Reevaluation of a weighted application blank for office personnel

Abstract

The validity of weighted application blank scores in predicting length of service of female office personnel of a large midwestern manufacturing company showed a slow but consistent decline from 1954 to 1959. After reweighting the application blank variables by the usual procedure, a Pearson r of .39 was obtained between WAB scores and tenure on a cross-validation sample of 208 individuals. Only 3 variables (high proficiency at shorthand; did not leave last job because of pregnancy, marriage, sickness, or home problems; and will begin work on the new job 1 week or more from now) retained their predictive validity from 1954 to 1959. Some of the variables were assigned different weights, and others were given weights for the 1st time. It was recommended that weights assigned to application blank responses be reviewed at least every 3-5 years. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)