Describes how job analysis was used to create a job-specific skills assessment, how the skills assessment is used to determine the appropriateness of a candidate's skills and work style, and how the skills assessment informs an applicant about job tasks and expectations. (JOW)

United States Employment Service data on the cognitive and noncognitive aptitude requirements of different occupations were used to create an occupational classification--the Occupational Aptitude Patterns (OAP) Map. Thirteen job clusters are arrayed according to major differences in overall intellectual difficulty level and in functional focus…

A project was conducted to develop and assess a highly job related personnel selection battery that could be administered to inexperienced applicants for positions as public assistance workers in departments of public welfare or unemployment offices. The Public Assistant Worker Job Trial (PAWJT) is called a job trial because instead of attempting…

Discusses the need for developing job competency tests which measure cognitive and personal traits, as well as specific skills and knowledge. Emphasizes that the use of rigorously validated measures of intellectual and personal traits facilitates the evaluation of post-secondary education's effectiveness in the post-academic world. (Author/GC)

The Work Keys System from the American College Testing Program is an innovative national system that provides a continuous structure for documenting and improving the workplace skills of individuals. By providing individuals with reliable information about their own skill levels and the levels required for jobs, Work Keys can help individuals make…

Assessment centers offer a way to solve the problems of validity and reliability in personnel selection. An assessment center conducts tests of administrative skills in which trained assessors observe and record candidates' job-related behaviors and reach a consensus assessment of each candidate's performance. To apply the assessment center model…

The Army Skill Qualification Tests (SQT's) were designed to determine levels of competence in performance of the tasks crucial to an enlisted soldier's occupational specialty. SQT's are performance-based, criterion-referenced measures which offer two advantages over traditional proficiency and achievement testing programs: test content can be made…

The document presents a vocational evaluation process based on a diverse mixture of proven principles and practices that have been used in school-based vocational evaluation programs for handicapped students. Following a foreword (part 1), part 2 offers several definitions of vocational evaluation and vocational assessment. Part 3 compares…

Two prototypes to categories of necessary workforce skills in five studies are related: (1) "What Work Requires of Schools" by the Secretary's Commission of Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS); (2) "Workplace Basics: The Essential Skills Employers Want" by the American Society of Training and Development (ASTD); (3)…

The work of the United States Civil Service Commission's Personnel Research and Development Center to develop a basis for the written test portions of the Professional and Administrative Career Examination (PACE) is described. The objective was the identification of a construct-valid set of cognitive ability tests for entry level positions.…

A general methodology approach is suggested for measurement of workforce readiness competencies in the context of overall work by the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing on the domain-independent measurement of workforce readiness skills. The methodology consists of 14 steps, from the initial selection of a…

Construction of a work sample test, the Investigator Planning Exercise (IPE), for the job of detective in the Chicago (Illinois) Police Department is described. Simulated crime scenarios, a mock crime scene, and five checklists of necessary skills (i.e., ability to summarize and communicate facts, identify inconsistencies, and determine the next…

Content validity involves a judgment that all knowledges, skills, abilities, and other worker characteristics (KSAOs) needed for successful job performance (or a specified portion, the job content domain), have been adequately sampled by the tests used for employee selection and promotion decision making. The model outlines the procedure for…

A meta-analysis examines the predictive validity of three methods for evaluating the education and experiences (E&E) of applicants for entry and full-performance level jobs, focusing on federal white-collar jobs. The following are methods of rating education and experience: (1) Point, assigning points to the duration and type of past education…

A new counselee assessment/occupational exploration system provides for assessing a counselee's occupational qualifications in relation to an interest- and aptitude-oriented occupational structure and then encouraging occupational exploration in those areas which show the greatest promise of meeting the counselee's interests, values, and…