About Wonderlic
Our History
Wonderlic Personnel Test
A pioneer in the field of Industrial Psychology, Eldon F. Wonderlic was one of the first to develop a short-form test of cognitive ability, The Wonderlic Personnel Test (WPT). His analyses, in cooperation with Carl Hovland, selected the most effective test questions and organized them in a manner that dramatically reduced testing time while maintaining validity and reliability. This shortened test was less intimidating for job applicants and more efficient for employers.
In 1937, E.F. Wonderlic began distributing the WPT from his apartment in Chicago and later from his homes in Glencoe and Northfield, Illinois. Test sales were primarily based on one personnel executive recommending it to another. This word of mouth endorsement spread and the volume of tests administered rapidly grew.
As Household Finance Corporation's first Director of Personnel, E.F. Wonderlic promoted the scientific analysis of job applicant abilities as a continuing business practice. Results of his studies were published in the Journal of Applied Psychology (1939) and by the National Industrial Conference Board (1948).
During the Second World War, the WPT was used by the Navy in the selection of candidates for pilot training and navigation. Wonderlic himself applied his specialized background to the problems of employee placement and training during war time production at Douglas Aircraft Corporation.
In 1950, Wonderlic published the first normative study of job applicant test scores.
The 1960s and 1970s
In 1960, a second nationwide normative study of job applicants was completed and set the precedence for a series of decennial studies that continue today. With the establishment of E.F. Wonderlic & Associates, Inc. in 1961, daily management of the test publishing was passed to the next generation, Eldon's son Charles F. Wonderlic."Chuck" Wonderlic soon expanded the range of products and services offered by adding the Hay Battery, clerical and psychomotor tests, and hiring forms and procedures.
During the 1960s and 1970s, the civil rights movement raised the concern for potential bias in pre-employment testing. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 provided legal requirements for employers to avoid discrimination based on race, national origin, or religion and set up the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to enforce these laws. Unfortunately, many employers did practice racial preferences in their hiring and promotion of employees, and some of these employers also used pre-employment testing, including the Wonderlic Personnel Test.
Legal action against employers in the late 1960s and early 1970s found many guilty of unfair employment practices. At the same time, differences in scoring patterns on pre-employment tests by race and national origin came to be regarded as indications of unfair bias in test content. As a result, traditional test validation studies were expanded to include "differential" validity, the analysis of validity by racial and ethnic subgroups.
In 1970 and 1972 Wonderlic published the next decennial study of job applicant test scores, this time by job title, by race and national origin, studies that remain today as the most comprehensive studies of their kind. These studies have provided a rich resource for researchers examining the questions of test fairness, bias, and validity. The Wonderlic studies, together with studies from government and academic researchers, have conclusively demonstrated that the Wonderlic Personnel Test specifically, and professionally developed cognitive ability measures in general, are not biased against any racial group or nationality and are broadly valid as measures of employee job performance potential.
Football and "The Wonderlic"
No one knows for certain who first used the WPT to forecast performance as a football player. Nevertheless, one of the earliest and most enthusiastic users was Tom Landry of the Dallas Cowboys. Coach Landry found that WPT scores were related to learning the team playbook and to adaptability.
Players who exercise greater options, from week to week and from play to play, need to score higher. Certainly, the WPT has no relationship to how fast a player can run or how accurately a player can pass the ball. Yet, each player must run and pass as part of a team, and individual players become a team through their training grounded by their team playbook. How well a player will learn the playbook and adapt within the scope of the team is forecast by the WPT. Of course, this is true for any team, in any workplace.
A New Millennium
Wonderlic continues to meet the needs of our clients by adding to our line of services. One of our newest developments is the General Assessment of Instructional Needs (GAIN), used to measure basic skills for Adult Basic Education Programs.
Under the leadership of third-generation owner, Charles F. Wonderlic, Jr., Wonderlic, Inc. is still a family-run business with a deep commitment to developing the strategic services and technologies to help our clients reach their goals.
Who We Are
Experienced...
Wonderlic, Inc. has helped thousands of clients select and keep the talent they need to achieve their corporate goals. For more than 70 years, organizations have used our well-known hiring solutions to qualify more than 150 million job applicants worldwide.
Trusted...
Beyond employment testing, Wonderlic provides a wide range of HR products and services to organizations of all sizes, in virtually every industry in the U.S., Canada and around the world. Wonderlic's staff of industrial and organizational psychologists and HR professionals customize our tools and technologies to create integrated solutions with measurable results.
Respected...
Wonderlic supports the entire employment process, from online recruiting to exit interviews. We deliver practical, proven solutions that make it easy for hiring managers and supervisors to attract, qualify and develop the best people for their positions.
