, and reading comprehension
- Communication skills test available for multiple businesses languages including English, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, and Mandarin
- Ideal for specific job roles like translators, teachers, proofreaders, editors, salesperson, flight attendants, pilots, business roles, travel agents, tour guides, content creators, journalists, customer support executives etc.
- Fully accredited and validated language tests for all levels within an organization
- Streamline hiring with smart automations, reminders, and alerts for smooth experience
- Instant results in real-time for quick hiring decisions
- Analytics dashboard and candidate comparison
G2 Rating & Review: NA
Customer Segment: SMBs, Enterprises
#7: Merittrac 
Merittrac is a platform that predicts employer and employee satisfaction. Communication is a notable skill gap in companies worldwide. To bridge the gap, this assessment tool has designed different types of communication test solutions.
Features
- English Listening Test for analyzing candidate’s interpersonal skills and communication processing
- Verbal Ability Test to assess content, grammar, spelling, punctuation, and vocabulary in different work scenarios that involve verbal communication
- English Writing Test to identify candidates’ writing skills
- English Proficiency Test to speed up the process of hiring candidates with excellent speaking and writing skills along with the ability to process information logically
- Special components like Written English Test (WET) and Listening Comprehension Test, English Verbal Ability and Advanced Verbal Ability for BPO Industry
G2 Rating & Review: NA
Customer Segment: SMBs, Enterprises, Startups
#8: TestGorilla 
TestGorilla has dedicated features to test the communication skills of candidates before an interview. Using different types of tests, the platform offers predictive value. It has a growing library of assessments including cognitive ability tests, personality tests, communication skills tests, language tests, role-specific tests, culture add tests, programming tests, and software skills tests.
Features
- An extensive collection of communication skills tests, including reading, writing and speaking
- Tests go beyond the understanding of vocabulary and words
- Analyses candidates’ analytical reasoning and thinking skills
- Measures candidates on personality, fit, and job skills
- Personality model tests, culture add assessments, and logical reasoning tests
G2 Rating & Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars, 754 reviews
Customer Segment: SMBs, Enterprises, Mid-scale organizations
#9: LearningLabs 
LearningLabs creates best-fit communication assessments for employers to assess candidates based on their listening, writing, and speaking abilities. Spoken English is a key factor for determining communication skills during interviews. This communication skills assessment tool screens candidates based on three distinct parameters – accent neutrality, fluency, and voice clarity. At the end of a test, the scores are collated to be analyzed thoroughly.
Features
- Candidates are assessed for listening, writing, and speaking ability
- Results are collected and analyzed to categorize candidates under varied talent buckets – Suitable/Selected/Best-Fit/Trainable candidates
- Communication skill assessment is an illustrative process that tests candidates for quality, accuracy, reliability, and consistency
G2 Rating & Review: NA
Customer Segment: SMBs, Startups
#10: Togglhire 
Togglhire evaluates the communication skills of candidates as per specific jobs, or template, or as standalone test. This tool evaluates candidates for technical as well as non-technical roles. Tests are created by experts in the field to assess candidates based on their ways of conveying ideas effectively, understanding and being understood, engaging in active listening, providing critical feedback, and adapting different styles of communication for different situations.
Features
- Use a pre-built communication skill assessment template that can be customized to change the questions and add questions
- Choose from different formats of questions like Smart, Static Free Text, and Coding questions
- Custom branding options for seamless transition from job ads or careers page to the landing page
- Performance analysis, comparison, and report
G2 Rating & Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars, 7 reviews
Customer Segment: SMBs
Also Read: Top 14 Soft Skills for Software Developers You Must Look for while Hiring
Conclusion
The science behind communication skills assessment tools is the combination of the right resources and tools. When used before and during the hiring process, it ensures smooth and long-term success post hiring. Among all other skills, the right balance of pre-employment assessments determines the communication abilities of candidates. It is imperative to take a holistic approach to measure different aptitudes and find the right match for a specific role, lasting association, and company culture.
FAQs
How do you assess communication skills?
There are many ways to assess the communication skills of candidates, including questions based on vocabulary and grammar, listening and reading tests, reading comprehension tests, language proficiency analysis, simulator-style assessments, SJTs etc. With validated communication skills assessment tools, hiring teams can determine the communication skills of candidates in specific job scenarios.
What are the four areas of communication assessment?
The four areas of communication assessment include – listening, reading, writing, and speaking. These key areas can be further elaborated as non-verbal communication, questioning, management, and emotional awareness.
Which is the best communication skills assessment tool?
While there are many tools on the market, the choice becomes difficult. As such, you should note down the necessary parameters for your choice and make a solid decision based on your requirements. iMocha is one the best communication skills assessment tools that looks into all aspects of communication assessment and delivers unbiased and holistic results with analytics.
