Screening, Assessing and Profiling

For the young student/trainee/job seeker:

• Practice assessments help students prepare for the actual assessment and increase their probability of achieving higher results.
• Self-assessments provide young people with a more realistic perspective on their strengths and weaknesses for the job market, and can guide their education and career choices.
• Discussing test results with a caring adult can empower the
  young person to work harder and smarter toward success.

For the employer/hiring manager/human resources:

• Screening assessments reduce the overall costs of hiring by eliminating applicants who are clearly not fit for the job, and identifying a smaller group of potential job candidates who are then evaluated using costlier and more time-consuming assessments (such as interviews and tests).
• Using well-developed, valid and consistently applied assessments, employers make better talent decisions (hiring, training, promotions, etc.), which ultimately impacts organizational effectiveness.
• Decreases the risk of job candidates and employees filing justifiable legal complaints against the employer.

For the teacher/trainer/educator:

• Formative assessments can guide teachers on how to improve the instruction approach and content to optimize students’ results.
• Assist educators and trainers in identifying students with special learning needs, diagnosing learning disabilities, evaluating language quality and determining eligibility for specialized education services.
• Job-related assessments assist educators in identifying gaps between students’ skills and employers’ requirements, and aligning curricula to close that gap.
• Workplace skills assessments help teachers understand employers’ expectations, and support young people’s development, leading to increased chances that graduates will be successful in obtaining, retaining and progressing in their jobs.

For the community:

• Standardized assessments provide insight into education achievement of students overall and into the quality of education in a certain area.
• Hold individual schools and the public education system and officials accountable for improving academic achievement of students.
• Offer the opportunity to evaluate and compensate teachers, at least partially, on the test scores of their students, leading to higher motivation, engagement and retention of teachers.

For educators when preparing students for the workplace:

• Implementing realistic employment assessments in schools can assist students and teachers to better understand employers’ expectations.
• Before adopting any assessments, their validity and utility must be checked; further, there are legal limitations to using certain assessments, and those must be taken into consideration before administering any tests.
• After scoring an assessment, discussing test results with the student in an encouraging and tactful way, can empower the young person to work harder and improve.
• All assessments must be fair and perceived as such.
• Technology can enhance the assessment process and reduce the costs of assessments.
  Self-assessment is a valuable tool and should be considered with other assessment methods.

For developing the assessment process for a specific job role:

• Define the competency profile (skills, experience, knowledge, personal attributes, etc.) that ensures success in the job role.
• Design the assessment process and choose assessment tools (system), combining various assessment methods that correspond to that profile.
• Train assessors on the chosen assessment process, techniques and instruments, and implement the approach consistently.
• Collect information over time, and evaluate and improve the assessment process as necessary.

For employers/hiring managers:

• Assessment must be aligned with business purpose.
• Test both technical and soft skills and focus on job role specific skills.
• Select the optimal assessment methods and types, then combine them to optimize the accuracy of decision making and return on investment.
• Personalize each skills assessment to those who will be assessed, and offer your candidates/employees adequate testing resources.
• Periodically evaluate your assessment approach and tools to ensure validity (job relatedness) over time.

Characteristics of a good assessor:

• Must be recognized and respected as a good assessor (has a positive track record).
• Has extensive knowledge of the industry in which the assessment is being conducted, including best practice standards.
• Has a relevant work history in the same or related industry.

Pitfalls to avoid during assessments:

• Using subjective judgment (intuition).
• Having untrained interviewers and assessors.
• Using inconsistent ratings offered by multiple observers who were not following the same agreed-upon criteria.
• Reliance on a single assessment method.
• Taking shortcuts during assessment process development.