Selectus Feature Focus: Review Tool
In our Feature Focus series, we’ll be reporting periodically on interesting features and functionalities in Selectus that facilitate the work of the selection committee and administration.
In this article, we introduce the Review Tool, which allows committee members to evaluate individual applications based on predefined criteria.
Criteria-based assessment of applications – whether in the context of recruiting, grant proposals, or nominations for academic awards – has a number of advantages.
- With concrete evaluation criteria, it is possible to refine the profile of a job or project call. The committee members evaluate the applications in terms of the desired criteria.
- The transparency of the decision-making process increases due to the clear communication of the criteria to be used for evaluations.
- A objective review of the applications is encouraged.
- Thanks to the clear basis for discussion and comparison, the committee members are able to exchange opinions more easily.
- Last but not least, behavioral research shows that implicit biases play less of a role in the assessment process, thus increasing equal opportunities.
Preparation of the Review Tool
The Review Tool in Selectus allows you to easily and flexibly implement criteria-based assessments. If desired, you can activate the review tool for each call and customize it for the specific setup of the call. This involves setting up the questionnaire with your specific evaluation criteria and/or text questions. In addition, the following options are available:
- Evaluations can be anonymous or include the name of the reviewer.
- The ratings of the other committee members can always be visible, only after the own rating has been submitted or only after the rating phase has expired. To prevent mutual influence and to exploit the full potential of a diversely constituted committee, one of the latter two settings is recommended.
- It is possible to display summary statistics and radar charts, which provide an overview of the differences in the ratings among the committee members.
- It is possible to enable a review discussion to allow committee members to comment on each other’s reviews and have discussions about them.
Assessments with the Review Tool
As soon as the rating phase has started, i.e. as soon as the committee members have access to the applications and can evaluate them, the review tool is available in addition to the ABC rating.
Given the various criteria that they have to assess, the committee members are “forced” to take a closer look at the relevant aspects of an application. In that way, it can be prevented that the members assign their ABC ratings only based on a shallow review of the applications documents or just a gut feeling. By working throuh the criteria in the Review Tool, committee members can systematically derive their ABC rating. In most cases, committee members do not consider the completion of the review tool to be an annoying duty, but rather a helpful form of assistance. Especially for inexperienced committee members a simple ABC rating can often be a challenge. The criteria in the review tool can help them focus on the relevant aspects of the applications. As a result of engaging with the applications substantively, committee members are automatically better prepared for the committee meeting.
By the way: In the committee meeting itself, the Decision Tool can be used to define criteria for evaluating the applicants as well. Unlike the Review Tool, however, the Desision Tool is completed collectively by the committee rather than by the committee members individually.
Do you have questions about the Review Tool or other Selectus features? Do not hesitate to contact us. We will be happy to assist you!
About Selectus:
Selectus is software that provides dedicated support for commission-based selection processes at universities. Originally developed for faculty recruiting at ETH Zurich, a growing number of universities have adopted Selectus for a variety of selection processes (faculty recruiting, project evaluations, PhD applications, awards, summer school applications, etc.). Selectus is a product of the company frentix GmbH.