Selecting Finalists for Tanglewood's Flagship Store Manager Position

Task:

Tanglewood is seeking to hire a new manager for its flagship store in Spokane and has collected data on applicants using four predictors/selection devices. Your task is to use the information obtained from applicants’ résumés and three additional predictors to select two finalists. You will not be selecting the best candidate, only identifying two finalists. These finalists will then be assessed further through structured interviews and background checks.

You will identify two finalists using a combination approach to selection. This approach will involve first determining which candidates pass two hurdles, and then applying a compensatory approach to assess the candidates that passed both of those hurdles on two additional predictors. Before applying this combination approach, you will need to first assess the applicants’ résumés and “extract” information regarding their past management-related experience.

Part A

Screen résumés to narrow the pool of applicants being considered.

Review the 10 applicant résumés in Appendix D, pp. 73–83, from the Tanglewood Casebook in your course pack. Determine whether there is anything in any of the candidates’ résumés that would raise concerns as you evaluate their suitability for the role. If so, list the applicant(s) and identify your concern(s).

While you may have reservations based on the resume screen, all candidates should remain in consideration for Part B.

Part B

Assess level of management experience and assign a rating to each candidate.

Based on the work experience reported in their résumés, assess the 10 applicants’ level of management experience and assign a rating to each using a rating scale from 0 to 100. Before rating any individual applicant, establish criteria (or guidelines) for assigning “management experience points.” An applicant with absolutely no management-related experience should be given a score of 0, and an applicant with ideal experience should be given a score of 100. For example, “ideal experience” might be defined as four or more years of successful experience in a similar managerial job, in a similar organization. Determine additional breakpoints and associated points. Some subjectivity will be involved in assigning points for management experience, but your goal is to try to make it as objective as possible. Include your rating scale.

While you may have reservations based on your ratings, all candidates should remain in consideration for Part C.

Part C

Determine which candidates pass both hurdles using a combination approach.

Since Tanglewood is using a combination approach to identify finalists for the management position, candidates must first pass multiple hurdles. An applicant exam and previous management experience have been selected as hurdles. Candidates must pass both hurdles to advance to the next stage of the process. Apply these two hurdles to each applicant:

Have four-plus years of management-related experience clearly reflected on his/her résumé
Score of at least 60 on the applicant exam
Which of the 10 candidates pass both of these hurdles and should therefore remain in the pool for continued consideration?

Part D

Assess the remaining candidates using a compensatory approach.
Use a compensatory approach to assess the remaining candidates (those that passed both hurdles from Part C) using two predictors: retail knowledge and conscientiousness. Applicants’ scores on these predictors can be found in Appendix D, page 72, in the Tanglewood Casebook. An overall assessment score should be calculated from the two remaining predictors using rational weighting that is based on the predictors’ relative validity. The validity coefficients for each predictor are provided in the table below.