Please see the following recommendations:

Vision statement
4 job selection tools:
- Situational interviews (SI)
- Patterned behavioral description interviews (PBDI)
- Job simulations
- Realistic job previews
- Also: personality tests

Cabinet selection - job analysis, situational interviews, diversity

The first step is to construct a realistic job analysis to ensure objective evaluation of
candidates by documenting job requirements in writing prior to the evaluation and selection
of cabinet ministers. The job analysis should specify critical knowledge, skills, abilities
(KSAs) to answer the question of: what are the observable behaviors that differentiate a
successful cabinet minister vs non successful cabinet minister? In this context, insights could
be gleaned by analysing the efficacy of ex-cabinet ministers. Also, current context could be
taken into account in an effort to modernize and future proof the role, so questions such as
“what skills and qualifications are we looking for in a minister of the environment take in 2020
that would not have been as applicable in previous minimster of the environments?”

The next step is to create situational interview questions that introduce a dilemma, which is
probably not difficult for a political role. The purpose of these questions is to test what the
person intends to do under situations they are likely to experience, as intentions predict
behavior. These questions also assess for value and ethics, which are important
considerations for a public office. Candidates will then be marked against a scorecard that
reflects the value of the Canadian government.

It is also important to ensure that the selection process is fair so that the best possible
candidate for the job is selected. In public office, it is especially important to remove
perceptions of nepotism or favoritism. Thus, the evaluation of a candidate should be done by
a panel and all candidates should be evaluated through situational interviews by the panel
before evaluation results are discussed to minimize leading the witness. For example, more
junior government officials on the panel could be unwilling to raise objections in the presence
of more senior officials.

- “Leading the witness”. Don’t talk about an applicant until each reviewer has
made their assessment. Don’t share your evaluation before everyone gets
together. Should have panel of interviewers rather have individual.
- Does the test have internal consistency - all the items on the test
correlate with one another. They all measure the same thing. Parallel
form reliability. Should correlate .7 or higher. Internal consistency
should be .8-.9 or higher
- Validity: It’s good to have consistency/reliability, but you can be consistently
wrong. You have to have validity (accuracy). Measurement must be accurate.
To determine validity: 1) content validity - is the content of the selection
procedure reflective of the job requirements to be successful (job analysis).
 Can’t cover all job analysis on the test. Test has to contain a representative
sample. Test has to be fair. Want to show SMEs agree that the items on the
test are representative sample of the info in the job analysis. 2) criterion
related validity - the test is related to job related criterion. This test assesses
ability/aptitude. There has to be a statistical relationship. (vs judgment call for
content validity).

Diversity

A well selected cabinet should comprise of diverse opinions to minimize groupthink, which
means to promote diverse backgrounds of cabinet members..