The interview is an essential part of a successful hiring program beca

Question

The interview is an essential part of a successful hiring program because, with it, job applicants who have personalities that are unsuited to the requirements of the job will be eliminated from consideration.

The argument above logically depends on which of the following assumptions?

(A) A hiring program will be successful if it includes interviews.

(B) The interview is a more important part of a successful hiring program than is the development of a job description.

(C) Interviewers can accurately identify applicants whose personalities are unsuited to the requirements of the job.

(D) The only purpose of an interview is to evaluate whether job applicants’ personalities are suited to the requirements of the job.

(E) The fit of job applicants’ personalities to the requirements of the job was once the most important factor in making hiring decisions

ID: 500311

macjas · Accepted Answer

The interview is an essential part of a successful hiring program because, with it, job applicants who have personalities that are unsuited to the requirements of the job will be eliminated from consideration.

The argument above logically depends on which of the following assumptions?

(A) A hiring program will be successful if it includes interviews.

(B) The interview is a more important part of a successful hiring program than is the development of a job description.

(C) Interviewers can accurately identify applicants whose personalities are unsuited to the requirements of the job.

(D) The only purpose of an interview is to evaluate whether job applicants’ personalities are suited to the requirements of the job.

(E) The fit of job applicants’ personalities to the requirements of the job was once the most important factor in making hiring decisions

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ID: 500311

(B) The interview is a more important part of a successful hiring program than is the development of a job description. if inserted as a premise, this statement does not strengthen the argument.

(C) Interviewers can accurately identify applicants whose personalities are unsuited to the requirements of the job. this statement effectively strengthens the argument and is an example of a 'new idea'. Basically, this is a defender type assumption that if not included in the main stem lets people attack the argument on the grounds that interviewers may not be able to accurately identify suitable personalities for the job. If this were the case, then it can be shown that the interview is not really essential to the hiring process.

(D) The only purpose of an interview is to evaluate whether job applicants’ personalities are suited to the requirements of the job. this is an extreme statement and one should always be wary of these on the GMAT. Also, this statement does not strengthen the argument.

(E) The fit of job applicants’ personalities to the requirements of the job was once the most important factor in making hiring decisions. this statement to an extent weakens the argument a little. It implies that the applicant personality is not the most important factor anymore. Thus, one could question the importance of the interview in the hiring process.

abhimahna · Answer

FACT :   Job applicants who have personalities that are unsuited to the requirements of the job will be eliminated from consideration
 Conclusion :  The interview is an essential part of a successful hiring program

Prethinking   : 1) Job applicants always show their actual personalities and are not too nervous to present themselves who they are.

2: Interviewers know how to identify the required personalities for the specifc job very well.

a) A hiring program will be successful if it includes interviews.  --> Too Extreme to consider. 
b) The interview is a more important part of a successful hiring program than is the development of a job description.  --> Irrelevant.  
c) Interviewers can accurately identify applicants whose personalities are unsuited to the requirements of the job.  --> As per Pre thinking point 2. Hence Correct answer. 
d) The only purpose of an interview is to evaluate whether job applicants’ personalities are suited to the requirements of the job.  --> There could be other purposes. 
e) The fit of job applicants’ personalities to the requirements of the job was once the most important factor in making hiring decisions.  --> Irrelevant.

metallicafan · Answer

+1 C

A - We cannot conclude that. There are other factors.
B - Out of scope.
C - It explains why interviews are important. - Correct.
D - Too extreme.
E - This information cannot be supported by the argument.

shelrod007 · Answer

On prethinking : p1: Interview essential to hiring of candidates --> job applicatins who are suited to the job requirements are considered rest eliminated .

So someone / interview must be able to see through and make this decision ... so i marked C ? 
Which is indeed correct . 
But i confused with D , it also seems correct only for the word "Only" - Which makes it too strong a statement ? Can you please guide me through this ?

egmat · Answer

Hi Shelrod,

Option D seems to strengthen the argument. IT also provides new information that is not there in the argument.

But an assumption must satisfy three characteristics. Option D satisfies the two as I mentioned above. What is the third characteristic?

The third characteristic is that an assumption must be true for the conclusion to hold true. So, if we negate the assumption, the our belief in the conclusion must gets shattered. Ok.

Now, let's negate option D.

To evaluate whether job applicants’ personalities are suited to the requirements of the job is not the only purpose of an interview.

So, there are possibly other purposes of an interview. But does that decrease or shatter your belief in the conclusion that an interview must be an essential part of successful hiring program?

The answer is NO. Just because an interview serves more than purpose does not make it any less likely to be an essential part of a successful hiring program. On the other hand, if an interview serves more than one purpose, then it seems more likely that it should be a part of the successful hiring program.

So, the negated option D does not shatter or decrease the belief in the conclusion.

