ECN Electrical Forum - Discussion Forums for Electricians, Inspectors and Related Professionals
ECN Shout Chat
ShoutChat
Recent Posts
Increasing demand factors in residential
by gfretwell - 03/28/24 12:43 AM
Portable generator question
by Steve Miller - 03/19/24 08:50 PM
Do we need grounding?
by NORCAL - 03/19/24 05:11 PM
240V only in a home and NEC?
by dsk - 03/19/24 06:33 AM
Cordless Tools: The Obvious Question
by renosteinke - 03/14/24 08:05 PM
New in the Gallery:
This is a new one
This is a new one
by timmp, September 24
Few pics I found
Few pics I found
by timmp, August 15
Who's Online Now
1 members (Scott35), 261 guests, and 15 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Rate Thread
#33301 01/17/04 01:37 AM
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 308
E
Edward Offline OP
Member
I would like to test my employee to see how much he is worth?
Any suggestions?
On what bases do i decide that the employee is worth $ or $$ or $$$.

Is there a written test or a practical test that i can go by?

Thank you


Thanks
Edward
#33302 01/17/04 01:48 AM
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 1,143
D
Member
I suppose you could always give him/her a knowledge and/or skills test, based on your shop practices, local and national codes, and general EC tradecraft (bend conduit to these dimensions, trace this circuit, etc. etc). Make the tests progressively harder.

(In other words, other than the license prep exams out there (mike holt, etc), no, I don't know of a prefab exam)

#33303 01/17/04 09:47 AM
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 8,443
Likes: 3
Member
Edward,
Why not just ask?. [Linked Image]

#33304 01/17/04 12:35 PM
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 1,374
R
Moderator
Edward: The company my brother used to work for did tests like you are talking about.

They were a commercial shop, so their test included bending some pipe, as well as code and theory questions. I think some business ethics questions would be a good idea. I beleive they wrote their test themselves and factored it on experience, such as first year, second year, etc...


Ryan Jackson,
Salt Lake City
#33305 01/17/04 12:38 PM
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 2,749
Member
Edward:

Ask him to wire up 3-ways, and 4-ways, put a 90 degree bend in a piece of 1/2 EMT, and cut of a short piece (to see if it will be reamed out), wire up a start stop station for a magnetic starter, hook up a 9 lead motor for the voltage you specify, ask a few code questions related to your type of work, such as what is the size of a service for a one family dwelling have to be, is THW allowed next to a ballast, or anything else you can think of to see if he has field experience. Please don't ask which way the ground pin should be positioned on a duplex receptacle or how many receptacles can be put on a 120 Volt, 20 ampere branch circuit.

In this effort no one can BULL%$#@ anyone, but there are many who may be able to answer code questions, but have no real field experience.

No doubt that you will hear from others on this board, and if you want a quiz or test whether true or false, of more "Practical" questions, ask me and I will send them to you:

Hurry, before I forget!

PS: Doesn't your area have some form of testing for Licensing Electricians?


Joe Tedesco, NEC Consultant
#33306 01/17/04 01:18 PM
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 1
F
Junior Member
I was involved in hiring 15 Electrical/Instrument technicians for a large Chemical Company. In my opinion we went overboard with our testing. We had a hands-on demonstration of wiring instrument loops and a electrical control circuit. We also had a written test. We finally had a interview with the applicant. This was a very expensive hiring process.
I felt that I had the qualifications to interview the applicant myself, and test him with a written test. Possibly have him give a hands-on demonstration of wiring up a three-wire control circuit for a motor, etc.
Bottom line, if you have the expertise, you can do the job. I look at a person and what I want to see is "Attitude", I feel that I am a good reader of people, and I can pick out the people with a poor attitude.

#33307 01/17/04 04:45 PM
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,392
S
Member
I'll side with Joe's practical & booksmart evaluations with one inclusion....

ask the dude (or dudette assuming your EOE) to roll outta bed on a cold night and crawl down a live spetic hole to fix a stuck float ball...

~S~

#33308 01/17/04 05:05 PM
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 507
G
Member
I don't think that you can evaluate employees with a written test.

We get paid to get electrical work done efficiently and correctly, not pass exams. For small crews it is fairly easy to see who gets the works done. With a larger crews it helps to assign a smaller isolated task that you can evaluate them on.

As far as value goes you have to look at what the labor market is like in your area. Are you losing employees to your competitors because of wages? Are you making money? To what extent is this employee contributing to the companies success?

It's not as easy as a written exam. Some people are good at tests, but poor workers, and vice-versa.


If you want to use an exam to screen applicants that is another matter altogether and a good use for tests.

JMO,
GJ

[This message has been edited by golf junkie (edited 01-17-2004).]

#33309 01/17/04 05:08 PM
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 507
G
Member
"I would like to test my employee to see how much he is worth?
Any suggestions? "

Cut his wages every week until he quits!
'Course he won't work for you anymore, but no system is perfect. [Linked Image]


Link Copied to Clipboard
Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5