Pre-employment Testing - searching for the test

NST

I am looking at creating a standardize test for all applicants who have reached the offer stage. I would be very interested if you use one and could share it with me. Please email it to [email]ntomlinson@schafergear.com[/email]

thanks.

mwild31

NST - your question is a little vague - could you provide some details as to the type of industry you are in, which applicants will be tested, what you would like the testing to demonstrate....???

gillian2

Tests are dangerous if not used correctly. You should research this category for some past threads on the topic.

Don D

In my opinion there is NEVER an occasion when an EMPLOYER should "create" a test unless its a simple demonstration such as 'can he weld with an acceptable bead'. Tests have been attacked in the courts for over 30 years involving their validity and whether or not minority sub-samples were used in the design, and other issues. I agree that you didn't give enough information as to what the jobs are and whether your notion of a test would measure or predict personality, aptitude, skills or other. In any event, they can be dangerous to the pocketbook of your company. There are many expensive instruments on the market that have run the validation gauntlet.

POPEYE

The new ISO standards (6.2) include HR and relates to competencies of all personnel performing duties which affect quality. We are in the process of writing procedures concerning the competency of applicants. We are taking the minimum skills required from our job descriptions and designing a "Competency Assessment" for all applicants. We will administer this assessment to a random selection of our current EEs to determine an average score and will rate applicants based on that average. As the other posters said, how and what you test for will definitely be industry specific.

Don D

Of course the ISO procedures and resulting instruments relate to currently employed people who affect quality, not 'applicants who have reached the finalist stage'. This is a good way to measure competencies of currently employed people who are supposedly properly trained and competent to perform their current assignment or they are under the monitoring eye of a trainer still. Under ISO standards you will also have for them a training/certification checklist in their personnel file or they are progressing toward having that document. Testing for candidates is somewhat more of a potential minefield. It brings to mind the old test of "Which of these applicants do I think is more like me". More selection processes than not boil down to exactly that and often a 'test' is added to validate that conclusion.

POPEYE

Don D- My initial response when approached by our quality team was exactly as you stated. This pertains to our current EEs. However, a "pre-implementation"
UL auditor advised that any applicant must be able to fulfill the essential duties and responsibilities of a job description. Our JDs refer to basic math and reasoning skills, abiility to follow oral and written instructions, ability to read a tape measure and ability to use small hand tools. Soooo, that is why we are "assessing" applicants.

Don D

These outside ISO auditors are indeed a breed to themselves in worlds of their own. Looks as if things differ among ISO programs. The one I just spent 3.5 years in had no incoming skill requirements apart from normal breathing. Once in a position, the ee has 30 days to be brought up to a certain proficiency level for ISO certification and that's repeated each time he/she bids successfully on another position. The training checklist contains roughly 25 items in which the ee must be proficient. I suppose this is an ability test of sorts. If they 'fail' it, they go back to the position from whence they came or either to the house. Without fail, every time an auditor asked for the training certification form on John Doe for the extrusion job, that is precisely the one we could not locate. How-they-do-dat? Sorry, I'm digressing from the subject.