Assessing applicants for PhD-positions: How to pick the right one?

Abstract

This study focuses on the assessment and
selection of applicants for doctoral positions. The empirical
data was gathered through a survey among faculty staff at
Lund University, Sweden. The findings are also contrasted
against the literature within the subject area, which is
surprisingly scarce. One interesting finding of the survey is the
frequent use of interviews and infrequent use of other
assessment methods, such as personality tests or tasks, to assess
applicants. Further, interviews are believed by the respondents
to have a high predictive value on the applicants’ performance
in a doctoral program, despite doubts in the literature. These
results seem to be in contrast with the experience and common
practice outside academia. This might be attributed to the fact
that all doctoral recruitments are carried out by supervisors
and co-supervisors, who are usually not professionally trained
in assessing and selecting applicants - concluding that there
seems to be opportunity for improvements.