Put another way, applicant specifications describe what an applicant for a particular position should know the technical, professional, and managerial knowledge needed, what the candidate should be able to do the technical, professional, and managerial skills required, and what the applicant should be the personal qualities, educational background, and kind and amount of experience sought in applicants for the position. Well-designed application forms are essential to the process of screening, interviewing, and selecting employees. They also become an important part of an employee's permanent personnel record. And, where an interview is indicated by the review, careful scrutiny of the document will provide leads for questions to ask during the interview to elicit information of great value. Tests and ratings scales.
Tests are simply samples of performance taken under standardized conditions.
They are used to measure knowledge, skills, abilities, aptitudes, interests, and personality. Other types of evaluative instruments are rating scales and standard interview forms. Rating scales are used to transform observations of personal characteristics, behavior, or performance into objective evaluations. The interview will be discussed separately in a later part of this article. To avoid litigation or charges of discrimination, employers must ensure that tests used for screening, selection, and promotion are specifically related to job performance requirements, fair and reasonable in their contents and requirements, administered in good faith and without discrimination, and properly interpreted by qualified personnel.