Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 6, 1990 TAG: 9003061979
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MADELYN ROSENBERG NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Long
But Crockett, 38, worries that a low score on an aptitude test now required by many companies will keep her from finding work. She's so afraid, in fact, that she hasn't even signed up to take the 2 1/2-hour test offered at New River Community College by the Virginia Employment Commission.
Most large industries in Western Virginia, including Corning Inc. and Federal Mogul in the New River Valley, now rely on the test to narrow the growing list of applicants for the few jobs available.
Grove Worldwide Manufacturing, which opens a Salem plant this fall that could eventually employ 1,000, also is using the test.
With the job market suddenly flooded as more than 1,300 New River Valley workers are losing jobs, the test has assumed new significance.
When the job market has been good and has absorbed all available workers, companies hired people who scored in the 20s on the test, said Melvin Fiel, job services coordinator at the VEC in Radford. But these days, when applicants stand in lines that sometimes stretch out the door of the employment office, workers who receive high scores and meet other required criteria are recommended for the jobs.
"I saw how the others were doing," Crockett said. "There are people here with the same backgrounds that I have that are flunking the test."
Officials at the VEC say no one really passes or fails the test, but those with the highest scores are snatched up first.
"If you don't have something to get your foot in the door - and that test score does it - they'll never hear from you," said an AT&T production worker from Pulaski County. The worker didn't want her name used because she soon will be looking for a new job.
"You can have a good recommendation and a good resume, but that doesn't help," she said.
Bill Burton, president of Communication Workers of America Local 2261, said workers who haven't been in school for a while are having a hard time with the test.
"They're convincing themselves they'll have a problem before they even take it," he said.
"If the young people are taking it and failing it, you can imagine how I'm gonna do," said Gladys Ingram, 52. "I haven't taken it. I'm afraid to."
Company and employment officials admit the test isn't perfect, but they say it's a proven predictor of job aptitude - more so than an interview or work experience.
"It's a fair test," said John Kuhn, director of test research for the state employment commission. "There are going to be people that do not test well, but we've not found significant numbers of them throughout the years. If a company has 5,000 people standing outside its door, it has to have some objective way of screening people."
Kuhn said the test only can tell if a person has aptitude. "It can't predict what he'll do with it."
Fiel, with the employment commission's Radford office, said a low score doesn't necessarily mean a worker can't handle a job. But "just because someone has worked 20 years as a welder doesn't mean he's a good welder, either."
The best indicator of ability would be an actual tryout on the job, Fiel said. But companies find that too costly. As an indicator, the test comes in a close second.
More and more companies have begun using the test in the past two to three years. Company officials here may look at other criteria, such as interviews and work records, but they agree the test is good first screening of applicants.
"The test does two things for us," said John Yearick, Corning's local supervisor of employee relations. "First, it identifies the best people for the job and those most likely to succeed in that position. And second, it identifies people who have the ability to learn."
"We've found it to be very successful," said David Hall, personnel manager for Federal Mogul in Blacksburg. "The employees we've hired who have taken it are excellent workers."
Hall said he doesn't rule out hiring employees who score low on the test. "But when we say [to the VEC] we want the best-quality applicants, we do get the higher scores. I understand the frustration of someone who'd score in the teens and not be referred for higher-paying jobs."
Companies that require the test in the area, according to the VEC, also include Hercules, Hoescht Celanese, Litton Poly-Scientific, Electro-Tec and Hubbell Lighting.
"There's not a whole lot of work out there that can match the income we're making now," said Mike Shockley, an AT&T worker from Pulaski County. He said the larger companies with the better benefits require the test.
While many workers are scoring in the 80s and 90s, others are scoring below 50. Test scores here and statewide follow the bell curve, Kuhn said, with fewer scores in the high and low range and many in the middle.
Scores are calculated for five different job groups. The different parts of the test, which range from perception to reasoning to dexterity, are weighted according to their relevance for each job group.
Retests are offered only under certain circumstances - if workers have beefed up their education, or if they had physical or other problems during the test that could have prevented them from doing well. Cases are reviewed one at a time to determine if retests should be offered.
If applicants seem really uptight, the VEC tries to take them away from the testing situation to counsel them. "They don't always have to take the test," Kuhn said. "But if the company has that requirement, that's the way it has to be."
Ron Chaffin, director of continuing education at the community college, said college and AT&T officials will try to offer a short course on test anxiety.
"Other than that, there isn't a lot we can do," he said.
Chaffin said there's no real way to study for the test, and that teaching to the test would be wrong. Education would help with the written portion, he said.
"For the employees, it's a worrisome thing," said Jay Walters, director of manufacturing at AT&T. "A lot of people are nervous."
by CNB