Merreo - Case Study

Merreo Pre-Hiring tests - Case Study

Merreo is a pre-hiring assessment platform currently developed in partnership with the Nikitha web Development Company - it is an ongoing project that has been in the works for over 12 months. Merreo is a proper SAAS platform with multiple-level stakeholders having access and several complex features to deliver a strong and unique value proposition. In this article, we will discuss our process & technology for developing a SAAS platform like Merreo.

What is Merreo?

Merreo is a pre-hiring test platform where employers and HR Agencies can create and deploy Role-Specific & Multi-Measure Assessments for assessing potential job candidates - targeted for the untapped and underserved market of Small to Medium scale start-ups. Ultimately wanting to make better and more objective hiring practices accessible for all companies.

Inside the product, a recruiter can create different assessments for the different roles that he/she will be hiring for. And for each assessment, one can add up to 5 tests from our skill test library- hence the term “multi-measure assessments.” As of now, Merreo has over 45 expert-developed pre-employment tests that include cognitive tests, hard skill tests, language tests, coding language tests, and personality tests. Our test repertoire includes Critical Thinking, Spatial Visualization, Math thinking, MATLAB, C Programming, HTML, PHP, Solidworks, FIGMA, Finance, Marketing, & much more. In addition to that, the recruiter can create his/her own questions to be appended to the assessment.

Merreo also does not have a subscription plan - which is currently the norm for the industry, but also a big turn-off for the target market. So, we work with a Pay as you Go model. Companies/HR Agencies can purchase assessment credits for as low as 60 Rs/credit, with one credit getting consumed only if a candidate takes all the sections of the assessment.

How Merreo works?

Step 1 - Create an account

Step 2 - Start creating the assessment by naming the assessment and choosing the relevant streams and details.

Step 3 - Add tests. You can choose up to 5 tests per assessment. You can accept our role-specific pre-set assessment or you can configure it for your needs.

Step 4 - Add custom questions. Create a bespoke experience for your candidates by adding your questions.

That’s it. An assessment is now created and you can send the Assessment link to the candidates.

As soon as candidates start taking the tests, results start popping up in your dashboard, which you can use to make more informed decisions about candidates.

The Product Development Process

Merreo is one of the most complex projects we ever worked on. Merreo is supposed to be a bootstrapped, low-budget product that should be comparable with the VC-funded mammoths in terms of features and usability. So the process becomes ever important.

  • In the first step, we conducted a thorough market research to understand the competition, find the unmet needs, and separate the critical needs from the auxiliary needs.
  • Then we developed comprehensive product flow charts and wireframes to visualize all aspects of the product.
  • Once completed, we will start getting into UX & UI Design. For that, we begin by defining the Design System. The Design phase is a lengthy and iterative process since there were over 200 unique page formats inside the product. For the launch, we designed the product applying the fundamental thumb rules of UX/UI design. And after the launch, we actively seek feedback and develop the product for customer needs.
  • Only after the design is completed and all the features clearly articulated, we will start with the technology development. The technology development for this product was complex and unique. The admin should be able to create new tests, add new questions, create categories, and more. All of this will be accessed and utilized by the customer (recruiter), and is finally shared with the candidates. In addition to all the Blogs, Help-desks, and Landing page content. This multi-level hierarchy inside the product and the features’ complexity demanded that we create Merreo with a fairly advanced, modular, and scalable technology stack. So, we choose the Laravel PHP framework for the back-end development and the React framework for the Front-end development.

Despite the product being fully functional now, we will always view the product as a work in progress. We are constantly working on adding new features and systems and ultimately adding value to the customers.

Technology

Design - FIGMA, Adobe Xd, FIGJAM

Front End Development - React & Bootstrap

Backend Development - Laravel PHP

Database - MySQL

Features

Pre-Hiring Test Stack

Merreo has a constantly growing pre-employment test library. At the moment, the platform has 45 tests. Some of them are listed below.

Cognitive Hiring Tests (Aptitude screening tests)

  • Abstract Reasoning
  • Math Thinking
  • Critical Thinking
  • Spatial Visualization & more

Personality Hiring Tests

  • 16 type test
  • Enneagram test
  • Big 5 (OCEAN) personality test
  • DISC assessment

Hard Skills tests

  • Data Analytics & Machine Learning
  • Product Management
  • Digital Marketing
  • Sales
  • Accounting & Finance
  • SEO & more

Tool Expertise tests

  • MS Office Suite (PowerPoint, Word, Excel, Power BI)
  • SolidWorks
  • MATLAB & more

Programming Language tests

  • HTML, CSS, JS, PHP
  • C Programming
  • Python & more

Language tests

  • English I & English II

Merreo Screening tools

  • Cut-off functions for quick screening
  • Review and rating functions
  • Relative benchmarking
  • Simple candidate management by assigning candidates to various status tabs (Shortlisted, Under-review, Not interested, & incomplete)

Anti-cheating features

  • Random Camera Snapshots (300 snapshots per assessment)
  • Device restriction (Only Laptops and PCs)
  • Mouse Pointer tracking (if it leaves test window >45 seconds, the test gets canceled)
  • Secure testing window
  • IP tracking
  • Session tracking

Other Features

  • ADAPTIVE pre-employment tests - The candidate gets a medium-level question at the start, and based on his performance, the test gets more difficult or easier.
  • Quick link sharing
  • Individual PDF Reports
  • Excel & CSV candidate data download
  • White Label assessment window - with your branding.

Conclusion & Reflections

Merreo is a grueling but ultimately rewarding project. The Nikitha team has been working on this product for months and to see that the customers and the candidates are enjoying the product is a phenomenal achievement for the team. Merreo is also one of the most complex SAAS platforms we developed. And with that, not only did we increase our technology and design capability, but we also achieved a good sense of pride and achievement. To see our work, please check out the product - www.merreo.com.

Project Info

  • Category:IT Technology
  • Client: Acrux Innovations
  • Location: Chennai, India
  • Completed Date: 2022
  • Project Value: ₹10 Lakhs
  • Mananer: Cilbert Leon Francis
  • Designer: Kaarthik Sundar

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