Passing your exams Dr Robert Wapshott Semester 1 Y08/09

Overview Working towards better answers Preparation

Working towards better answers Understanding the question (I) Finding out what you know Understanding the question (II) Key points to make in the answer Getting things together Understanding the question (III)

Understanding the question (I) “Critically assess the techniques used in employee selection” So the question is about Employee Selection techniques and I have to critically assess them…so as a starting point I need to realise what “employee selection” is and what “techniques” are used in it…

Understanding the question (I) Employee selection is about how companies evaluate potential employees and are considered against the job specification It’s how companies decide who they want to employ out of all the people attracted by the companies’ recruitment activities OK, so I know that bit; what about the “techniques” used?

Employee Selection (techniques) What do I know about this topic? Interviews CV / Biographical info Psychometric Tests Employee Selection (techniques) Assessment Centres Graphology References

Understanding the question (II) Critically assessing something is like asking about “strengths and weaknesses” so what are the strengths and weaknesses of each employee selection technique I have thought of?

Employee Selection (techniques) Key Points: Strengths and weaknesses of each EST Interviews CV / Biographical info Psychometric Tests Employee Selection (techniques) Range of tests Assessment Centres Graphology Candidates like them (Salgado, 1999) References Do any exist?! Generally good predictors of job performance (Hough and Oswald, 2000)

Employee Selection (techniques) Key Points: Strengths and weaknesses of each EST Interviews CV / Biographical info Psychometric Tests Employee Selection (techniques) Assessment Centres Graphology Cost References Bad assessment centres can also be designed! Low construct validity (Goldstein et al, 1998)

Getting things together From my notes and wider reading I know that each approach has a number of strengths and weaknesses I need to show the strengths and weaknesses of each employee selection technique Then show which ones seem to be (relatively) stronger / weaker as I get towards my conclusion

Getting things together Of the techniques I’ve got, and thinking about their strengths and weaknesses, which ones seem to be the weakest and which the strongest? I will order them in my essay with the weakest first For each technique I will state the strengths but then show the weaknesses and say whether, on balance, this seems like a good technique

Getting things together How could I conclude this exam answer? The question says: “Critically assess the techniques used in employee selection”

Understanding the question (III) So perhaps I just need to indicate that I’ve covered some of the main employee selection techniques and by looking at their strengths and weaknesses I have critically assessed them I could then suggest which (overall) seem to be the strongest employee selection techniques (include reasons why)

Essay plan Intro (say essay is about…) Assessment centres (S = Range of tests, Candidates like them (Salgado, 1999), and Generally good predictors of job performance (Hough and Oswald, 2000) Assessment centres (W = Cost, Can be badly designed, Low construct validity - Goldstein et al, 1998) EST 2 S EST 2 W…(and so on) Conclusion (essay has been about…)

A word on preparation So if that’s what I must do in the exam, how do I prepare for that? The exam requires you to write essays that you discuss the main points in a topic, so it makes sense to practise this in your exam preparation Preparing topics for exams needs to give you enough information to answer a range of questions on those topics Fortunately the basic information for a topic remains the same, it’s the application that changes

A word on preparation My preference is to revise from my notes and then test myself a lot You can test yourself in a way that’s useful in exams too The planning diagrams featured earlier in this presentation come from my exam preparation activities Allow yourself time to plan in the exam

Employee Selection (techniques) What do I know about this topic? Interviews CV / Biographical info Psychometric Tests Employee Selection (techniques) Assessment Centres Graphology References

Basic tips Learn the basic materials Incorporate some wider reading This provides your raw materials and forms a vital part of exam success Practice applying this to exam questions and planning answers to the exam question