Think about the following situation and post your responses to the Part A and Part B questions.

Acme Consulting Enterprises (ACE) is a two year old staffing agency that provides very specialized
scientists to research facilities on a project by project basis. Recently, ACE was approached by a
university, on behalf of Wilson Bros to find a scientist to join a team working to insure that Wilson Bros
maintains the highest quality assurance programs available in the world. All of the ACE scientists are
presently out on other contracts, so it is your responsibility to hire a new scientist. Management is
requesting a scientist with very specific skills. In fact, it has been estimated that there are only about 100
scientists in Canada with the skill set the company is seeking.

Although challenging, things are going relatively well. First, you completed a job analysis and then you
posted a job ad and you’ve received 15 responses to the advertisement. Now, you want to screen the
applicants to narrow the applicant pool down to the 3 top applicants. You plan to conduct interviews
with the top 3 applicants to make a final hiring decision.

Part A:

1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using Weighted Application Blanks (W.A.B.s) to screen
applicants? (3 marks)
2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using Biographical Application Blanks (B.I.Bs) to screen
applicants? (2 marks)
3. Would you recommend the use of W.A.B.s and/or B.I.B.s for ACE? Why or why not? (5 marks)
Part B:

1. After completing your research, you decide on two screening methods you will recommend to the
Wilson Bros Executive Team. Write a memo outlining your recommendations. Be sure to include your
rationale for each method. (10 marks)
2. Provide constructive feedback to at least 3 other students’ postings. (5 marks)

Part A:

1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using Weighted Application Blanks (W.A.B.s) to
screen applicants?

A weighted application blank (WAB) is an approach to collecting and scoring background information
from job applicants. It involves scoring applicant background quantitatively based on the proven “best
responses” to each application item.

Advantages:
 Good predictors of certain aspects of work, such as absenteeism and accidents
 Proven to reduce employee turnover in the hospitality industry and among clerical employees
 Can be used as the basis to separate employees into acceptable and unacceptable groups
 Easy and economical to utilize
 When automated, tracking and screening systems remove all personal judgements
 Importantly, well-constructed WABs are unlikely to be considered intrusive or threatening, as
they have become a standard in the workplace, and most job applicants expect to complete one
  Can also predict success in training and overall job proficiency

Disadvantages
 May sometimes screen out potential applicants based on a single criteria
 Requires data from a large number of employees to get percentages that are reliable and stable
 Could take several years of data collection to develop the system and obtain percentages that
are reliable and stable
 Scoring keys are typically derived to predict only one specific, often narrow, outcome (i.e.
turnover, absenteeism, or accident rates) as opposed to broad complex measures of
performance
 While it enables employers to predict certain work outcomes, often, the reasons for the
relationships found are not transparent or explained.

2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using Biographical Application Blanks (B.I.Bs) to
screen applicants?

The Biographical Application Blanks (B.I.Bs) is a type of assessment based on the view that past
behaviour is the best predictor of future behaviour. This method to screen applicants includes
questions about past personal and work experiences, as well as interests, opinions, values and
attitudes. Typically, B.I.B.s are designed to predict success in a particular job because they contribute to
a predictor sample used to make personnel selection decisions.

Advantages
 Can be an effective, non-invasive and defensible means of improving HR selection decisions
 Biodata can accurately predict various types of job behaviour, such as absenteeism, turnover,
job proficiency, supervisory effectiveness and job training, in a wide range of occupations
 The effectiveness of B.I.Bs can be matched to the needs of the job and to the culture of the
employer
 There is a high degree of correlation between the candidate answers and reality
 May be most predictive in complex, as opposed to non-skilled, more straightforward jobs, where
the cost savings associated with adequate screening and selection are customarily more
substantial
 Candidates will not have to unnecessarily participate in a series of assessments making B.I.B a
more efficient tool for screening applicants
 If properly designed, it will have a minimal adverse impact
 Useful for jobs where a large number of employees are performing the same or similar job

Disadvantages

 Legal and ethical considerations as B.I.Bs request personal and sensitive information that
borders or infringes on violating human rights legislation
 Other areas assessed which might not be currently protected by legislation do raise issues of
privacy
 Candidates may form perceptions about organizations from how they are questioned, and
subsequently, B.I.B might unintentionally drive away qualified applicants.
  A significant concern is the validity of responses since the job applicants may tend to be
dishonest when completing them, especially concerning the reporting of negative information
or behaviours

3. Would you recommend the use of W.A.B.s and/or B.I.B.s for ACE? Why or why not?

With the details provided, I would not recommend the use of W.A.B.s or B.I.B.s. The reason for this is
that both screening methods; have significant concerns or drawbacks that I feel make them inadequate
to screen the responses for the highly specialized scientist position at Wilson Bros. Both W.A.B. and
B.I.B. are formulated for larger groups of candidates, and in this situation, ACE has already narrowed it
down to 15 applicants and reducing it to the requested 3 would not facilitate the need for a
cumbersome W.A.B. system. In addition, W.A.B.s are better suited for technical and sales jobs and
correspondingly, to cultivate a helpful W.A.B., it would take a lengthy time to determine results that
might be too narrow in finding information necessary for locating the top applicants with their high skill-
sets.

On the flip side, the B.I.B.s would not be an effective screening method as it is too broad for the
specific job qualifications required for the position and could discourage the best candidates from taking
the position due to the asking of sensitive and private information. With the minimal number of expert
scientists in the hiring pool, Wilson Brothers would want to ensure that they are attracting them to
apply and not driving them away.

Part B:

Memo

To: Wilson Brothers Executive Team

From: Acme Consulting Enterprises (ACE)

Date: June 28, 2021

RE: Applicant Screening Recommendations

_______________________________________________________________________________

Dear Wilson Brothers Executive Team:

After investigating possible screening methods to determine the applicant who would be the best
candidate for the quality assurance scientist position with your company, my recommendation is to
conduct resume screening and screening interviews.

The applicants' resumes will be screened against requirements obtained from an extensive job analysis
and will involve a three-step process based on the role’s minimum and preferred qualification. Both
types of qualifications should be related to on-the-job performance and should include work experience,
education, skills and knowledge, personality traits, and competencies.

The three-step resume screening process should include:

 Stage Description
 Mandatory qualifications that an applicant must
Screening resumes based on meet to be able to do the job
1
minimum qualifications  Candidates that meet these move onto the second
step
 Non-mandatory characteristics that would make
someone a stronger candidate for the job
Screening resumes based on
2  Applicants that meet both minimum and preferred
preferred qualifications
qualifications move onto the shortlisting step of
resume screening
Shortlisting candidates based on  Only the top few candidates are selected to move
3
minimum and preferred qualifications forward and receive an interview

Further, resume screening will ensure that we, the hiring personnel, can assess educational background
and specialized or distinctive skills, which might have been overlooked if Wilson Brothers chose the
W.A.B. screening method.

During a screening interview, we will be able to effectively gauge the suitability of a job applicant for the
specialized position and confidently decide whether or not to add their name to the shortlist of potential
hires. It will also allow us to interact with the candidates, ask specific questions about their scientific
skills, and fully understand their strengths and weaknesses.

By combining these two screening methods, I can assure you that we will narrow down the applicant
pool to the 3 best possible candidates for the position of quality assurance scientist at Wilson Brothers
Limited.

Sincerely,

Jennifer