2003 IMTA Proceedings - International Military Testing Association

In next- rather busy – graph the average payoff is given for the different entries. What is
important to note for the moment is that the curvilinear relationship shown in figure 2
does not seem to apply to all entries.
Average payoff of assigned applicants
1000
900
800
700
600
500
400
Average Payoff of Enlisted Persons per Trade
as a Function of Classification Frequency
300
1 6 12 20 30 60
Number of subsets processed simultaneously
Figure 5
Discussion
To begin with, it is clear that the conditions processing larger numbers of subsets
simultaneously yield better average payoffs than the ones processing smaller numbers.
The magnitude of the difference might seem rather small upon first sight. The difference
between the first and last condition is about 45 points on a scale with an average of 500
and a standard deviation of 200. Yet, given the fact that in all conditions the same
applicant pool and the same vacancies were used along with the same eligibility rules and
the same classification tool and considering that the difference pertains to the average of
more than 1500 persons, one should realize that the effect is quite important. Put in other
words, if you would think of measures that need to be taken to yield a similar increase of
average recruit quality, such as increasing the selection ratio or improving the applicant
pool quality through recruiting actions, you most probably would conclude that waiting
some time before classifying the applicants is a very cheap and effective option.
Secondly, it is quite interesting to notice the curvilinear relationship between average
payoff and number of subsets processed simultaneously. The relationship approximates a
logarithmic function. The steepest increase in payoff occurs at the left side of the abscissa
and then flattens out.
When looking at the second and third graph, we see very similar relationships. This
means that both aptitude and preference benefit from classification in larger groups.
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45 th Annual Conference of the International Military Testing Association
Pensacola, Florida, 3-6 November 2003