Online assessment platform Mercer-Mettl looking to expand overseas footprint

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Siddhartha Gupta recently took over as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of online assessment platform Mercer-Mettl. In his new role, Gupta plans to cash in on demand for online assessment services to increase the company’s solutions footprint globally.

Technology hasn't left any fields untouched and the recruitment business is no exception. Gupta said, “Five years back people were unaware of technology tools available for assessment. Now, every talent acquisition firm has some sort of tool.”

“If you don’t, you will be considered historic,” he quipped.

According to a report by Techsciresearch, India assessment services market is projected to cross $750 million by 2021. The report pointed out the growth in the market is backed by an increasing number of competitive examinations and certifications, growing need for skill assessment for increasing employability, and rising population of the young labour force in the country.

The increasing demand from competition-conducting authorities to enrol specialist exam-conducting companies and the growing preference among corporate and the government to opt for online exams is expected to drive assessment services market in India over the coming years, the report added.

According to Gupta, there is a huge headroom for growth. The rate at which technology is growing, Gupta said, “Traditional way of recruitment will not work anymore.” Deploying technology is making the recruitment process more efficient and also helping them engage with potential candidates better.

The company has over 1,500 customers, 30 products and assessments for 400 different job roles. The products include psychometric tests, aptitude tests, coding, intelligent hiring platforms and learning and development tools such as training effectiveness and feedback.

Close to 50 percent of the company’s business comes from psychometric tests, 20 percent from tech-powered tests such as hackathons and the rest from other assessments. In terms of industry, IT and ITeS service providers account for 50 percent. Sectors such as the automobile, pharmaceuticals, insurance and banking are also growing at a much faster rate.

With demand increasing and using the parent company Mercer’s bandwidth, the company is now looking to scale their latest offerings – Hackathon platform, 360-degree feedback, chatbot and its intelligent assessment platform.

Mercer-Mettl is looking at Asia Pacific region such as Indonesia and Singapore, West Asia, South Africa and Brazil and Mexico, where the company has seen a huge growth in recent times.