Are Today’s Applicants Dumber?
December 4, 2007
A recent press release from Wonderlic, Inc., reporting on a new study of company data, says applicants today aren’t as smart (lower cognitive ability) as similarly-educated applicants of yesteryear. The data is from the company’s well-known Wonderlic Personnel Test (WPT). The WPT measures cognitive ability, which the company says has been proven to be a critical predictor of learning speed and success on the job.
The Findings
Wonderlic says there’s been “a steady decline in the cognitive ability scores associated with specific education levels.” The data set for the study involved “over 200 employers, 2,000 jobs, and 100,000 applicants,” and comparisons “to comparable occupational datasets from previous normative studies.”
Specifically, Wonderlic found “a steady decline in the average scores for both college and high school graduates between 1970 and 2005.”
The Reasons
But the explanation is kind of tricky. Essentially, the company says, “more people with modest ability are remaining in school and graduating.” Michael Callans, President of Wonderlic Consulting, says: “While remaining in school has obvious personal and societal benefits, it also impacts the relative meaning of a high school and college degree for employers.”
So as more people have more years of schooling to their credit, the schooling is less significant to jobs for which “smarts” (cognitive ability) is more important than the specific book learning or training represented by a diploma or degree.
Implications for Recruiting and Hiring
The study suggests that because the ability level of the average high school graduate has changed over time, finding job candidates with the same level of ability as 1970 high school graduates requires employers seek out applicants with two or more years of college training.
In other words, while the study does not suggest that the cognitive ability level of ALL high school graduates has declined, it does indicate that the value of the high school diploma as a predictor of job success has greatly diminished. Employers must use supplemental, objective evaluations, such as standardized tests, to assess job applicants’ skills and abilities.
I’m quoting this press release, not endorsing their test or any test. Testing is an area fraught with legal challenges. See, for example prior posts on this Blawg:
- $55 Million Settlement in FedEx Race Discrimination Class Action.
- Plain Talk About Employment Testing From Bob Brady, a Straight Shooter (and more posts cited at the bottom of it).
Which is not to say I oppose testing of applicants; just that I’d give it a lawyer’s yellow light — proceed with caution . . .
Continuing From the Press Release
Most importantly, employers should not assume that applicants with a specific degree possess the cognitive, mathematical or language abilities necessary to be successful on the job. Job seekers generally apply to positions compatible with their academic qualifications. However, in recent years, lower ability graduates are applying to positions that demand higher abilities to perform. As a result, there has been a modest decline in the average cognitive ability scores of job applicants for higher complexity jobs.
Another Interesting Point
The Wonderlic study also shows that, on average, job applicants are nearly seven years older and have a full year more of education than they did in 1970. The explanation for this increase is twofold: first, the number of people pursuing higher education has increased dramatically, and second, a decline in job stability has increased the number of experienced job applicants on the market.
Photo credit hghwtr via flickr
Related Posts
Hiring Managers Slow to Accept Online Degrees
Man Bites Dog? New Oregon Law Applies to Job Applicants
By the numbers
Proof of the obvious? Job bias based on personal appearance
To Proctor or Not to Proctor: That is the Question for Some Internet Tests
`Sphere: Related Content`
1 Comment »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Leave a comment
If you want to leave a feedback to this post or to some other user´s comment, simply fill out the form below.
Comment by Erik
Interesting article. It does sort of make sense, as at least where I’m from it’s pretty rare for a high school grad to not go to college, regardless of how “smart” they really are. So the issue is not that today’s applicants are dumber, but that today’s average applicant is dumber.