The Use of GPA in Initial College Screening

Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject Psychology - Work, Business, Organisational and Economic Psychology, grade: 1,3 (A), Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg (Faculty for Economics, Business and Social Sciences), course: Seminar: Case Studies in HRM, 4 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: This essay examines the use of grade point average (GPA) in initial college screening. Therefore the following questions should be answered: if personnel administrators are recruiting on campus, does GPA play a role in gaining an invitation for a job interview? And, if so, are there any decision rules, i.e., are only students with very high (or very low, etc.) GPAs invited? Besides taking a short look at the different types of GPA the question of which type of GPA is preferred in college recruiting is addressed. A further question deals with the consistency of the use of decision rules, i.e., are decision rules consistent within an organization or within certain job types (for example engineers)? And finally, the influence of the size of the applicant pool regarding the use of GPA as a screening device is examined. To answer these questions McKinney, Carlson, Mecham, D'Angelo and Connerley examined 1156 jobs offered by different organizations and published their results in the essay 'Recruiters' use of GPA in Initial Screening Decisions: Higher GPAs don't always make the cut'. This essay was first published in the journal 'Personnel Psychology' in 2003, and is the one that is mainly quoted in this term paper. Other essays will also be mentioned in comparing the results of the essays. Following this overview of the term paper there is a short review of the current state of research. Then the main article including its methods and results is summarized. Finally, there is a discussion dealing with the questions if GPA really is a valid screening device and if there are other devices that are better or equal. Last, there are some suggestions for future research and a take-home message.

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