Suppose you were asked by a company to assist in the selection of new employees. Describe the various techniques and methods you could use to weed out applicants, and to find those with the KSAOs that best fit the jobs the company is trying to fill

Make sure to include advantages and/or disadvantages associated with each method.

What will be an ideal response?

Answer: A good answer will include the following key points.
? Interviewing—perhaps the most straightforward way of assessing candidates. Unstructured interviews do not use many prepared questions and may become sidetracked. Also, unstructured interviews make it difficult to compare candidates directly because the interview questions vary from person to person. Using a structured interview can solve some of these problems.
? Personality Selection Tests—apply trait theory and personality testing to employee selection. One drawback to this approach is the assumption that personality traits are not modified by the work environment and motivation, making personality at the time of testing less important.
? Cognition-Based Selection Tests—use aptitude and achievement testing to select employees whose knowledge and skills best fit a give job. Cognition-based selection is generally better at predicting job performance than personality selection tests. Can unfairly hurt the chances of members of certain groups because of stereotype threat.
? Assessment Centers—capitalize on multiple approaches to personnel selection by combining personality, cognitive, and sometimes physical ability tests. Assessment centers have high validity, but can be very costly and time consuming.