With reference to the job description of the management analyst, which KSAOs would you measure outside the interview? How would you measure them? Why?
KSAO refers to knowledge, skill, abilities and other characteristics which are used when coming up with a job description. There are certain types of KSAO’s that can not be measured in an interview or are viewed as too important to merely ask a question. For example complex problem solving skills which involves identifying problems and reviewing alternatives in order to evaluate and put into practice solutions. This is a skill that must be measured outside the interview because it is a vital part of a management analyst. A person that can demonstrate the ability to problem solve can be very useful for the company. The best approach to dealing with this skill to create a scenario that models the real life situations that occur in the daily life of a management analyst. The abilities that would be tested are if the interviewee recognizes that a problem exists, applies the skills and principles to identify the cause for the problem and generate and evaluate alternate solutions. This type of work related sample is an excellent way to test the validity of the content and it also is a very good predictor how the interviewees’ performances in the actual work would be. Another skill that could be tested is writing skills. It is an important expertise that a management analyst must have. Management analysts often prepare forms and reports and communicate information to others. Interviewees could be given an in-basket exercise where that involves paper work that tests the ability to write comprehensively. Interviewees can be also tested on knowledge such as mathematics. Mathematics is one of the foundations that are needed as a management analyst. People who posses this knowledge often see a wide spectrum of problems. This could be measured by giving the interviewee a test that is based on the knowledge of calculus, algebra statistics and their applications such as cost-profit analysis and inventory control.
4. With reference to the job description of the management analyst, which KSAOs would you measure via interview?
A skill that could be measured during the interview process is active listening. Active listening involves giving full attention and taking the time to understand what others are saying. This is a skill that could be measured during the interviewing process by observing if the interviewee understands the questions, and if he or she asks for clarification otherwise. Interviewers can also measure fluency of ideas and oral composition. It is the ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic and the ability to listen and understand information that is spoken in words. When the interviewee is asked to answer a question, interviewers can measure the composition, flow of the ideas and how well the interviewee understood the question.
5. Identify at least two clarifiers and two skill-level determiner questions for each of the two resumes give to you?
Diana Huynh’s resume was ambiguous in certain areas and it had to be addressed to her. For example two clarifiers that were used: 1) I can see from your resume that you updated “my future” website. What is this website and can you give me more insight on this? 2) What did you mean by acted as a “bank” for the amusement park? Two skill level questions that could be asked: 1) Say you are analyzing different forms and data and there was a slight discrepancy in the data that was given to you. What could be a possible error? 2) What would be a key tool that you would use to analyze data?
Danish Zahid clarifier questions: 1) I can see from the resume that you are a navel officer of the Royal Canadian Sea Cadets. In your resume you stated that you teach objectives to new recruits, what types of objectives do you teach to the new recruits? 2) You received the salesmen of the month award while working at The Bay; can you tell me more about it? Skill-level determiner questions: 1) I can see from your resume that you are proficient in Microsoft Excel. This is a program that we use quite often, how would create a standard report? 2) Working at PCI Geomatics you have learned to balance the daily cash flow, we have a similar system applied to our inventory and cost analysis. What do you think would be a likely cause if our inventory and overhead costs are under allocated?
- Using your in-class group effort as a basis, identify at least 2 past-focused and 2 future-focused questions that you used in your mock interview? When identifying questions involving critical incidents, identify benchmark answers and anchors. Indicate whether you would use the typical answer or the key issue approach to benchmark your answers and why?
The first question: Describe a situation in which you helped a person set a goal and then supported the person to achieve that goal. What was the goal and how did you help?
This is not a critical incident question so there is room for numerous answers.
- Effectively communicates the goal that he or she has helped.
- Demonstrated continuation of support until goal was attained
The second question: Describe a situation when you demonstrated initiative and took action without waiting for direction.
- demonstrated initiative by seeking alternatives on own
In this question the interviewer is listening for the interviewer to demonstrate initiative on own.
The third question: When allocating resources and balancing budget there must have been times where you ran into discrepancies and the budgets did not balance. How did you handle this situation?
Benchmark Answers
- recognized the need to fix the problem
- took initiative and searched for the errors in budget
- acknowledged that fact that outside help may be needed
- acknowledged that he or she would be more careful in future when allocating and balancing budget
Question four: Imagine you are working on a team based project and the team was having difficulty agreeing on a decision, what would you do to facilitate consensus?
