Although we regard public sector hiring in high stakes positions such as police as being based on “merit,” it is more of a competition. Because it is a competition, people get upset when they think someone else has an unfair advantage in that competition. 10,000 people may be competing for 10 positions and in such circumstances even a tenth of a point may make a huge difference. In addition, our tendency to add bonus or additional points for such factors as veteran’s status or residency may effectively shut out even those with perfect scores on our assessment device. That is not to say such additional points are not warranted, but it does impact people in real ways in public sector testing. So, even a small advantage may be huge, when there are large numbers of applicants and very few positions.
Maybe it is a cultural factor, but if you think people get upset over perceived unfairness in public sector testing, try going to a children’s baseball or soccer game (or for the Canadians, hockey). Watch some 12 year old referee or umpire make a call that upsets the soccer moms and dads.
Finally, we should probably be happy when people so desire public sector positions that they are willing to fight over points. It is certainly better than the alternative of having no one interested in the jobs.
(Note – this is a reprint of some of my comments from a recent discussion on the IPAT listserv)
