MCAP (Multiple Criterion Antecedent Procedure) is e-Selex.com’s proprietary method for developing biodata to predict specific job outcomes. Our proprietary name for delivering biodata through the Internet is WEBselex. The MCAP method attempts to discover the life history antecedents underlying the development of worker characteristics that determine job success. The method involves three types of analyses to collect information that may be used for both criterion development and predictor development. These analyses are: 1) Organization Analysis, 2) Worker-Oriented Job Analysis, and 3) Person Analysis.

The Organization Analysis identifies and defines the criteria of interest to the organization. This step involves meeting with a small number of senior managers to obtain answers to questions such as:

• Who are the sponsors of the project?
  
• What are they concerned about? (e.g., loss prevention, turnover, performance, productivity, teamwork)
  
• What do they want the project to impact?
  
• How will they measure its success?

The Worker-Oriented Job Analysis is used to develop listings of the critical work behaviors that determine successful job outcomes. This is accomplished by talking with a small number of supervisors and incumbents and asking them what are the most important worker characteristics underlying success on a particular criterion.

For example, if interested in turnover as a criterion, we may ask what weaknesses or shortcomings cause people to fail, transfer, or quit a particular job. Alternatively, we may ask what characteristics allow others to survive, to overcome obstacles and frustrations, and to succeed. This information can be collected through telephone interviews, face-to-face interviews, focus groups, or questionnaires.

The Person Analysis asks questions to discover the worker characteristics underlying job success and to discover where, when, or how these characteristics are developed. This information is used to develop the work and education background predictors for specific job outcomes.

Once we know what type of person it takes to succeed at a particular type of job, we may then attempt to discover how someone becomes that type of person. The life history variables, developmental experiences, and behavioral incidents revealed through this third step become the foundation for selecting or constructing biodata items.

A major strength of the MCAP method is that the resulting biodata items are directly and rationally linked to the job-relevant criteria that are of greatest concern to the organization. The method has been used successfully to develop criterion-valid biodata predictor scales for a broad range of jobs and critical job outcomes, both in the United States and internationally.