Wayne State University

"Being only 12 minutes makes it easy to use, and being accurate makes it a very good predictor of job performance.”
When you think of emerging leaders in the field of psychology, Wayne State University in Detroit, MI should be at the top of your list. Ranked as one of the top departments by U.S. News and World Report and the National Research Council, they feature an Industrial/Organizational Psychology consulting team (Applied Psychology and Organizational Research Group (APORG)), with a program that integrates learning with research. As part of their M.A. program in I/O psychology, Wayne State offers an Employment Testing class that gives students the opportunity to administer, score, and learn how to use a variety of employment tests. That’s an A+ in our book.

Being only 12 minutes makes it easy to use, and being accurate makes it a very good predictor of job performance.

Dr. Cary Lichtman, Associate Professor

The Challenge

A lot of  I/O psychology programs don’t use actual tests in their classes. Dr. Cary Lichtman, Associate Professor and Director of the I/O Psychology M.A. program for Wayne State, on the other hand, believes these tests provide real-life experience that students need.  “Having hands-on experience helps the students hit the ground running,” says Dr. Lichtman. With a background working at the IRS doing job analyses, Lichtman’s expertise in the field of candidate selection led to the creation of the Employment Testing class. The course required a large battery of common personality, psychomotor, cognitive ability and skills tests. Sound familiar?

The Solution

Enter Wonderlic. “Wonderlic figures prominently in our program. Everyone in this field should know about Wonderlic tests, which is why we include them in our curriculum.”  We couldn’t agree more, Dr. Lichtman. “Anytime the students are measuring cognitive ability, they use the Wonderlic Personnel Test. Being only 12 minutes makes it easy to use, and being accurate makes it a very good predictor of job performance.” Wonderlic tests were implemented into Lichtman’s course, as well as many research studies the university conducts.

The Results

Students have used the test for many studies, including how intelligence is linked to personality, the predictive power of cognitive ability testing at the university level compared to high school, and the range of scores for various professions. They’ve also done studies on the predictive power of the Wonderlic Personnel Test versus the traditional hiring process.  “Employers have told us that the interview-only hiring process yields too many bad hires,” Lichtman explains. “We can learn a lot from an interview, but not always predict how well they’ll do on the job.” Wayne State graduate students are well-versed in the use of the Wonderlic Personnel Test, as employment testing is a huge part of I/O psychology. Thanks to Dr. Lichtman and his colleagues, they leave the university with a degree, along with the depth of knowledge and experience that few other schools in the nation can match. We, of course, think the Employment Testing course is in a class all its own.

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