Biodata in professional entry-level selection: Statistical scoring of common format applications

This study of professional graduate entrants provides evidence that biographical data, common to application forms and résumés, can predict future preformance at professional entry level, outperforming current selection procedures. An actuarial model is developed to predict the major selection criterion for such entrants and to overcome the practical difficulties associated with processing high volumes of applications at the pre-selection stage. The six variable model demonstrates validity on entrants up to 5 years after the development sample and may be used across a wide range of different firms. Inter-temporal validity (rpbi = 0.23) compares favourably with other preliminary selection strategies. The evidence is consistent with such models suffering acceptable levels of shrinkage while being more efficient and less costly alternatives to the conventional selection methods currently used by the accounting profession.