- demonstrated strong commitment and perseverance
- contribution as team members to work to a common goal
Question five: Imagine you have a co-worker that has a habit of interrupting you at staff meetings. In the past you’ve waited for her to finish and bring up your point again, only to have her interrupt once more. As a result, you often leave important meetings feeling frustrated because your issues were not addressed. How do you address this issue?
- acknowledged that this is a serious problem
- recognized the need to speak to the person about this issue
- demonstrated honesty in communicating information
- the issue was dealt in a professional manner
- there was no confrontation
Question six: Imagine you are in a situation where you are approaching a deadline for a project and you know that there is no way you will be finished in time. How would you handle this situation?
- realization that the project can not be finished
- widened the options by going to other people for help
- spoke to the person in charge for an extension
- How did you evaluate the performance of the applicants you interviewed in terms of your benchmark answers? Include your scoring sheet and the interviewees’ responses to each question.
The questions were evaluated in terms of the benchmark answers. If the interviewee covered the criteria relating to the question then they were given full recognition for the question
The evaluation
Danish
Question 1:
- Effectively communicates the goal that he or she has helped.
- Demonstrated continuation of support until goal was attained.
Question 1:
- Effectively communicates the goal that he or she has helped.
- Demonstrated continuation of support until goal was attained.
Diana effectively communicated the goal and demonstrated that she encouraged her friend from the beginning of the task to the end.
Danish did effectively communicate the goal however he did not explain if he continued to support the person until the goal was accomplished.
Question 2:
- demonstrated initiative by seeking alternatives on own
Danish demonstrated initiative by trying to solve the problem of the ending balances by himself and using the resources around him.
Question 3:
- recognized the need to fix the problem
- took initiative and searched for the errors in budget
- acknowledged that fact that outside help may be needed
- acknowledged that he or she would be more careful in future when allocating and balancing budget
Danish recognized the need to fix the problem and he did take the initiative to solve the problem. He also acknowledged that sometimes
Question 2:
- demonstrated initiative by seeking alternatives on own
Diana demonstrated initiative by making the first move and emailing everyone so that her project could commence.
Question 3:
- recognized the need to fix the problem
- took initiative and searched for the errors in budget
- acknowledged that fact that outside help may be needed
- acknowledged that he or she would be more careful in future when allocating and balancing budget
Diana answered the question and covered all the criteria used in the benchmarked answers. She recognized that the need to fix a problem and she demonstrated initiative by looking at the budget in a greater detail. She also stated she would be more careful when dealing with budgets.
outside help was needed. However he failed to state if he learned from this experience.
Question 4:
- demonstrated strong commitment and perseverance
- contribution as team members to work to a common goal
Danish covered all the criteria in this question. He demonstrated commitment by getting all of his team members involved and he also held strong to the belief of “never give up”. He got everyone involved and they worked towards a common goal.
Question 5:
- acknowledged that this is a serious problem
- recognized the need to speak to the person about this issue
- demonstrated honesty in communicating information
- the issue was dealt in a professional manner
- there was no confrontation
Danish recognized the need to speak to the co-worker about this issue. He also demonstrated honesty by telling her how he felt in a professional manner. However he did not established the urgency for this issue.
Question 6:
- realization that the project can not be finished
- widened the options by going to other people for help
Question 4:
- demonstrated strong commitment and perseverance
- contribution as team members to work to a common goal
Diana did get everyone involved to address the problem; however she failed to be committed to solving the problem. She assumed that once the problem was identified it would simply fix itself.
Question 5:
- acknowledged that this is a serious problem
- recognized the need to speak to the person about this issue
- demonstrated honesty in communicating information
- the issue was dealt in a professional manner
- there was no confrontation
Like Danish, Diana covered her all the criteria except one. She realized that she needed to speak her colleague about this issue. She demonstrated honesty by telling her colleague how she felt. Furthermore there was no indication of hostile of confrontational behaviour
Question 6:
- realization that the project can not be finished
- widened the options by going to other people for help
- speaking with the supervisor in charge of the project and working some compromise out
- speaking with the supervisor in charge of the project and working some compromise out
Danish assorted to speaking directly with the supervisor in charge of the project.
Diana on the other hand had a more complete answer to this question. She widened her horizon by suggesting help from others in the company. She also realized that it would be a waste of time trying to solve a problem that you can not finish. Lastly she considered going to the supervisor about the project.
Overall Diana scored better on the interview questions because she answered most of questions in more detail and more complete. She covered most of the areas of the bench marked answers. Out of 18 marks Danish received 12 marks and Diana received 15 marks.