Assessment Services: Multi-city Written Business English Assessment

Client: Ernst & Young - Accounting Services

Ernst & Young (E&Y) is one of the Big 4 accounting firms that are considered the leaders in the field.  It is an international company with its global headquarters based in London.  Ernst & Young has over 107,000 employees in over 140 countries. The company is privately held through partnerships.

Problem:

E&Y is rapidly expanding in China.  They estimate that they need to hire more than 1,000 new employees per year due to expansion requirements.  One of their main areas of recruitment is in local top tier universities, specifically in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Xian, Suzhou, Chengdu, Beijing, Dalian, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Tianjin, and Shanghai.  As Ernst & Young is an international company, one of their hiring requirements is that they demand that their potential employees have a high level of written Business English related to their industry.  While many potential recruits have government test scores (CET 4/6) that can be used as cross country comparisons, Ernst & Young wanted to have their own test that would assess the candidate’s knowledge of grammar, vocabulary, reading comprehension and writing ability, as well as an IQ test.

As the tests would be given across China, in different Universities, and on many different days within a one month period, they wanted multiple unique copies of the test so that the chance of inappropriate use of the test papers/questions would not arise which would skew the results of test takers who took the test later than their peers.  To mitigate this risk, they required 16 unique tests that would be able to test the same abilities but would not be able to be replicated.

ClarkMorgan’s challenge was to develop an assessment system in such a way to accurately capture the job candidate’s written Business English ability in a 45 minute test period in a way that could be timely and economically graded and results transferred to Ernst & Young for over 5,000 tests.

Implementation:

Step 1: Content

ClarkMorgan Corporate Training conducted a preliminary consultation with Ernst & Young regarding the specific areas of interest that Ernst & Young considered important to test.  From this preliminary data, a proposal was formulated in which the specific types of test format was given and areas of ability to be checked was postulated.  After the initial proposal, feedback from senior Ernst & Young staff members was collected and modifications to the proposal were made.  After consensus was reached, a format and demonstration test was developed.  Ernst & Young required that the test contain:

• a letter,
• a report,
• a multiple choice grammar/vocabulary test
• and a reading comprehension test requiring short written answers.

An IQ test was also developed.

The example was submitted to Ernst & Young and feedback was collected.  After modifications, 16 different tests were composed, each one unique.  Each section of the test had different criteria:

• Letter:
• Format
• Creativity
• Structure/Logic/Clarity
• Grammar/Word Choice

• Report
• Format
• Creativity
• Structure/Logic/Clarity
• Grammar/Word Choice

• Multiple Choice
• Four options

• Reading Comprehension
• Article
• Five short answer questions

Total score would be based on a comprehensive aggregation of the scores from each section and translated into the ClarkMorgan Assessment System - CMAS (Nine levels of ability).

Step 2: Dissemination of tests to Ernst & Young
The tests were then given to Ernst & Young.  Ernst & Young set up their testing dates and centers across China with the interested educational institutions. 

Step 3: Exams given
The tests were invigilated by Ernst & Young over a one month period.  After each test session, the test papers were then transmitted to ClarkMorgan for marking.

Step 4: Marking
ClarkMorgan Corporate Training used their highly trained native English speakers to mark each test and determine a gross score and translate these scores into CMAS.  Test papers were to be returned within one full business day from receipt, subject to capacity constraints.

Step 5: Comprehensive scoring results transmitted
ClarkMorgan Corporate Training then collected and collated the scores across China and transmitted the data to Ernst & Young, giving a report that showed the differences among the different demographics.

Results:

Ernst & Young used ClarkMorgan’s Business English Written test to determine whether to further pursue their recruitment activities with the high scoring individuals among their Campus Recruitment drive for new employees.  In fact, they use the same tests in their ongoing recruitment activities throughout the year.  ClarkMorgan Corporate Training graded over 5,000 tests during November 2005.

Conclusion:

Ernst & Young has been using ClarkMorgan Assessment Services since 2004 and continues to use our material and exam marking when making hiring decisions and assessing the English level of their current employees when making promotion and advancement determinations.