Interest scores in the selection of salesmen and servicemen: occupational vs. ability-group scoring keys

Abstract

A preliminary study showed that Strong's scores and profiles failed to differentiate good from poor salesmen in a group of 250 salesmen employed in one company's machine accounting division. The authors, therefore, developed two new keys, an occupational key and an ability-group key, for scoring the Strong Vocational Interest Blank. 208 salesmen with more than 3 years experience and a general population group were used in developing the occupational key, which was later revised after adding 75 additional salesmen. The ability-group key was developed on the basis of the 62 best and 32 poorest salesmen, selected by ratings from 208 cases; it was later revised after adding 24 best and 25 poorest salesmen. Similar keys were developed for servicemen in the company on the basis of large numbers of cases. The results were similar for both salesmen and servicemen: while the occupational keys failed to discriminate well, the ability-group keys did discriminate well. These results were obtained despite the fact that the employees studied were already carefully selected according to traditional methods, and despite the more limited number of cases used in developing the ability-group keys. What the ability-group keys measure is relatively independent of length of service. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)