Selection System for Spy Recruitment

As a Selection Specialist to the Office of Strategic Services, my responsibility is to work with a team of three or four other individuals to create a selection system that will be utilized in identifying operatives to conduct a hazardous intelligence-gathering mission. The mission will be carried out behind enemy lines in order to ensure the safety of the operatives. The main goal of this task is to develop a selection system for spies who will work in various countries i.e. Italy, Japan or Germany. This paper examines the development of a selection system for World War II spy assessment for the Office of Strategic Services using the IAPIE case analysis process.

IAPIE case analysis process will be utilized in examining the creation of a selection system for World War II spy assessment for the Office of Strategic Services because it provides a comprehensive measure for examining a case or situation. The culmination of this process is the establishment of a course of action or plan to resolve the current challenges.
Identify

The major issues in carrying out this assignment include the lack of detailed job information such as competencies, job description, performance criteria, and KSAOs relating to the job position. Secondly, there are issues relating to the increased likelihood of attracting undesirable candidates because the advertisements for this position must be vague in order to maintain secrecy. Third, the task is faced with the challenge of lack of adequate time to validate the assessment techniques since they need to be implemented immediately.

In light of these challenges, the Selection Strategist needs to develop a suitable selection system that will ensure the identification of the most suitable candidates for the job. This process needs to be carried out in consideration of the prevailing circumstances during this period such as lack of computers, satellites or video phones. The desired situation in this assignment is to create a recruitment and selection system for spies that will help in identification and hiring of the most suitable candidates for the job. The current situation is that there is no structural approach or selection system at the Office of Strategic Services. While the Office of Strategic Services is faced with the need to hire spies to work in different countries, it has not established a selection system that will guide the hiring and recruitment process.

Due to the lack of a selection system at the Office of Strategic Services, the gap between the desired state and current state is 100%. This gap can be addressed through establishing a recruitment process that will still maintain the secrecy of the job while ensuring the most suitable candidates are selected. The first step in this process is to determine the most important qualities an applicant must possess since spy recruitment involves determining whether a person qualifies as a suitable candidate depending on his/her personality (Cohen, 2017). The second step is determining the procedure that will be utilized to test each of the identified qualities or characteristics. The final step is to determine how the effectiveness of the selection system will be evaluated within a short period of time.

Given the urgency of the issue, the important qualities an individual must possess have already been identified by the team during the first meeting. The three most important qualities as agreed upon in the meeting are mental fitness, physical fitness, and intelligence and creativity. According to Bojalil (2012), there three qualities are the most important characteristics a potential spy must possess alongside flexibility, ability to speak and/or understand different languages, and being social. The Office of Strategic Services is required to incorporate these three qualities i.e. mental fitness, physical fitness, and intelligence and creativity in its recruitment policies within the next seven days.

During the three-day recruitment procedure at Station S, the selection team is required to conduct tests on potential candidates for each of these three important qualities. The first test that will be utilized in this process is cognitive ability test, which will be utilized to determine the individual’s mental fitness as well as intelligence and creativity. The tests will be designed in a manner that enables the selection team to examine the candidate’s ability to learn many skills and at faster speeds. The second test is physical ability tests through which candidates will be required to participate in different exercises for a whole day (Suciu, 2016). Finally, the selection team will conduct job simulation tests, which will assess the candidate’s reactions and response to various scenarios relating to the job.

Since the selection system needs to be implemented immediately, its effectiveness will be evaluated based on the number of suitable candidates it generates. By the end of the three-day procedure at Station S, the selection system will be considered effective if it helps in identifying the required number of suitable candidates and weeding out undesirable candidates. It will also be evaluated based on its ability to maintain the secrecy of the job position while creating a suitable approach for identifying desirable candidates.

In conclusion, the current situation at Office of Strategic Services requires the development of a selection system that helps in hiring desirable candidates while maintaining the secrecy of the job. As shown in this analysis, the most suitable approach for addressing this problem include identifying the most suitable qualities an individual must possess and developing tests to evaluate each of these qualities. The effectiveness of the selection system is determined based on its ability to identify desired candidates while eliminating undesirable ones.

References
Bojalil, C.G. (2012, October 17). World War II Spy Assessment for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). Retrieved September 29, 2017, from https://prezi.com/v0htt4gfxafv/world-war-ii-spy-assessment-for-the-office-of-strategic-services-oss/
Cohen, Z. (2017, July 7). FBI Documents Detail How the Russians Try to Recruit Spies. CNN. Retrieved September 29, 2017, from http://edition.cnn.com/2017/04/15/politics/russia-spy-recruitment-tactics-fbi-carter-page/index.html
Suciu, P. (2016, June 1). Spy Training – What it Takes to Make it in an Intelligence Career. Retrieved September 29, 2017, from https://news.clearancejobs.com/2016/06/01/spy-training-takes-make-intelligence-career/