Some executives at my company have decided we need to "test" our new hires during training to see if they are "getting" material.
We are a contact center with a 48 hour training program and run almost 1000 people through annually. There is no pre-employment testing, which I am promote as a best practice. That being said, does anyone out there test their new hires and if so, at what point? We have some systems training and customer service training as well. This is not a well developed LMS: this program has been a knee jerk reaction to the whims of VP's who have "great ideas" and not founded on sound learning principles, but we are making it work as best we can.

The "test" in a call center is the part where you have coached, on-the-job training and the new employees take actual phone calls.

Prior to that, in the classroom, you have lots of role play practice so you can observe and give feedback in a "safe" environment. The real test is whether or not you can "cut the mustard" on the phone.

You can tell them that was/is the practice at one of the most successful credit counseling call centers on the east coast. (Sorry - I'm not at liberty to give more details than that.)

And yes - they should definitely do stringent (legal) screening prior to hiring. Will save a lot of money in the long run.

Thank you
With documented responses regardless of details, I can go back with concrete responses. I have benchmarked with several other companies and all of us rely on role play and our trainer's input (my training staff is solid in that area).
Thanks for your input!