LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION - WHAT INFORMATION CAPTURES HR PROFESSIONALS ATTENTION

HR professionals evaluated the credentials of job candidates based upo n actual letters of recommendation (LORs). The LORs contained both rel evant and irrelevant information about the job candidate. Policy captu ring revealed that professionals differed in both their consistency in evaluating candidates and in the relative weights they gave various f orms of information. Some sex differences in decision policies also we re discovered. Results are discussed in terms of how to strengthen the LOR as a selection tool.