Competency Test

Post yours, we'll critique it.

http://www.patchn.com/files/BasicTest/Basic%20Tech%20Test.pdf

I have do doubt this one is very indepth but not sure if it is that difficult.

http://ronbeaufort.com/sample_lessons.htm

You can take Ron's and use it... these are AB questions, not sure of the PLC you are using

Dan’s right:

what do we want them to know or be able to do when they come thru the door

Click to expand...

you can’t write the test until you’ve nailed down exactly what skills you need ... the two that I’ve written for local plants were both “practical” hands on ... naturally I can’t post the specifics - these tests are still being used ...



basically they put the applicant in a room with a random stack of PLC hardware and some spare buttons, lamps and wires ... also a computer with the appropriate version of RSLogix and the necessary cables ... books with wiring diagrams for the modules, etc. are also available ... the test instructions are along the lines of: “hook up a start and stop button and make these two lamps go off and on” ... like I said, I can’t be too specific but that’s basically part one ...



for part two, the test moves on to basic analog ... something like: “hook up this potentiometer to provide a 4 to 20 milliamp signal ... bring the input signal into the processor - and then send a 4 to 20 milliamp output signal to this little meter ... call us when you’re done ...



there’s at least one major downside to this purely practical “hands-on” testing approach ... the applicant either sinks or swims ... there’s no really good way to give a 75% or 85% grade ... this was fine for the companies that I wrote the tests for ... they were sick and tired of hiring people who could pass a “paper” test - but then couldn’t do the “real world” job ... this might not be ok with your company ... in some locations, you have to hire the “best” you can get - and then try to bring them up to speed ... a lot depends on your local job market ...



you might want to keep in mind some things that my customers demanded (right or wrong is not for me to decide) ... the tests that I wrote had to be “culture neutral” so that ANYone who really KNOWS what they’re doing will be able to handle the test conditions ... you can (or so I’ve been told) run into legal problems with written tests that tend to favor one particular group of people (say native English speakers) over other cultural groups ... that’s not my department - I only deal with the PLC end of things ... still you might want to get your plant’s human resources people involved in this testing project from the beginning ... there are reportedly some things that you CAN - and can NOT - legally do in this testing area ...



along the same lines: I’ve heard of other companies going another route ... they hire all of their new technicians through a temporary employment agency ... the temp service does the initial screening based on specifications from the plant ... the “new hires” work in a day-by-day “trial” capacity - and deal strictly with the temp agency for their wages, insurance, etc. ... if things work out, the plant gives the workers an offer of permanent employment ... if not, the company just tells the temp agency “send us somebody besides Goofus next week” ... like I said, I’ve only heard rumors of this approach so I personally don’t know of any “success or failure” stories to give you ... the guy that mentioned it to me said it was an effort to prevent hiring someone who “tested well” - but then couldn’t handle the real-life conditions on the shop floor ... many large (read “deep pocket”) plants are reluctant to hire - and then have to fire - people because of law suits for “wrongful termination” and other lawyer jive like that ...

You can take Ron's and use it... these are AB questions, not sure of the PLC you are using

Click to expand...

just noticed that post from geniusintraining ... the quizzes he's mentioned are meant to be more along the lines of "entertaining" and "thought-provoking" ... now the questions are certainly what I'd consider "fair game" - but there are a LOT of successful technicians working out there in the field today who can't nail down those particular questions ...

more specifically, those aren't exactly the same types of questions that I'd hit a "new hire" with ...

but thanks for the recommendation, Mark ...

I onced made a screenshot of some Siemens S5 code. Descibed the problem
like an operator would , give them the Limit Switch numbers,and let them
troubleshoot it , according to what was True and False.

Ron Beaufort said:

- but there are a LOT of successful technicians working out there in the field today who can't nail down those particular questions...

Click to expand...

Yes, but just think Ron... If someone can answer those question or one's like them they are very good, I don't care if someone can answer the question that I can... I need someone that can help, someone that can teach me (not that, that would be very hard)

But question on a test are to find out what someone knows, I walked a guy through the plant last week and just pointed to things... he said yes to everything (do you know Siemens?, AB RSView?, etc) but when I asked him about things in detail he was stumped.

I don't think you can have a test to hard, it needs to be a combination of hard and easy.

I went to a interview once and the guy handed me a piece of steel that was welded together... it looked like a piece of extravagant art work, opened up CAD 2000i and said "draw it for me, oh ya in 3D" and walked away.

