Essential Skills Assessments

Essential Skills Assessments for Douglas College Students

The WESA (Workplace Essential Skills Assessment) is an online assessment that helps to predict how well students will do in the workplace. The online assessment provides students with the opportunity to assess one or more workplace focused skill areas including:

Success Traits are measured through 75 questions that require the test taker to self-report and assess the following workplace focused social-emotional skills:

After completing an assessment, test takers have immediate access to:

1. A customized test result report that highlights your current skills and skills to build.
2. A customized learning plan with links to useful learning resources aimed at helping to build your skills. All learning resources are available online and free of charge.

To access a free WESA Assessment Code simply send an email request to essentialskills@douglascollege.ca. You will receive an e-mail with a link to the Assessment Site, a copy of the Assessment Guide, and an access code to use.

To help you prepare for education and employment, the Government of Canada’s office of Skills for Success offers a number of additional skills assessments and training tools you can access at https://www.canada.ca/en/services/jobs/training/initiatives/skills-success/tools.html?category=Individual&type=Assessment

How to use Assessment Results in relation to your Career Pathway

Labour market forecasts indicate that most new jobs will require workers who function at level 3 for most skills. To understand what skill levels are required in occupations, visit the Essential Skills Occupational Profiles.  The profiles provide information on 350 different Canadian jobs.  https://www.jobbank.gc.ca/essentialskills

Visit the occupational profile that relates to your pathway such as the one below for Cooks. 

The Essential Skills Profiles contain detailed analysis of skill levels and tasks that a person would perform in a specific occupation. The tasks in the profiles are rated from a low complexity of 1 to a high complexity of 5. This allows you to compare your assessment scores to those required for the job.  Remember, skills are meant be learned. Knowing your starting point provides you the opportunity to map out a plan to build new skills if needed.

Once you have completed your assessment you can compare your scores with any profiles that might interest you. For assistance with understanding and using Assessment results, please send an email request for an appointment with a Skills Coach to essentialskills@douglascollege.ca