Therefore, option D is not an assumption.

Does this help?

Thanks,
Chiranjeev

BrainLab · Answer

37 sec.... straight (C)
 
job applicants who have personalities that are unsuited to the requirements of the job will be eliminated    -> So HR must be able to discover such factors...

(A) A hiring program will be successful if it includes interviews.
(B) The interview is a more important part of a successful hiring program than is the development of a job description  --> wrong comparison 
(C) Interviewers can accurately identify applicants whose personalities are unsuited to the requirements of the job  --> CORRECT. As assumed above .
(D) The only purpose of an interview is to evaluate whether job applicants’ personalities are suited to the requirements of the job  --> we don't know what is the only purpose from the text 
(E) The fit of job applicants’ personalities to the requirements of the job was once the most important factor in making hiring decisions  --> can not be assumed from the text. We don't have any time indocators or time comparisons in the text

prep · Answer

Once you have answered the question, here is my doubt.

So this question states that interviewing is an essential part of the hiring process. Doesn't that mean, that hiring will be successful if it includes interviews? Why is this statement not the correct answer choice?

On the other hand, for option C, isn't it a little out of scope? Because there is no mention of any interviewers and their ability to identify candidates. so it isn't really in the scope of what is being discussed but on the other hand, option A clearly is within scope.

Am I missing anything? Experts please reply.

Please explain why I am wrong here.

arhumsid · Answer

prep Though im not an expert, here's my 0.02$

Please note this is an Assumption question. An assumption has to fill the 'logical gaps' or 'bridge the gaps'. Passage analysis: Premise: (because), with it, job applicants who have personalities that are unsuited to the requirements of the job will be eliminated from consideration. Conclusion:The interview is an essential part of a successful hiring program Analysis: Interview can eliminate unsuitable applicants -------> Interview is essential =>For above to hold true, the interview process needs to be sound =>The interviewer needs to be sound =>Interviewers is one of the missing link (basic requirement for an assumption) for the above relation to be true Why is C correct: (C) Interviewers can accurately identify applicants whose personalities are unsuited to the requirements of the job. It does exactly the same as we thought. Makes sure that interviewers are sound. If we negate this, the argument will break. Why is A wrong: First of all this cannot be an assumption. It can be a strengthener or a 'may'-be-true though. Here's how we can negate this and still not affect the argument: Argument says that interview is an essential part and not a required part of a successful hiring program. Therefore we can still make our hiring program successful even if we do not include Interviews in it. Please note that the negation test should always work on an assumption. Hope this helps

KarishmaB · Answer

Interview is necessary for a successful hiring program. 
because Interview eliminates job applicants who have personalities that are not suited to the requirements of the job

(A) A hiring program will be successful if it includes interviews.

Interview is essential (necessary) for a successful program. It is not sufficient. So we cannot say that a hiring program WILL BE successful with an interview. Though we can say that the hiring program will NOT be successful if it doesn't have an interview.

(B) The interview is a more important part of a successful hiring program than is the development of a job description.

More/less important than others is not known.

(C) Interviewers can accurately identify applicants whose personalities are unsuited to the requirements of the job.

Correct. We are given that interviews eliminate job applicants who have personalities that are not suited to the requirements of the job.

(D) The only purpose of an interview is to evaluate whether job applicants’ personalities are suited to the requirements of the job.

Not given. The argument does not say that it is the only purpose. It says that an interview does this successfully.

(E) The fit of job applicants’ personalities to the requirements of the job was once the most important factor in making hiring decisions

No discussion of what was once the important factors in making hiring decisions.

Answer (C)

nitesh50 · Answer

HI  VeritasKarishma

(A) A hiring program will be successful if it includes interviews.

Interview is essential (necessary) for a successful program. It is not sufficient. So we cannot say that a hiring program WILL BE successful with an interview. Though we can say that the hiring program will NOT be successful if it doesn't have an interview.

The conclusion is a necessary condition: Interview is essential for a successful program.
Why can't we assume a sufficient condition for a necessary conclusion.
What I am trying to understand is , if we negate this statement, the argument does fall apart.
THen why is this option not a valid assumption?

Regards
Nitesh

KarishmaB · Answer

Nitesh, an assumption is not what we assume, it is what the author assumes to give his argument. We need to only identify the author's assumption in arriving at the conclusion. We can't "assume" a sufficient condition for a necessary condition. We need to say what the author assumes. Note that an assumption is a missing necessary premise, and that is what you must look for. Focussing only on negation is not a good strategy. As for negation, check: https://gmatclub.com/forum/veritas-prep ... l#p2203029 (A) A hiring program will be successful if it includes interviews. To negate, "a hiring program may not be successful if it includes interviews" It does not make the conclusion fall apart. An interview is essential, it may not be enough.

