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Differs from previous studies of managerial selection methods. Focuses wholly on the activities of external executive recruitment consultancies. Results are presented from two major surveys on the use of selection methods by such consultancies: in general they use low validity techniques, primarily unstructured interviews and references. Low validity selection methods may be used because validity is not the primary “evaluative standard”. Suggests five alternative “evaluative standards”.

Research on the traditional approach to selection is considered, and suggestions are made for improvements to this approach. Attention is drawn to the need to improve selection methods and several alternative methods are considered. Personality characteristics of a small sample of hotel general managers are reviewed.

Developments in personnel recruitment and selection “technology” have been both varied and extensive in the 1980s, and a number of overlapping and simultaneous developments are immediately apparent. Here, “technology” refers to methods, strategies, techniques, theories and practices of staff resourcing.

The ever‐increasing cost of seeing a graduate training contract through to its successful completion has made the selection decision, and indeed the choice of selection techniques used, increasingly vital. This paper identifies the selection methods currently used by the Scottish accountancy profession to recruit graduate trainees, compares these against best practice and highlights a number of areas where improvements to current practice would be recommended. Analysis of the selection literature revealed the range of selection techniques on offer, and from a consideration of the validity and reliability of each technique, it was possible to identify best practice in graduate selection. Data was collected by sending a questionnaire to 79 firms of Scottish Chartered Accountants. The targeted firms constituted the entire population of Scottish firms seeking to recruit a graduate trainee to commence in Autumn 2002 (as detailed within the annual ICAS Directory of Training Vacancies). Using the results of the primary and secondary data, the skills currently being sought by firms of Chartered Accountants in their graduate trainees were identified. The methods used by firms to identify these skills were then examined with each method being examined in terms of its current use as well as its value and effectiveness in practice. It was found that there have been significant changes to the skill‐set sought by firms in the early 21st Century as compared with a decade ago, with less emphasis on numeracy and more interest in softer skills such as communication and problem‐solving. As regards the techniques currently employed by firms to identify these skills, it was found that there has been some progress made over the last decade. However, the majority of firms are still reluctant to let go of what is now considered to be the more traditional interview‐based approach to selection, favouring this above what might be considered the more innovative techniques on offer. Further, it was found that few firms have designed their selection process specifically to identify the skill‐set that they have delineated. Thus, a consequent lack of consistency throughout the selection decisions was evidenced.

Behavioural consistency Biodata, a relatively new system of screening job applications, was recommended at the Standing Conference of Employers of Graduates (SCOEG) held in Cambridge. In a joint paper, Adrian Savage and Stephanie Craig, of PA Personnel Services Group, explained the methods and advantages of the system to an audience of graduate recruiters. It is a form of testing which takes as its central axiom the assumption that the best available indication of how a person will behave in the future is the way he or she has behaved in the past. The system standardises the collection and collation of extensive historical information and personal achievements, and replaces the subjective judgement of the interviewer with a clear scoring and categorisation system. This system is specifically tailored to the requirements of the position to be filled, based on information obtained concerning previous holders and possible future requirements.

In 1986 6,200 students entered into training contracts under the aegis of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales, of whom nine out of ten were graduates, making the profession by far the largest single recruiter of graduates in the UK; and this voracious appetite may well increase. Most firms expend considerable resources on recruitment to get it right; yet Institute statistics demonstrate that up to 40 per cent of graduate recruits ultimately fail to qualify. Perhaps at best one fifth of the original entrants will still be with their original firm three years after qualification. A large proportion must be viewed as recruitment failures.

To achieve tenure and promotion, an academician must demonstrate productivity and persistence in the midst of uncertainty. While there are policies in place to guide the tenure and promotion processes, at most institutions, the policies are written in a professionally vague manner such that “The Committee,” made up of senior faculty, has sufficient leeway to make a decision deemed most appropriate for all parties involved, including the junior faculty member under consideration. My essay highlights my experiences with the tenure and promotion processes at two different institutions on my academic journey and uses sayings to convey messages of importance to the process. After providing some personal background information that includes some of my strengths and fears for context, I transition to a discussion of my decision to exchange a coveted, tenure-track position for a long-term contract at a newly established state college with an opportunity of being promoted to the highly esteemed rank of Full Professor.

While the requirements and processes vary from institution to institution, and for tenure and promotion, the angst and anticipation generated can be fairly consistent, even if you are confident in what you have accomplished. Through the sharing of personal lived experiences (or biodata; Snell, Stokes, Sands, & McBride, 1994), I attempt to normalize these feelings and questions, while juxtaposing the beauty and burden of being an African-American male professor in Predominantly White Institutions (PWI) (Bell & Nkomo, 1999; Stanley, 2006; Turner, Gonzalez, & Wood, 2008; Warde, 2009). Furthermore, I offer key sayings and coping strategies (Johnson, Haynes, Holyfield, & Foster, 2014) that will allow individuals to not only survive but also thrive within these seemingly committees or make administrative decisions about said processes.

I begin by examining some ways in which organisations have attempted to improve their recruitment and selection procedures to minimise bias and unfair discrimination, and focus on the assessment centre as a potentially useful technique in this respect, especially for managerial selection. I go on to examine the assessment centre in more detail, including its origins, construction and uses, before discussing the strong evidence for its validity as a selection and assessment procedure. I then describe some recent British innovations in assessment centre design and practice, especially in its use for management and organisation development purposes, before discussing some of my own recent research, in collaboration with Ivan Robertson and Usha Rout, on participants' attitudes towards the use of assessment centres for selection and development purposes, including gender differences in attitudes.