U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

What Chance Have You Got?

NCJ Number
110685
Journal
Policing Volume: 4 Issue: 1 Dated: (Spring 1988) Pages: 37-57
Author(s)
R Wareing
Date Published
1988
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the role of the selection interview in the decisionmaking process for recruitment of personnel.
Abstract
Three major conclusions emerged from a study on the selection process for recruitment into the Canadian Army. First, a bias is established early in the interview and this tends to be followed either by a favorable or by an unfavorable decision. Second, interviewers are more influenced by unfavorable than favorable information. Third, interviewers seek information to support or refute initial views and, when satisfied, they turn their attention elsewhere. Another study extends the one-to-one recruitment interview to a three-person board promotion selection interview. The board members assessed each candidate at the end of each interview on eight specific performance dimensions. The 83 candidates were all uniform-branch officers of the rank of sergeant. The findings of this study implied that board members tend to confirm first impressions formed from pre-interview information and that the successful candidate helps them to do so by sensing what is approved of, and adapting his interview behavior accordingly. The candidate achieves this through continuously monitoring his own behavior and the board members' response to it. Recommendations include following situational interview models and providing promotion selection board members with only minimal information on candidates. Footnotes, tables, and figures.

Downloads

No download available

Availability