The Client
Sprinkler Fitters U.A. Local 709 is an organization of 800+ Union journeypersons, apprentices, and retirees, who work in the specialized field of fire suppression. They pride themselves in providing not only the best-trained, but the best-qualified sprinkler fitters in all aspects of fire protection.
The members install, repair, maintain, inspect, and service all types of fire suppression systems in commercial, residential, and industrial sites. Local 709 educates their members through not only a well-rounded five-year apprenticeship program, but with continued journeyperson update classes to keep them abreast of any new technological advances in fire suppression.
The Solution
Wonderlic Basic Skills Test (WBST): The WBST measures a candidate’s basic verbal and math skills based upon job requirements helping recruiters verify that candidates have the necessary job-related verbal and math skills. Available individually or as a set, the WBST Verbal and Quantitative tests quickly and accurately measure skills required to succeed in nearly every occupation.
WBST content and results are directly tied to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Information Network (O*NET) and Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) General Educational Development Scales (GED). The powerful combination of these resources allows users to establish work-related optimal score ranges for more than 12,000 job titles. A grade-level equivalency score is also provided.
Wonderlic Gets Unions Out of a Jam When States End Apprentice Evaluation Program
Like most trade unions, Sprinkler Fitters Union Local 709 in Los Angeles depends on its apprentice training program for the development of new members and an ongoing supply of expert craftsmen for the industry. The intensive program lasts several years, combining 40 hours a week of on-the-job training with a series of progressively more complex classroom courses to slowly shape young unskilled workers into seasoned journeypersons, fully prepared to work on their own in the trade. Industry businesses have come to rely on the apprentice program to deliver a stock of skilled workers, and they make ongoing hiring decisions based on the quality of the candidates the program turns out.
It’s a highly sought after program with up to 400 applicants applying for the 60 openings that are available every two years, says Robin Schledorn, Director of Training for the union. Because the training requires years of commitment, as well as considerable cognitive ability, the union needs to be selective. It had no formal qualitative way to evaluate candidates, beyond structured interviews conducted by industry experts, but until recently the union didn’t need one. It relied on the state of California’s employee assessment program to evaluate potential apprentice candidates before inviting them to join the training program. For decades, union recruiters sent groups of potential students to a state office to complete written and physical aptitude tests, and the union’s apprentice selection process relied heavily on the state’s rating of their skills.
The state program served the union well, Schledorn says, however several years ago the State of California, like many other states, dropped its assessment program for unions in response to the growing number of bias lawsuits. That left the Sprinkler Fitters Union with no way to whittle down its applicant pool. “It was a big scary problem,” Schledorn says. “We don’t know if these kids can do math. Even though they all have diplomas, some know algebra, while others have never even worked with fractions.” And in a program that requires students to complete engineering courses and be able to work with complex mathematical formulas, that is unacceptable. “In construction, math is a big part of everything we do,” she says. “You have to be able to convert fractions to decimals, read plans, cut materials. It’s important that candidates have the skills to do that.”
Unsure of how to effectively—and legally—measure candidates’ skills, Schledorn took the advice of a union member who said he wouldn’t hire anyone at his company without giving them the Wonderlic Basic Skills Test (WBST). The WBST measures candidates’ basic math and verbal skills based on established requirements for any position. Schledorn got a copy of the test, and after being assured by Wonderlic that appropriate scores could be determined to meet the needs of the union program, she sent it to the state. As a union, she is required to get state approval for any tests used as an evaluation tool. “The State of California approved the test, and inserted it into our standards, authorizing us to use the test as part of our application process,” she notes with relief.Now every apprentice candidate takes the WBST, and Schledorn has found it to be easier and more useful than the old state test. “The test takes 20 minutes, then Wonderlic scores it and sends us back a readout,” she says. “It really is easy.” And unlike the state test that only delivered a high, medium or low score for each applicant, the Wonderlic test gives recruiters a quantifiable number that correlates with an academic grade level ability.
Those detailed scores delivered some surprising results early on—proving what Schledorn already suspected—that a high school education is not a good enough indicator of an applicant’s skill. “Even though they all have diplomas, their WBST scores are all over the place,” she says. “Many get 100 percent, which is equivalent to a 12th grade score, but a handful always score around the eighth grade level, and at least a dozen out of 200 score at the third or fourth grade level.” Without the Wonderlic test, those candidates might have made it into the program, and either held back the entire group while they struggled to keep up, or put Schledorn in the awkward and expensive position of having to fail students who are already working in the trade as part of the program.
The final WBST test score tells Schledorn instantly whether applicants have the skills to succeed. The WBST score counts as 50 percent of the overall rating that determines whether they are accepted. The other 50 percent is based on rankings given during an oral interview conducted by a labor representative and an employment representative. Using structured interview questions, they rate candidates on issues such as dependability, reliability, and commitment. The scores are then added together and candidates are selected based on who has the highest number. “If applicants score poorly on the WBST, we know they are not going to make it in the program,” she says. “We can weed out people who just don’t understand the math concepts, and that helps all the classes run more smoothly.”
