PERSONNEL SELECTION IN THE BRITISH ARMY: RECRUITS [Main Title]

A detailed account of the procedure followed to assess new recruits and make optimum use of their capabilities.

Personnel selection takes place in the first fortnight of training; it is stressed throughout that recruits should be at their ease and have faith in the procedure. A series of tests assesses each man's intelligence, agility, ability to follow instructions, and mechanical, mathematical and verbal aptitude; some take confirmatory tests (eg morse aptitude). Filling in a form, and a personal interview with a Personnel Selection Officer let the recruit "be seen as an individual"; difficult cases are seen by a psychiatrist. The findings are marked against minimum standards worked out by job analysts, and 3 'Training Recommendations' made for each man. At the War Office these are (machine) sorted using a Hollerith Tabulating Machine and matched against service requirements; the posting roll is sent to the training station and the PSO sends recommendations on precise jobs ahead of the men to their final units. We are invited to "judge success (of the procedure) by what that army has achieved" and to consider some of the lessons for post-war civilian life. The film includes propaganda posters and public information posters. Posters include Horse Play With Weapons May End Like This and Your Talk May Kill Your Comrades by Abram Games.

35mm