The professor wants the students to pretend that they are ______. [originaltext

Professor: Good morning. Now, this term, we’ve looked at various aspects
of recruitment and you can now see how much more there is to it than just putting
applicants through a short interview or reading CVs. Now, today’s tutorial
is just to recap some of the main points regarding recruitment. I’d like you to               Q21
imagine that you are managers and we will discuss how different applicants
would fit into the team or group they have to work with. We’ll look at some
examples later. You can select someone—even a friend—who has all the right
qualifications. Then, you can also check that they have a lot of experience—
that they’ve done the sort of tasks that you want them to do in your company.
Sandra: But you need to know if they have the right character, don’t you?           Q22
Professor: Precisely, Sandra. If they start work and you realise that they just don’t get along with everybody else...
Mike: You’ve got a problem.
Professor: Exactly, Mike. Exactly. They might have contrasting views on how to do something. They might not be able to get on with other members of your team.
Sandra: Even adding one person to a team can change the whole group           Q23
    dynamic,can’t it?
Mike: Absolutely. This could be particularly true with someone who is particularly outgoing or outspoken.
Sandra: Could company training reduce the possibility of this happening?
Professor: Possibly, but company training tends to show new people how                 Q24
       you do something at a particular company rather than changing
       a person’s character to suit your company.
Mike: There’s also the question of ability. Particularly in a team situation,                 Q25
    people have to believe in each other’s ability to do the
    tasks the boss has given. They have to trust that everyone will
    do their part of the job.
Sandra: Right. But trying to find out what someone’s personality is in a job interview is ... well, is it possible? I mean, you won’t find out what they’re really like until they actually start work.
Professor: Well, is there any value in asking candidates questions about their hobbies, for example?
Sandra: I doubt it. What could that tell you?
Mike: I don’t know. It could tell you something about their personality—whether they’re outgoing, for example.
Professor: Most people involved in recruitment would argue that it does                  Q26
       tell you something. More and more employers around the
       world are making use of "personality questionnaires" to help
       them select new staff.
Mike: Yes. You mentioned those in the last lecture. Do they work?               Q26
Professor: Well, most employers use them, but there is concern that they do not reveal the applicants’ true personality.
Sandra: Yes. Some people might just write the answers that they think the employer wants.
Professor: That’s true. Very often, employers can weed out the applicants who do that by asking more detailed questions during the interview.
Mike: The fact that they have been used for so long and that they are                     Q27/28
    so widely used makes me think that there must be something
    in them.
Professor: Well, ...
Sandra: I’m not so sure. Just because they’re used a lot, that doesn’t automatically mean that they are useful or worthwhile.
Professor: True. But these tests have been created by experts and they believe           Q27/28
       that the answers can provide indicators as to roughly the
       type of person that the applicant is.
Sandra: How about the idea of setting problems for applicants and seeing how they approach them?
Professor: I like that idea, but the problems need to be simple, since               Q29/30
       there’s not much time to prepare a full answer. In addition, the
       applicant doesn’t have much background knowledge of the
       way that the company does things.
Sandra: It’s a good idea, but may not always be practical. Usually it is though.       Q29/30
Mike: I’ll need convincing.
Professor: Let’s move on to take a look at ...