The CEA interview system
uses a personal computer as a first-stage interviewer in the hiring
process and interacts with the applicant just as a personal interviewer
would. When using the CEA, applicants make selections from menus
or type in responses to questions such as their employment and military
history, education and professional training, driving record, illegal
drug use and involvement in criminal activity. As the applicant
progresses through the interview, the program automatically stores
responses to each question, follows up on these responses with additional
questions when more information is needed in a particular area,
and provides an opportunity for the applicant to add data or make
alterations and corrections when necessary.
The CEA is not a static list of generic questions, but is an expert
system that interviews applicants just as an experienced interviewer
would, specifically responding to the applicant's answers and utilizing
the appropriate follow up questions to develop additional information.
This built-in expertise encourages and makes it easier for the applicant
to provide complete and accurate data and, because of its structure,
helps to minimize embellishments or omissions that frequently occur
on written application forms.
As a result, after the applicant completes the CEA, you will know
more about them than you ever would from the completion of a traditional
application or resume. Consequently, you can identify potentially
high-risk applicants before your organization spends a lot of time
and money on unnecessary screening procedures.
The CEA can generate an interview guide that will highlight specific
areas of inquiry that should be carefully examined in any subsequent
interview or background investigation. The CEA can be specifically
customized to include the relevant areas that are important to your
department.
THE VALUE OF THE CEA
The CEA provides a structured, objective and consistent interview
process. The CEA is designed to explore the applicant's answers
so as to ascertain the complete truth
By identifying high risk applicants early in the process, the organization
will save a significant amount of time and money. The CEA provides
better information than a more thorough interview or traditional
background investigation (see Research below).
PRIMARY AREAS OF INQUIRY
The CEA questions the applicant thoroughly in the following areas
of inquiry:
 Applicant
Personal Information
Education
Employment
Activities (Work History)
Military
History
Dishonest
Conduct
Integrity
Criminal
Record
Undetected
Crimes
Driving Convictions
Last 5 years
Pending Law
Enforcement Charges
Use of Drugs
Illegally
Purchase/Sale
of Drugs Illegally
Alcohol Use
(job related)
Certification/Applicant
Signature Block
WHO IS THE CEA FOR?
The CEA should be utilized as the initial screening step for individuals
applying for positions of trust. We have designed specific CEA programs
for law enforcement and government applicants, as well as a program
for the private sector - particularly for individuals applying for
manager and assistant manager positions.
DEVELOPMENT AND RESEARCH
The development of the CEA interview began in 1985. The basic core
of the program was designed around the real life experience of Richard
J. Phannenstill, President of Computer Employment Applications,
Inc., who had been trained by John E. Reid and Associates, Inc.
and had been involved in the interviewing of job applicants for
business and law enforcement organizations since 1972. After 18
months of development the first CEA interview was administered to
a real life applicant in August, 1986. In the following 19 years
over 8,000 real-life job applicants have completed the CEA interview.
Over this time period the program was constantly revised, modified,
refined and expanded in response to feedback from the applicants
as well as the client users.
In 1988, 130 real life job applicants were alternatively assigned
to be interviewed by the CEA or a similarly structured face-to-face
interview. The findings revealed that with respect to employment
history the CEA developed similar and, in some cases, superior information
in nature and scope to that developed by the personal security interview.
Applicants' admissions of the use of illegal drugs were, generally,
more frequent and serious in the CEA group than in the personal
interview group. In the personal interview group, there were less
frequent admissions of serious criminal conduct than in the CEA
group. The results suggest that the use of the CEA would serve as
an effective first-stage interviewer in the employee selection process
and may be used to guide and enhance the effectiveness of follow-up
personal interviews to ensure that applicants meet the specific
needs for sensitive positions.
In 1991 the Federal Bureau of Prisons conducted a study on the effectiveness
of the CEA interview as a possible selection tool for 39 staff positions,
ranging from maintenance to administration. In this study 171 applicants
participated, one third of which were administered the CEA prior
to a personal, face-to-face, interview. The results indicated that
the CEA interview identified high-risk applicants equal to the personal
interview, and that the quality of information generated by the
CEA interview in areas of inquiry common to both procedures was
superior, particularly with respect to illegal drug activity and
employment history. The findings suggested that the CEA interview
could improve the consistency of the selection process, reduce screening
costs and time, assist the staff on any subsequent interviews or
investigations, and reduce interviewer fatigue.
Research is ongoing in that we constantly monitor job applicants
who complete the CEA interview for their feedback and attitudes
toward the CEA interview process.
HOW MUCH DOES THE CEA COST?
The CEA cost is approximately $50.00 per applicant. This cost can
vary depending on the numbers of interviews purchased. For more
information call Richard Phannenstill at our office at 800-255-5747
ext. 16.
For more information, please contact
us.
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