Biodata: Meeting clients' needs for a better way of recruiting entry-levelstaff

Biodata as a selection technique is gaining greater acceptance in Australia and interest in the technique appears to be growing. There are a number of reasons for it-a rise in popularity, including particular advantages affor ded by the technique such as enhanced validity and decreased adverse impact . This paper presents an overview of the development of a biodata instrumen t for large-scale recruitment and focuses specifically on how clients' need s were met by incorporating biodata in a revised recruitment system. The re ader is also referred to another article in this issue by Karas and West th at reports on this project, but covers technical aspects of the rational-em pirical approach taken to instrument development. The biodata technique was chosen to meet specific requirements of a new sel ection system for entry level clerical and graduate staff of the Australian Public Service. Broadly, the system sought to assess a range of jab-relate d skills encompassing both cognitive and noncognitive abilities and to maxi mize the validity and fairness of the recruitment process. The addition of a biodata questionnaire, as an integral part of the selection system, assis ted in meeting these aims and providing clients with a more comprehensive p rocess which offered greater flexibility and the reliable assessment of non cognitive attributes that are critical to success in of todays workplace.