GMAT Essays (AWA)

Please CRITIQUE.....

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Rather than using traditional question-and-answer interviews to evaluate job candidates, employers should observe candidates as they perform some of the job's actual tasks.
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Rather than using traditional question-and-answer interviews to evaluate job candidates, employers should observe candidates as they perform some of the job's actual tasks.

In my view, the opinion that employers should observe candidates as they perform some of the job's actual tasks rather than using traditional question-and-answer interviews to evaluate job candidates sounds convincing. By judging the performance of some of actual tasks, employers can have a best suitability of employee for a job. The question-and-answer format may have limitations and may not judge the actual things needed in a person to perform the job. Also, some people may lack skills to answer and guess questions that may not be a requirement for performing the job.

The main reason for my view is that actual performance on the work matters rather than answering a set of questions that cannot be representative of everything that is required on the job. Seeing how a person performs on some of the actual tasks, an employer can judge other things too like how a person behaves in team, how the person behaves when the team is failing etc. Moreover, an employer can judge other things too like how the person behaves in a professional environment, how the person devlops relations with others in getting things done.

Another reason for my view is that some people may be shy and may not be able to express in the question-and-answer interviews. They may be knowing the answers, but, somehow, they may not be able to express. For example, a back end job won't require communications kills and would just require the store registers to be updated every day. So judging how the person updates such sample of data, an employer can see the suitability of a person to the job.

Some might argue that there may be constraints of inviting many people to perform sample tasks and it would be a slower process as compared to the questions-and-answer interview format. However, when people know that the interview is not a question-and-answer format, then only suitable candidates would turn up as they know that they would have to perform tasks.

In conclusion, there is no best way as it depends of the needs of an employer. Still, judging the candidates by their performance on job related tasks is better than the question-and-answer interviews.

Can some one Critique please?