Exam making a comeback after 34 years.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: Three dozen agencies across the federal U.S. government are reaching into the past in order to hire the next generation of government workers. After 34 years out of service, the civil service exam is making its triumphant return.
While the civil service exam may be a throwback to years gone past, the exam being rolled out is wholly modern, according to The Washington Post. Agencies, including the Departments of Defense, Justice, and Health and Human Services, have begun rolling out the new, online version of the exam in order to screen applicants for some job and promote senior employees.
The newest generation of exams, called USA Hire, takes advantage of numerous quirks offered by the digital age such as avatars and videos that test reasoning and problem-solving skills. The Post reports that administrators are able to scale questions so that a correct answer leads to a harder question and an incorrect one turns the difficulty down.
Up to 10 percent of civilian government jobs are now being filled based on the new tests according to the Office of Personnel Management.
According to the Post, the new exams still assess general aptitude, as the old-time civil service tests did. But to avoid possible discrimination — a concern with the old tests — the new exams also measure other attributes, such as teamwork, problem solving, and judgment, and are tailored to assess specific job skills. The new tests were developed by personnel psychologists, who seek to ensure that all applicants are on a level field, OPM officials said.
“Assessments have the potential to improve the hiring process like nothing I’ve seen in the last 30 years,” said Jeffrey Neal to the Washing Post. Neal was longtime federal personnel manager who retired in 2011 and now serves as a vice president at ICF International, which is developing exams for the Internal Revenue Service, the Census Bureau and other offices.
2 Comments
Good info……..See this video of Witty & tricky interview Q&A in english from one of the toughest exam…………….https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsalzVBvKJw&index=4&list=PL3GefAenACVn25xEHnErH5nKY069w0J9l
They are bringing back the civil service exam, because HR departments don’t have the foggiest idea on how to write out job descriptions and how to screen the prospective job applicants for the right job, so they rely on “cronyism” too get the job filled.