Case Study: New Orleans Pipe Trades raises apprenticeship standards and produces better journeymen with Wonderlic

New Orleans Pipe Trades - Customer Case Study

New Orleans Pipe Trades (Plumbers and Steamfitters Local Union 60) runs a five-year apprenticeship that turns trainees into journeymen, but when Louisiana eliminated the state test the program relied on, coordinators lost a reliable way to identify candidates with the cognitive and math skills required for the math-heavy curriculum.

They adopted the Wonderlic Personnel Test and Wonderlic Basic Skills (Quantitative) as baseline measures and minimum cutoffs used alongside a six-member selection board’s five criteria. The change eliminated math-related struggles in class, raised program standards and the quality of graduates, and will be expanded online to streamline candidate screening.

New Orleans Pipe Trades

D.J. Berger

Training Coordinator