My point is... you need to explore and find out what a persons limitations are, if he never asked he would of never found out that CAD 'to me' is like an extension of my hand... OK I never said I could draw with my hand either

Something to consider:

At the end of every wire is an actuator. They should be competent with the actuator as well - so make sure any evaluation determines that.

Eg., it doesn't do any good to hire a technician who is a complete doofus with hydraulics if hydraulics is what you do and you want someone who is already trained. Keep this in the forefront of your mind, because when a manager walks past a machine and a group of techs are huddled around a lap top his tendency is to think "I need people with lap top skills." not "I need people with [insert industry here] skills."

Also, save the test for the second interview - Don't waste your time and theirs if its someone you would eliminate on other grounds.

Testing PLC knowledge

I had to test various people for their PLC knowledge.I gave them a written test

Right on top of the paper I ask them what do they think they know .

ie. Your profibus knowledge ,give yourself a score from 0 to 10
etc

Then I start with questions for each 'knowledge tree' PLC,networks,drive etc .I mix Easy and difficult questions.

I leave them to answers the questions and then I go over the test paper with them and this is where you can get the real stuff out of a person. If he said ( on top ) expert in profibus then you grill him on the answers about profibus and you want him to elaborate.
Whenever he answered wrong ask him to say why ( could be he did not get the question or he doesn't known at all)

I found out that people fresh from school have very limited 'usefull' knowledge.They know the book stuff but can't do practical things with their knowledge.

Greetings Eric

Anyone noticed?

The OP did not mention what kind of employee(s) they were hiring.

If an engineer, who knows.

If a tech, maintenance, or electrician, then the test needs to apply to the majorities of their duties.

A question pertaining to a specific protocol would be useless.

It depends on what kind of personnel you need/want,.

I have done the walk thru thing where I pretty much said yes to everything, then have the HR guy say I do not know. I got a job there, saw one guy die because of no guard on pinch roller, saw another electrocuted because he did not realize wires were color coded that could be energized even when a disconnect if off.

When pay increase time came I got a quarter, 1/4 of a US dollar. Most of the time it is HR that does the preliminaries, they do not have a clue.

I like to show people what we do and listen to the questions. Good questions are the first step to understand the problem. You can't expect people to know what you know but you can hope they can understand your problems that must be overcome.

I like to know about related hobbies, experiences or school projects.

Trivia questions are lame. Questions should be of a fundamental nature that isn't hardware or software specific.

Peter Nachtwey said:

I like to show people what we do and listen to the questions. Good questions are the first step to understand the problem. You can't expect people to know what you know but you can hope they can understand your problems that must be overcome.

Click to expand...

I'm gonna have to side with Peter on this one. Expecting to find a prospective employee that KNOWS everything you need him/her to know is unrealistic. The best you can hope for is to find one that has a good GENERAL understanding, and has the ABILITY, and WILLINGNESS to LEARN your equipment.

You DO have to assess their general intelligence somehow, to decide if they have the ability to learn. The questions THEY ask are crucial in determining competency.

Many large firms now do CREDIT checks before the final hiring. People who don't or can't properly manage their finances are assessed to be less "competent" or "responsible" than those that can. The relationship between employee and employer is, after all, a business arrangement.

"Competency" is not limited to "knowledge of X brand" PLC . It is a much broader term, akin to "ability" and "integrity".

Stationmaster

I like Peter's advice too! Technical questions are too often hit or miss unless you have a very specific job in mind - and this is still questionable to me.

Project descriptions are perfect! I've done interviews for more IT releated jobs. For those, I found it successful to ask questions that asked where they would go to get help/find the answer. "You're webserver is doing X, what would you do to solve it". Make it sound like a tough question. The real thing you're looking for is "GOOGLE!" or "look in the docs" or "post to a forum", once they get beyond "look through the logs", etc. Obviously automation is a bit different, but this gives you good insight to their "people skills", troubleshooting ability, initiative, and willingness to learn. In my mind that's very important.

Peter Nachtwey said:

I like to show people what we do and listen to the questions. Good questions are the first step to understand the problem. You can't expect people to know what you know but you can hope they can understand your problems that must be overcome.

I like to know about related hobbies, experiences or school projects.

Trivia questions are lame. Questions should be of a fundamental nature that isn't hardware or software specific.

Click to expand...