I'm getting ready to hire a new internal auditor. Writing skills are really important fo r. I would really like to assess potential candidates' writing skills but not sure how to go about it. I remember that I took a basic writing test years and years ago for a position when I was first out of college.

Does anyone out there use a writing test for assessing writing skills of potential hires? If so, would you be willing to share your writing test?

Thank you for your help!

I've just asked them to write an essay for me about why they are qualified for the job... My experience has been that most aren't very proficient at business writing. And, for whatever reason, the younger they are, the worse the skill.. In my experience...

In a previous job, for a previous company, part of my job duties were to interview applicants. I always did the same writing test. I set an ordinary red can of Coca Cola on the table, gave them a pencil and a piece of paper and told them "Please give me a detailed, written description of this can, to the best of your ability." and left them alone in the room for about 10 minutes or so to write. What they came up with spoke volumes about their potential and their communication skills. Applicant A's piece of paper might say, "i dunno what you want here its a can of coke fer godz sake" and Applicant B's piece of paper might be organized like an outline with bulleted or numbered points giving minute description of the can's size, shape, color, temperature, etc. in cohesive, easy to read writing. I'd choose Applicant B every time. Good luck! It's not easy to define what you want in "good written communication skills" but if you give an applicant an open-ended test to prove themselves, you'll know if they have what you need or not.

If you are giving your applicants any type of test on which you are going to place any type of reliance for the hiring decision and have not validated this test to ensure that there are no disparate treatment or impact issues, you are going down a dangerous road when it comes to EEOC claims. I doubt that the "coke can" test has been validated.

I would second what rlcarey said. I just finsihed taking a HR Management class and we discussed this type of testing. Very tricky and crosses the line with EEOC if not properly validated.

What sort of validation is required for a test like that? I'm surprised that an open-ended writing test could be perceived as violating equal employment opportunity guidelines? After all, you're trying to assess the candidate's writing skills... how else can you do that other than ask them to write something?

For the record, I don't work in a Human Resources capacity and my opinions are just that, opinions, and worth precisely what you paid for them... I certainly don't want to lead anyone astray.

In my experience, the open ended writing sample we asked for in my former job showed each candidate's writing ability, which is what we were trying to measure. Since the test was administered in exactly the same way, with the same words of instruction to each candidate, we felt it was a fair assessment. Possibly EEOC would have different views. If anyone has a link to more info on validating tests such as this, I'd like to learn more. Thanks!

Thank you very much.

Several years ago the typical, standard, traditional IQ tests were found to be skewed: aimed at a cultural norm, i.e., the middle-class, "white bread" Joe or Jane. The people who initiated the tests years ago geared them toward subjects who were in their realm of greatest understanding-folks of similar ilk. But no one considered this until decades later when a person of color could not answer the simplest question; at least simple to middle-class, white, Protestant suburban citizens. Cultural differences are at the root, I think.