WAYNE, Pa. (January 28, 2008) - Kenexa® (NASDAQ: KNXA), a leading provider of recruitment and retention solutions, today announced that they have won two coveted three-year contracts by the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) - which organizes the selection of European Union officials and contract staff.
The first contract is to provide multiple-choice verbal and non-verbal reasoning questions for use at the first stage of its selection procedure for the large number of candidates who want to work at the heart of Europe.
Kenexa has also been awarded the contract to build a database of test items for people applying for specific Human Resources, Financial/Accounts Management, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Secretarial and Administrative roles.
Based in Brussels, EPSO organizes ‘open competitions’ and selection procedures to find candidates who can fill posts within all institutions of the EU, such as the European Parliament, the European Council, the European Commission and the Court of Justice.
These posts are usually advertised on the EPSO website, in the national press of the countries concerned and on some internet job-boards. Candidates - who can number 30,000 or more, depending on the posts - apply online, via EPSO’s website.
To streamline the pre-selection process, EPSO introduced computer based testing to assess candidates’ verbal and numerical reasoning ability and Kenexa is proud to have contributed significantly to this move over the past 3 years. Candidates now sit these reasoning tests on a computer, in a supervised environment at test centers across Europe. The number of test centers vary but there is at least one in each of the 27 European Union member states.
“We’ve modernized our procedures to make the best use of technology to ensure we can deal efficiently with the high volume of applications we receive,” said David Bearfield, Director of EPSO.
For those who successfully pass the admission tests, the next stages in the process are written and oral exams. Each stage is eliminatory. The candidates who gain the highest overall marks are then placed on a short list ("reserve list") from which the European Institutions recruit.
“We are pleased that Kenexa have the capability and capacity to provide questions of varying levels of difficulty across a range of subject matter,” said Bearfield. “When candidates sit a test, they will each be presented with a random sample of questions, appropriate to the level of position they are applying for. These questions will be taken from a large database in order to eliminate the possibility of cheating or of overexposure to test items.”
Troy Kanter, President and Chief Operating Officer, Kenexa said, “Over the past three years, Kenexa has built a strong relationship with EPSO and we are honored that EPSO has once again chosen Kenexa to work with them to further their use of computer based testing.”
About Kenexa
Kenexa ® Corporation provides outsourcing, employee research and software to help organizations more effectively recruit and retain a productive workforce. Kenexa solutions include applicant tracking, employment process outsourcing, onboarding, skills and behavioral assessments, structured interviews, performance management, multi-rater feedback surveys, employee engagement surveys, and HR Analytics. Headquartered in Wayne, Pa. (outside Philadelphia), Kenexa employs more than 1,300 people worldwide. More information about Kenexa and its global locations can be accessed at www.kenexa.com.
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Anna Carroll
Kenexa
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