Description of sections

Aptitudes

An individual's overall capacity to learn the skills needed to perform job duties is based on his or her specific aptitudes for acquiring information and transforming it into action.

To describe aptitude levels, the Career Handbook uses the following scale based on the normal curve representing the Canadian labour force. For example, 1 indicates the level of aptitude that applies to the top 10 percent of the working population.

Levels legend, text description directly below.

Levels legend:

  1. The highest 10% of the working population
  2. Upper third, exclusive of the highest 10%
  3. Middle third of the working population
  4. Lowest third, exclusive of the lowest 10%
  5. Lowest 10% of the working population

Nine aptitude factors are rated according to the above scale to provide the aptitudinal profile needed to perform the work of an occupation. The Aptitudes Scale is based on the General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB).

G – General learning ability
Ability to 'catch on' or understand instructions and underlying principles; to reason and make judgments.
V – Verbal ability
Ability to understand the meaning of words and the ideas associated with them, and to use them effectively; to comprehend language, to understand relationships between words and to understand the meaning of whole sentences and paragraphs; to present information or ideas clearly.
N – Numerical ability
Ability to carry out arithmetical processes quickly and accurately.
S – Spatial perception
Ability to think visually about geometric forms and comprehend the two dimensional representation of three dimensional objects; to recognize the relationships resulting from the movement of objects in space. May be used in such tasks as blueprint reading and in solving geometry problems. Frequently described as the ability to 'visualize' objects of two or three dimensions.
P – Form perception
Ability to perceive pertinent detail in objects and in pictorial and graphic material; to make visual comparisons and discriminations and to see slight differences in shapes and shadings of figures and widths and lengths of lines.
Q – Clerical perception
Ability to perceive pertinent detail in verbal or tabular material; to observe differences in copy, to proofread words and numbers, and to avoid perceptual errors in arithmetical computation.
K – Motor co-ordination
Ability to co-ordinate eyes, hands and fingers rapidly and accurately when required to respond with precise movements.
F – Finger dexterity
Ability to move the fingers and manipulate small objects with the fingers rapidly and/or accurately.
M – Manual dexterity
Ability to move the hands easily and skillfully; to work with the hands in placing and turning motions.
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