Target Selection and Task Analysis:

In what contexts does the student need to display this skill, now and in the future?

Completing a pre-employment screening assessment involves analyzing text, identifying the underlying intent or purpose of the instrument at large (as well as the individual items within the assessment), selecting the best choice from an array of seductive items, and maintaining stamina to complete the task.  This has relevance to a wide range of academic subject areas and certain vocational activities.

How can you break the pre-employment screening assessment process down into segments (i.e. task analyze the skill) with which the student can show success quickly in independent performance?

There are some key foundational skills that must be in place in order to successfully and independently complete most pre-employment screening assessments.  Certainly, strong decoding and comprehension skills are necessary.  In order for the student to successfully tackle an assessment, it will be important for him to understand why companies use these assessments, and what characteristics they are looking for in their employees.

In order to make the characteristics less abstract, it might be necessary to provide multiple, relevant examples of concrete behaviors that exemplify these characteristics.
As you approach the teaching of this skill, consider what areas might be the easiest for the student to relate to and in which he will experience the most success.  Examine the practice assessments, or real assessments, and start with questions that assess the area where the student may have more background knowledge and performance strength:

• Questions that assess teamwork skills
• Questions that assess dependability and responsibility
• Questions that assess rule-following, adherence to safety regulations 
• Questions that assess the student’s ability to accept feedback and directives from a supervisor
• Questions that assess customer-service orientation

As you target each area, be sure to identify the “red flag” responses that would immediately exclude the student from consideration (e.g. responses that indicate that he has major conflicts with others, responses that indicate he would break rules or regulations, responses that indicate unreliability). 

As you target different question sets, break down the questions into these categories so the student begins to discern the patterns.  It will help for him to recognize that a particular question is assessing his teamwork skills, or his reliability.  In addition, the student must become familiar with the type of response options and visual formats that he would encounter in these assessments:

• standard multiple choice a-d
• rating items from “never” through “almost always”
• rating items as “highly ineffective” through “highly effective”
• rating items as “true” or “false,”
• rating items as “strongly disagree” through “strongly agree”
• rating items in terms of frequency “0-2 times” through “10 times or more”

When the student actually encounters an item, you might teach him to follow certain steps:

1. Read the entire question.
2. Read each answer choice (do not select an answer).
3. Read the entire question again, and identify the underlying issue that this question relates to (e.g. teamwork, customer service, following rules and regulations).
4. Read each answer choice again.
5. Eliminate bad choices, “red flag” choices.
6. Select the best answer.