Exam could increase grads’ job placement

Graduating seniors may have one last opportunity to prove their worth beyond GPAs and résumés.

Undergraduate students have a new opportunity to improve their chances of employment with the Certified Business Laureate Exam, a standardized test for those entering the work force.

“We are one of the first to introduce an internationally standardized test to the undergraduate business population,” said Eddie Earnest, director of university marketing and sales for the CBL exam.

Guy Friedman, founder and CEO of www.cblexam.com, said he fostered the idea when he noticed that graduates applied to jobs based solely on their GPAs, the region they live in and the school they attended.

“This is a way to get a consistent measure and allow top students to differentiate themselves across all campuses in the country versus specifically within their own school,” Friedman said.

He said the test can be taken by students of any major but it will be particularly recognized when applying to jobs in a corporate world.

Friedman also said the test includes sections on finance, marketing, accounting, Microsoft Office and a writing portion, which he claims are the core competencies for anyone entering a business-related field.

“It’s more about the basics that every business would just want you to know when you walk through the door,” Friedman said.

He said if a student signs up to take the test within the next week, costs will be reimbursed should the student not find employment by October. If the student is employed by this time, however, the CBL exam costs $250. All prep materials are free and can be found online, he said.

“I’m not guaranteeing that we will get you employment, but I don’t want to penalize students that don’t have a job after they graduate,” Friedman said.

Timothy Baldwin, a professor in the Kelley School of Business, said standardized tests similar to this one are present in many work fields and for many majors.

“I think that general concept is a good one and businesses has been criticized over the years for saying there is nothing like that,” Baldwin said. “We’d like to think that a Kelley degree is indicative of the ability to do all those things and it’s a little redundant, but if an individual wants to have that credential out there I don’t see any problem with that.”

When a student takes the exam, scores are sent out complimentarily to businesses that CBL is affiliated with, Friedman said. 

Many companies in Indiana, though, have yet to recognize the test as a factor in employment, or have not heard of the test at all, according to several sources.
An Indianapolis representative at Kforce, a business that provides career resources for job seekers, said it is not working with or using this exam.

“It would be difficult to guarantee that our brand recognition has reached a point where every recruiter or hiring manger out there has an understanding of the CBL exam,” Earnest said.

Baldwin said with standardized exams like this one the concept will not be widespread immediately.

“It’s going to take some time to have some meaning,” Baldwin said.

Friedman said the exam is not meant to replace any portion of the hiring process, but rather to act as support to all other aspects.    

“We’re not trying to replace interviews or replace college degrees,” Friedman said. “It’s really a supplement to just show employers that you have that hard
knowledge.”