Civil Service Recruitment: Fairness or preferential advantage?
| DOI | 10.1177/095207679300800206 |
| Author | Richard A. Chapman |
| Date | 01 June 1993 |
| Published date | 01 June 1993 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
68
Civil
Service
Recruitment:
Fairness
or
preferential
advantage?
Richard
A.
Chapman
University
of Durham
Recently
some
of
my
students
reported
serious
unhappiness
about
their
treatment
in
the
Qualifying
Tests
(QTs)
for
entry
to
the
civil
service
as
administration
trainees.
This
led
me
to
inquire
further
into
the
nature
of
their
complaints
and
to
compare
their
experience
with
some
of
the
details
published
in
the
latest
(1992-
1993)
Civil
Service
Commissioners’
Report.
The
purposes
of
this
short
article
are
therefore
to
report
what
happened
to
my
students,
consider
some
of
the
details
in
the
latest
Report
that
may
appear
most
significant
to
readers
of
Public
Policy
and
Administration,
and
reflect
on
some
of
the
continuing
problems.
facing
the
Civil
Service
Commissioners.
The
problem
as
presented
.
Several
of
my
students,
with
my
encouragement,
took
the
QTs
this
year.
They
had
a
fair
idea
of
what
the
tests
entailed
in
the
past
because
they
had
read
the
relevant
literature,
attended
the
regional
’Graduates
in
Government’
careers
information
fair,
and
also
had
the
opportunity
to
discuss
the
procedure
with
the
then
First
Civil
Service
Commissioner
(who
happens
to
be
the
liaison
officer
from
the
civil
service
to
Durham
and
Teesside
Universities).
They
were
in
general
aware
that
when
they
attended
the
QTs
there
would,
this
year,
be
a
supplementary
application
form,
but
they
were
unprepared
for
what
the
form
contained.
When
the
form
was
handed
out,
the
test
centre
supervisor
emphasised
the
importance
of
answering
each
question
clearly
since
the
form
would
be
used
to
assist
with
decisions
to
invite
candidates
to
the
Civil
Service
Selection
Board
(CSSB);
this
information
was
also
printed
on
the
supplementary
application
form.
The
form
contained
22
multiple
choice
questions
which
were
surprising
in
both
their
nature
and
their
style,
and
it
was
not
immediately
apparent
what
relevance
they
might
have
for
the
sort
of
work
administration
trainees
do.
Three
examples
illustrate
this.
One
question
asked
candidates
to
select
one
answer
from
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