What is the difference between CareerBooster and SMART Organizational Assessments
CareerBooster is a tool that allows an individual to take an assessment against one or more technologies and then gives individual results that map back to education solutions. SMART organizational assessments are designed for companies who want to assess multiple people within their organization and aggregate the data to create educational solutions for groups of employees. These are typically done when a project or technology migration is going to occur within an organization to help ramp up their staff on the new technologies.

What are the technologies used to develop and support the tool?
The CareerBooster tool is a .NET browser-based system for end user entry and administration support. The backend supporting structure is Microsoft SQL based.

How does CareerBooster collect information from an assessment?
The end user through the browser front end will rate themselves against a standard rating for our public classes. The rating system consists of simple descriptive language that will help the end user relate appropriately to the correct skill rating for their achievements. And even though this is more of a subjective based assessment, the rating description will help the end user rate their skill level more accurately. The end user also has the ability to run reports that will list their skill achievements. The reports can also show a gap analysis indicating where they have met, exceeded or fallen short to meeting the skill requirements. These reports may need to be turned on for the end user by contacting your training advisor at  Benchmark Learning

What are skill dictionaries and how are they imported into CareerBooster?
The skill dictionaries are either soft skills or technology-focused listings of varying skills that map to educational solutions for our public classes. Some of the current dictionaries include Visual Studio .NET, Windows XP, Windows 2000/2003/2008 server, Exchange, Active Directory Services, SharePoint, Project Management, Office XP, Cisco, soft skills for business, Adobe, Crystal Reports, Macromedia, Web developer, desktop publishing and many others.If other are required, please contact your participating center to discuss customization options.

Where does the data that is collected go?
The SQL backend and browser front-end system are hosted centrally and provide branding capabilites for client end requirements.

What happens when a large group of individuals need to be assessed in one organization? Is there an easier way to input the employee information?

CareerBooster has a complimentary product called SMART for organizational assessments, which is designed for large groups of people needing to take assessments. To find out more about this product, please visit:

Can others see my data?
No! Security within the database and how it is structured will keep the information separated by individual, thus preventing others from accessing your data. The only people who have access to this information are  Benchmark Learning and the supporting center.

I received a notice from  Benchmark Learning  to complete an assessment for a class I am going to take, but I get a message that the site is unavailable. What happened?

Many companies have firewalls up that prevent our site from being accessed. If this happens, please don’t worry….just let us know that you tried to take the assessment and were unable to due to a firewall and we will just look forward to seeing you the day of your class.

What are the differences between the types of assessments that you offer?

• Taking an assessment for a class you are interested in: Provides a list of hosted classes that are available through CareerBooster. From this assessment, a student or training advisor will then be able to see if they meeting the requisites of the class prior to registering for it. Not, not all public classes Benchmark Learning hosts are available within CareerBooster.
• Taking an Assessment for a class you are registered for: Provides a listing of Benchmark Learning hosted classes that have been scheduled between present day and from within the next 12 weeks into the future for students to choose from. From this assessment, a student or instructor will then be able to see if they meet the requisites and also to aid the instructor in delivering the material more effectively.
• Taking an Assessment for Technical platform: Provides general platform based assessments for students to choose from to help them more effectively plan and determine specifics on where to focus their education efforts. Currently Microsoft infrastructure and development based assessments are available here.
• Taking an assessment for office platform: Provides general office based assessments for students to choose from to help them more effectively plan and determine specifics on where to focus their education efforts. Currently MS Office 2000 to 2007 based assessments are available.

Where do I learn more about this tool and value?
To learn more Contact Benchmark Learning or call (952) 896-6821