Chelsea212 · Answer

Hi Rishav,

I'm by no means an expert, but I usually read through most contributors thoughts as it helps me gain a firmer understanding regardless. I'll try to justify (C) from my perspective; hopefully it is more helpful than harmful.

Conclusion:  The interview is an essential part of a successful hiring program.
 Premise:  Interviews screen out job applicants with personalities that aren't a good fit.

Logically, interviews can only work well if the person conducting the interview knows what they're looking for. For example, imagine an HR representative with specialized recruiting expertise in Internal IT support is conducting interviews for roles in M&A Finance. The interview might be kind of pointless because the HR rep just doesn't know what he/she is looking for. The type of personalities that are typically successful in Internal IT may very well be completely different from the ones that would find success in M&A Finance. Anyway, that was a bit of an extreme example, but hopefully it is helpful.

With regards to your question,

The premise is stating that the interviews - a scheduled event - will eliminate candidates whose personalities are unfit for the role; however, the interview in and of itself can't do that. The person who is physically conducting the interview has to be able to have the proper discretion to do so.

As I read my response, some of it sounds a touch redundant so I'll stop here. If I'm unclear, please feel free to let me know.

Thanks!

ArathyA · Answer

Passage Analysis 
• The interview is an essential part of a successful hiring program because, 
  o The author says that a successful hiring program must include an interview. The reason follows.  
• with it, job applicants who have personalities that are unsuited to the requirements of the job will be eliminated from consideration.
  o Interviews can be used to find out if the candidate has a personality that suits the job. If not, they can be excluded from further consideration for that job.  
 Conclusion: The interview is an essential part of a successful hiring program because with it we can eliminate candidates with unsuitable personalities from consideration.

Question Stem Analysis 
The question stem is asking to identify the assumption behind the logic of the given argument from the given options in a straight-forward manner.

Pre-thinking 
 Falsification question 
In what scenario will the interview not be an essential part of a successful hiring program
Given that:
 o It can be used to eliminate the applicants whose personalities are unsuitable for the job. 
 Thought process 
The author thinks that an interview must be a part of any hiring program if it is to be successful. This is because it can aid to filter away applicants whose personalities may not suit the job for which they are considered. 
  Falsification condition #1 
What if there are methods other than the interview which can be used to assess an applicant’s personality and its suitability for the job? If that method is used in the hiring program, then interviews are no longer an essential part of it.
  Assumption#1 
An interview is the only possible way by which the suitability of an applicant’s personality for the job can be evaluated.

Falsification condition #2 
What if the interviewers are not able to assess the applicant’s personality and determine its suitability for the job? Then the conclusion will break down as the purpose of the interview as per the author is defeated.
 Assumption#2 
Interviewers can evaluate the applicants’ personalities and assess correctly if they are suitable for the job.

Answer Choice Analysis 
(A) A hiring program will be successful if it includes interviews.
 INCORRECT 
The conclusion of the author is that interviews form a necessary part of any successful hiring program. This statement says including interviews is sufficient for a hiring program to be successful, which is entirely different. Also, it does not bring in any new information. Hence it cannot be the right answer.

(B) The interview is a more important part of a successful hiring program than is the development of a job description.
 INCORRECT 
Comparisons with other parts of a successful hiring program is out of the context of the argument. The only thing we are concerned about is interviews being essential.

(C) Interviewers can accurately identify applicants whose personalities are unsuited to the requirements of the job.
 CORRECT 
This statement is in line with our assumption#2. Hence this is the right answer.

(D) The only purpose of an interview is to evaluate whether job applicants’ personalities are suited to the requirements of the job.
 INCORRECT 
Even if evaluating the applicants’ personalities is not the only purpose of the interview, the conclusion will not break down. Hence this cannot be an assumption.

(E) The fit of job applicants’ personalities to the requirements of the job was once the most important factor in making hiring decisions
 INCORRECT 
The fit of job applicants’ personalities being the most important factor or just one of the many important factors does not affect the conclusion of the argument in anyway. Hence this choice is not the correct answer.

krndatta · Answer

KarishmaB  Ma'am, 
Just to rephrase, 
You eliminated option A because option A makes the condition mentioned in the passage as sufficient, but actually the condition is a necessary one. So this is incorrect. 
Am I right?

KarishmaB · Answer

Our conclusion is a necessary condition:
Only if interviews, then successful.

We need an assumption i.e. what is necessary for this condition to hold. The assumption is that interviews are able to eliminate unsuitable personalities. It this were not true, interviews would not be necessary for success.

Option (A) gives a sufficient condition ‘if interviews, then successful’ 
Do we need this for our conclusion to hold? No. It doesn’t prove that interviews are necessary for success.

