Exam for potential employees will soon be put to the test
Employees from several local companies will sit down next month at Spokane Community College and take a test designed to give employers a better way to predict how well new hires will perform on the job. Depending on results here, as well as similar sessions in four other states and the District of Columbia, a Work Readiness Credential may be available to businesses around the United States as soon as next spring.
The four-part, multiple-choice exam will assess basic math skills, reading comprehension and, more importantly, judgment and communication skills. All components, even an oral portion, will be administered over the Internet. Although the exam is intended for would-be employees, for testing purposes, workers already on the job but for less than six months will gather at SCC. Their scores will be matched against job evaluations done by employers to determine whether the test can accurately predict whether a new worker, or one returning to the work force after a long absence, can fit in and do the job. If a worker scores well, but has been a disappointment on the job, or tests poorly but has been a solid employee, the exam’s validity will be questionable.
The WRC could be a boon to employers tired of investing time and money in new workers apparently ready when they came through the door, but hopelessly unqualified or disinterested when they hit the office or shop floor. With unemployment locally and nationally around 5 percent, a rate usually considered close to full employment, finding the keepers in the pool of remaining job candidates will be especially tricky.
A recent national survey found that hiring qualified entry-level workers was among the top three employer concerns.
Credentialing will be among the topics explored at this week’s Workforce Strategy conference at the Doubletree Hotel City Center.
Altek Inc. is among the companies that will have employees participating in the testing. Human Resources Manager Kathie Sherrill says Altek has relied on temp agencies for new hires, but they have not been able to deliver all the machinists and mold-makers the Liberty Lake company needs.
“It would make it hugely easier to hire people,” Sherrill says, if they walked in with a credential testifying to their employability. Altek has launched its own recruitment program to augment what the temp agencies are doing.
From a job-seeker’s point of view, obtaining the credential will make it that much easier to prove he or she has the potential to be a good worker. Test supporters also say it will identify weaknesses, and suggest what additional education will strengthen a job application.
Also, in early trials, employees have been asked whether the test asked the right questions.
For employee and employer alike, says Mike Brennan, “This needs to be a positive, supportive tool.”
Brennan is coordinating Washington Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board participation in the WRC effort. He is also the former director of the Bellingham Chamber of Commerce, and a former school board member.
He says the state has embraced WRC to show it can be a good partner for the private sector.
“The more we talk about it, the more business is excited about it,” Brennan says. “This is a leading edge concept.”
Test standards were developed by the National Institute for Literacy, and are based on its Equipped for the Future initiative. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has also been involved.
Spokane Regional Chamber of Commerce President Rich Hadley says WRC dovetails well with the Chamber’s Advanced Manufacturing Workforce Initiative, an effort to train more workers for industries desperate for employees that can keep them competitive in the global market. It would also complement a parallel effort at the Center for Manufacturing Excellence at Shoreline Community College to create a Certificate of Basic Manufacturing also intended to better prepare workers.
A worker bearing a WRC may not be trained, but they should be trainable. Industry can take it from there.