How to Give Credit for Job Experience

Assessment testing helps improve an employer's chances of a successful hire.

Disregarding an individual's cumulative work experience in favor of educational experience because it is easier to define is a mistake some employers make. For example, employers might overlook qualified candidates not college educated but who have valuable work experience. One solution is to credit applicants for job experience. Applicant finalists should take a series of experience and personality assessments before employers make the offer of employment.

Things You'll Need

• Position's job description
• List of questions to ask employee references
• Employee assessment testing materials

Instructions

Refining the Hiring Process

1. Create a job description that includes the levels of experience and knowledge to fulfill the job's responsibilities. For example, a computer project manager might need strong communications skills and at least three years of experience working with project management software tools. Use the job description to filter candidates for the interview process. At the end of interviewing process, have two to five candidates that fit the position.

2. Create a list of employer reference questions and contact the prospective employees' professional references. Include some open-ended questions such as "What duties did ____ perform?" Allow the reference time to answer the question completely before moving onto the next question. References often volunteer additional information if they feel they can speak freely.

3. Set appointments for prospective employees to take assessment testing along with the other testing such as drug and alcohol testing and criminal background fingerprinting. Assessment testing should take no more than two hours. Check federal and local laws to make sure your pre-employment testing conforms to current labor laws. For example, it is illegal to test for the AIDS virus.

4. Test the prospective employees' cognitive abilities with the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal assessment test. This assessment uses a series of questions and theoretical work situations to evaluate someone's critical thinking, verbal abilities and ability to make decisions and evaluations. Employers compare an individual's test results with the test's group performance scale to establish where the person being tested fits.

5. Test the prospective employees' mental flexibility and alertness using the Thurstone Test of Mental Alertness. The test examines a person's primary mental ability to switch thoughts, analyze problems and create solutions. The test is a mix of quantitative and linguistic questions. The quantitative questions consist of mathematical and numeric series problems. The linguistic questions consist of same-opposite word meanings and the definition of items.

6. Review assessment test results and make an employment offer. If there is a tie with two candidate choices, conduct a second interview.

References

• National Center for Education Statistics: NPEC Sourcebook on Assessment... and Quantitative Skills
• National Council on Family Relations: Certified Family Life Educator Employer Work Experience Assessment & Verification Form
• Inc.: Let's Turn the Tables - The Questions; August 2006
• Nova Southeastern University: Watson Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal
• HireMax: Assess Skills Questionnaire
• Purdue University: Do You Know Who You Are Hiring?

Resources

• University of California: Defining Skills, Knowledge and Abilities
• Cambridge University Press; Psychological Testing - An Introduction; George Domino
• Michigan Municipal League: Pre-employment Testing and Investigation