This discussion has been assuming that employers look at grade averages. Last time I looked into this, very very few employers requested university or high school transcripts or even asked people to report their grade averages on their applications. Asking for GREs would probably get them into trouble with the EEOC and the courts since using tests in hiring is very difficult if blacks and whites score differently on them. I believe the law still requires employers to show that using the test is a business necessity. Does anybody have any evidence that employers are requesting grade averages frequently today? That would be a very interesting result given all the discussion of upgrading of required skills. - - Bill Dickens
William T. Dickens The Brookings Institution 1775 Massachusetts Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20036 Phone: (202) 797-6113 FAX: (202) 797-6181 E-MAIL: [EMAIL PROTECTED] AOL IM: wtdickens >>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 04/10/02 01:13PM >>> > --- "Robert A. Book" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Isn't this what the GRE, MCAT, etc., are for? Granted, they don't > > apply to all post-graduate plans, but it's a start. Fred Foldvary ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) responded: > How many employers require applicants having a BA/BS to have taken the GRE > etc. before they are considered for hiring? > If few do, then it shows the degree and grades are still a sufficient > criterion. Good point. I'm sure few if any do, which raises an perhaps even more interesting question: Most graduate schools are part of universities which also have undergraduate programs, and most graduate schools require some standardized tests. Does that mean they put less confidence in the degrees and grades they themselves give, than the employers do? There are two caveats to taking that question the way I'd like to. First, I suspect employers use personal interviews much more than graduate schools do; perhaps interviews produce more, or more relevant information than a standardized test. Second, I wonder how the standardized testing "community" would react to employers wanting to use existing tests for hiring purposes. Surely there is nothing to stop job applicants from taking the GRE, but I don't believe there is any existing mechanism for employers to receive score reports directly from ETS. (Schools seem to want scores from ETS, not from the applicant, probably to prevent forgery.) The absense of such a mechanism may mean there is no demand for the service from employers, or it could mean the suppliers refuse to supply for some reason. --Robert