Posted from my mobile device

stackskillz · Answer

This is the quick solution I came up with:

Conc: The interview is an essential part of a successful hiring program.

(A) A hiring program will be successful if it includes interviews.

Interview is essential (necessary) for a successful program. It is not sufficient. So we cannot say that a hiring program WILL BE successful with an interview. Though we can say that the hiring program will NOT be successful if it doesn't have an interview.

(B)  The interview is a more important part of a successful hiring program than is the development of a job description  - This is another one of those options that are randomly talking about better or alternative plans when the conclusion is about something else entirely.  Drop

(C)  Interviewers can accurately identify applicants whose personalities are unsuited to the requirements of the job  - Answers the question - "Can interviews be used to identify unfit applicants?". If true, this allows us to confirm that unfit applicants can not only be identified but also eliminated as the premises suggest.  Keep

(D)  The only purpose of an interview is to evaluate whether job applicants’ personalities are suited to the requirements of the job.  - An answer to the existential question, i.e. "What's the purpose of interviews?". Supports the passage - Yes. However, let's negate to make sure it's a required assumption. "The purpose of an interview is not only to evaluate ... to the job, but also ... . ". Does this doesn't destroy the conclusion - Nope. To be fair, this can actually co-exist with the conclusion above -  Drop

(E)  The fit of job applicants’ personalities to the requirements of the job was once the most important factor in making hiring decisions.  - Was there any other factor that was previously used for making hiring decisions? Valid question if you've recently joined the HR dept. or are recruiting for your team. However, not valid for this CR question. -  Drop

hellocharu123 · Answer

Okay.. So here's the explanation :

Statement 1 : The interview is an essential part of a successful hiring program 
Meaning : The interview is necessary for successful hiring program. i.e. a hiring program will not be successful without the interviews. But, it's not a sufficient condition. One can interview and still have a bad hire.

Statement 2 : because, with it, job applicants who have personalities that are unsuited to the requirements of the job will be eliminated from consideration.
Meaning in continuation with Statement 1 : Interviews are necessary for successful hiring program because interviews will eliminate people who are not suited for the job.

Now let's look at the options :

Option A : A hiring program will be successful if it includes interviews.
Incorrect : If A then B means A is a sufficient condition for B to happen.. here the argument says interviews are necessary condition for successful hiring but they are not the only condition or the only condition.

Option B : The interview is a more important part of a successful hiring program than is the development of a job description.
Incorrect : There is no mention of Job Description and no comparison is made between interviews and any other thing.

Option C : Interviewers can accurately identify applicants whose personalities are unsuited to the requirements of the job.
Correct : If interviewers can't accurately identify applicants whose personalities are unsuited to the requirements of the job then interviews will not be useful for successful hiring and hence our conclusion will be destroyed. Hence, this is the correct option.

Option D : The only purpose of an interview is to evaluate whether job applicants’ personalities are suited to the requirements of the job.
Incorrect : This is not mentioned in the argument that interviews only judge personalities.

Option E : The fit of job applicants’ personalities to the requirements of the job was once the most important factor in making hiring decisions
Incorrect : Personality fitment is an important factor but we don't know about the past and also there's nowhere written it is the most important factor.

Overall Takeaway from this Question would be to understand conditional statements and difference between necessary & sufficient conditions etc.

jaideeppal7 · Answer

Hi

Can someone please use negate theory to explain why C is the answer.

egmat · Answer

jaideeppal7  Here is how I'd do it:

The Argument's Logic: 
 
  Conclusion:  Interviews are essential to successful hiring 
  Evidence:  Interviews eliminate applicants with unsuited personalities

The gap: The argument  assumes  that interviews actually  can  identify unsuited personalities. It never proves this ability exists.

Applying Negation to Answer Choice C:

Original Statement (C):  "Interviewers  can  accurately identify applicants whose personalities are unsuited to the requirements of the job."

Negated Statement:  "Interviewers  cannot  accurately identify applicants whose personalities are unsuited to the requirements of the job."

Impact Test:

If interviewers  cannot  accurately identify unsuited personalities, then interviews  won't  eliminate unsuited candidates. This completely destroys the argument's reasoning that interviews are essential  because  they eliminate unsuited candidates.

The argument falls apart → This confirms  C is a necessary assumption .

Quick Test with a Wrong Answer (for contrast):

Try negating (D): "Interviews have purposes  other than  evaluating personality fit."

Does this destroy the argument? No. The argument never claimed personality evaluation was the  only  purpose. The argument survives this negation, so (D) isn't necessary.

Hope this helps! If you'd like, you can build stronger grasp on  these questions here  (these are official questions) - select  Critical Reasoning → Assumption.  You can create a guided quiz to understand the right approach to tackle these questions.

The interview is an essential part of a successful hiring program beca

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