A provider of online skills assessment for the technology industry has experienced rapid growth in its first year, leading to the recruitment of 10 staff in Sunderland.

Technically Compatible recently introduced new developments to its testing platform which has not only improved the customer experience, but also allowed Technically Compatible to expand its team. New talent has been hired across technical, sales, marketing and account management teams.

The company, based at Sunderland Software Centre, has now provided more than 25,000 tests across 19 countries, to help technology companies find suitable candidates when recruiting.

Set up to simplify and de-risk the process of hiring IT professionals, Technically Compatible allows HR departments and recruiters to test potential employees’ technical abilities accurately. By quickly creating skills tests tailored for specific roles, companies can speed up the recruitment process and avoid the risk of a bad hire.

The recent advancements made by the company include introducing a mobile-friendly testing service, enhanced analytics and report sharing capabilities and introducing new Code Challenges. Simulating day-to-day software development, Code Challenges are an innovative question type that requires candidates to solve real-world technical problems by writing code.

The milestone feature was released to customers in August, with Technically Compatible continuing to develop its offering. Since the summer, it has developed video playback for Code Challenges, so that recruiters can gain insight into a candidate’s thought process as they are trying to solve the problem. It has also incorporated ground-breaking ‘focus state detection’ which recognises when candidates disengage with a question to carry out another activity, such as researching an answer.

Customer Hilary Dempsey, Head of HR at TERMINALFOUR, said: “In addition to the numerous technical areas we are able to assess, the software is easy to use and most importantly Technically Compatible helps us to identify if candidates have the right skills for our roles.”

“It has saved countless hours in phone screenings and face-to-face interviews, as we now use the tech assessment as the first stage of the interview process.”

Technically Compatible’s early successes have secured them a substantial six-figure sum in investment, in a round led by regional capital firm Northstar Ventures. The funding comes from the Finance for Business North East Accelerator Fund, with additional investment from private sector co-investors.

Carl Jones, CEO, said: “We’ve had a great first year at Technically Compatible, achieving several key goals. These included assembling a strong board of directors, as well as staff across several departments, gaining some fantastic customers across 19 countries and releasing a whole raft of product enhancements.

“This put us in a great position to secure investment at a truly fantastic multi-million pound valuation and choosing Northstar Ventures to be our partner was in truth very easy. This investment enables us to ramp up our growth plans more aggressively, growing our commercial teams whilst continuing to invest in our technology.”

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