2003 IMTA Proceedings - International Military Testing Association

366
Why One Should Wait Before Allocating Applicants
LtCol Psych Francois J. LESCREVE 24
Belgian Defense Staff
Human Resources Directorate General
Accession Policy Research & Technology Section
Abstract
An important policy issue in the design of an accession system for military personnel is
the question how and when allocation decisions are made. Two major options are
available: immediate allocation or batch classification. In the immediate allocation, an
applicant will know what occupation he or she is accepted for during the selection day.
With batch classification, a number of applicants are assessed during a certain period of
time and their allocation is decided later. This allows comparing the applicants and
assigning them in a smarter way.
It can be demonstrated that the overall recruit quality is significantly better when batch
classification is chosen. Yet, immediate allocation is the preferred method in many
countries. A major reason for this is that it seems more appropriate to give the candidates
certainty about their application without delay.
In this paper we take a closer look at the relationship between the quality of the enlisted
group of recruits and the time between assessment and allocation decision. Empirical data
is used to simulate different conditions. It is found that waiting before making allocation
decisions yields better recruit quality. In addition, the used setting shows a relationship
between time before classification and recruit quality that approximates a logarithmic
function. This indicates that even minor departures from immediate classification in favor
of batch classification can yield significant improvement in recruit quality.
Introduction
Military organizations need to enlist recruits for different trades in order to compensate
for departures. To reach this goal, recruiting and selection & classification (S&C) systems
are set up. Recruiting systems are primarily aimed at attracting high numbers of quality
people. S&C systems deal with a number of applicants characterized by varying
aptitudes, interests and other pertinent attributes on the one hand as well as a number of
vacancies on the other hand. Usually, there are a certain number of positions available for
different trades. The trades or entries often require different levels of achievement for a
number of aptitudes. During a selection phase, the different attributes of an applicant are
assessed. Together with the applicant’s preferences or interest for the different entries,
these selection measures make it possible to quantify the appropriateness to assign a
candidate to a particular trade. How the actual assignment decision is made varies from
one S&C system to another. We can roughly distinguish two main systems: the
immediate ones and the batch classification systems. In immediate systems, decisions are
typically made one at a time immediately after the assessment phase. That is, while the
applicant is still present in the selection facility. In batch classification systems a
relatively large number of applicants is processed simultaneously. By comparing the
applicants to each other before assigning them, these systems typically result in
24 Contact author at Lescreve@skynet.be
45 th Annual Conference of the International Military Testing Association
Pensacola, Florida, 3-6 November 2003