assessment forum

Need a reply to each of these posts.  MInumum 100 words each. References not necessary.

POST 1:

My office has 3 military employees and 6 civilian employees.  The civilian employees applied for their jobs online via usajobs.com.  In their application, they upload their resume and cover letter for the Office of Personnel Management to initially assess their knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform the job they applied for.  From there they were referred to the hiring manager and were selected for experience-based structured interviews.  This is the assessment method that is heavily relied upon for the positions in my office.  In most cases, to be selected for an interview in my career field, the applicant must have experience in the career field.  The experience-based interview method is a good way to determine how candidates will perform in these positions by asking “what did you do when” type questions.  According to Heneman and Judge and Kammeyer-Mueller (2012), “It is assumed that applicants who are likely to succeed have demonstrated success with past job experiences similar to the experiences they would encounter in the prospective job” (p. 459).  Hiring managers want people with experience in my career field because the learning curve is relatively slow.  It usually takes an unexperienced employee about 2 to 3 years to fully understand the complexities of the job.  Situational-based interviews are not used because they would not provide employees that have the amount of experience desired by the hiring managers.  This is because situational-based interviews use a lot of hypothetical situational-based questions to try and determine an applicant’s ability to do the job.

References

Heneman III, H. G., Judge, T. A., & Kammeyer-Mueller, J. D. (2012). Staffing Organizations (7th ed., p. 459). Middleton, WI: Mendota House, Inc.

POST 2:

The Army can manage their personnel to a certain extent. Big Army headquarters moves personnel to fill slot that become vacant for various reasons. The organization can move soldiers within, but only with some restrictions. Qualification, education, and status have a lot of weight that is placed on the decisions of personnel placement. Some decisions have a peer assessment. This ensures the soldier has the knowledge to excel and is progressing in the field. I am currently due to move organizations. I have spoken with the individual that manages the talent of my career field. He uses a few factors that help satisfy the needs to the unit and provide continuous professional progression. You could say talent management is the assessment method used to place soldiers in those positions. Since I have had a few years at a level in which the branch manager placed me at, the new supervisor spoke with me about the possible move he was proposing to the boss. I am capable and qualified to work at the original level, but want to expand my knowledge base and work at the level I am working at now. Our field is small enough for the branch manager to visit with us individually and see where would like to work and where the Army can support it at. This may not be at a location of great request, but will get the position. This is not the case for the majority of the Army. New soldiers are generally placed in position with little to no assessments. Certain positions look at numerous assessments under the substantive assessment methods. As soldiers progress in their careers, supervisors factor in  performance, knowledge, interviews, and promotions for the opportunity to excel.