WorkKeys^® Helps "Clear the Smoke" in Selecting Firefighters

With the critical mission of protecting lives and property in the City of Columbia and County of Richland in central South Carolina, Fire Chief William "Bradley" Anderson and his department leadership shoulder a weighty responsibility to have the very best people on board.

The responsibility for finding the right firefighter trainees and ensuring they are capable of succeeding in the four-month training program falls in large part to a team led by Rick Dunn, assistant chief of professional services. A 23-year veteran of the department, Dunn oversees the hiring, training, and promotion of firefighters, senior firefighters, engineers, captains, and battalion chiefs. The team fields up to 400 applications each year for firefighter positions and must be sure they are getting "the right people, sitting in the right seats" to handle emergency calls.

Traditionally, applicants had to complete only an agility test to be considered for the firefighter training program. With this as the singular requirement, the department's success rate in getting a new hire entirely through the process was only about 65%. The department was investing a tremendous amount of taxpayer money in training individuals who were "washing out" partway through the process. The department felt that a complete redesign of the selection process was in order.

A plan emerged to incorporate three hiring requirements:

• A physical agility test, developed by the department.
• Three WorkKeys assessments developed by ACT to test cognitive abilities: Observation, Reading for Information, and Teamwork.
• A panel interview to question applicants on the traits or characteristics a firefighter needs to fit well in the organization and be successful. Consultants from the University of South Carolina, also in Columbia, assisted with the design of the panel interview questions.

The new approach requires an applicant to pass all three steps to earn the opportunity for further evaluation. Selected applicants begin a stringent four-month training program. This intense program is based on getting the recruit to a nationally certified "Firefighter 2" level. Chief Dunn tells the new trainees on day one that "we accept no failures. If you fail in school, you will fail on the street. If you fail on the street, then someone will die." He added, "When the recruits think they have nothing more to give, we ask more of them. We do that to test how well they handle stress."

Prior to introducing WorkKeys assessments, the department theorized that some new hires were failing simply because they lacked the cognitive ability to master the immense amount of information presented during the four months of intensive training. The three WorkKeys assessments were introduced to help confirm that the recruits possessed the ability to learn.

After implementing the three-step selection process including WorkKeys, the department reports a 93% success rate among those who are hired and begin the four-month program—an increase of about 30%. Turnover among those who complete the training program is less than 1%. "That's a much better return on investment than we were experiencing," says Chief Dunn. "I attribute a lot of this improvement to the WorkKeys testing."

Some applicants are unable to pass all three WorkKeys assessments on the first attempt. Those who need to develop skills in order to reach the required score levels may go to MWDB offices and use training products provided by Worldwide Interactive Network (WIN). Applicants may train and retest as many times as needed to reach Level 5 on the required WorkKeys assessments. The Columbia Fire Department pays for the first set of WorkKeys assessments, and individuals who need to retest are responsible for the cost of subsequent tests. The department is committed to helping individuals develop higher skill levels and characterizes the availability of the training component as a blessing.

"In the 1970s and '80s, firefighting was a traditional blue-collar, metal lunchbox job," says Chief Dunn. "It has since evolved due to technology and the breadth of services provided. In the '80s, fire departments existed to put out fires. Today they are responsible for much more, including hazardous materials, rescue, medical assistance, and even responding to possible acts of terrorism. These changes have made it even more essential that our personnel are able to learn and adapt quickly. This is a tough job. The consequences of our actions may mean life and death. That's why it's so important that we have the right people doing the right job around the clock."

Until the new process has been in force for a full five years, the Columbia Fire Department will not have sufficient data to validate the new process. However, the department's leadership already believes that new hires who came in under WorkKeys testing have done better on the job than those who did not.

The Columbia Fire Department has instituted WorkKeys assessments for several additional positions, including:

• Deputy Fire Marshall—responsible for code enforcement. Applicants take WorkKeys assessments measuring Business Writing, Observation, Reading for Information, and Locating Information.
• Fire Training Officer—responsible for training firefighters. Applicants take three WorkKeys assessments: Observation, Reading for Information, and Locating Information.
• Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus Technician—responsible for maintaining the breathing equipment firefighters depend on. This requires the ability to read schematics and follow detailed checklists without deviation. Applicants take WorkKeys assessments for Observation, Reading for Information, and Locating Information.
• Assistant Plans Examiner—responsible for reading detailed building plans and locating the systems needed by firefighters. Applicants take WorkKeys Business Writing, Observation, Reading for Information, and Locating Information assessments.

The department plans to add WorkKeys testing to the selection and promotion process for additional positions where there is a fit. They also plan to have MWDB revisit each job profile periodically to confirm that the right WorkKeys assessments are being used and the right minimum scores are being required. Chief Dunn attributes much of the department's hiring success to the outstanding efforts of the MWDB for profiling, testing, training, and even recruiting on behalf of the fire department.

Chief Dunn recommends that other organizations facing hiring challenges perform a thorough job analysis by a qualified profiler to ensure they understand the factors that lead to success on the job. The department believes in weighing a wide range of factors such as physical agility, cognitive ability, and attitude (affective domain) measures, along with work history, physical history, and background checks. As Chief Dunn says, "no one component is enough on its own; the combination—including WorkKeys assessments—is the most powerful predictor of future success."