Why do companies use recruitment agencies?

Why do companies use group discussions as a screening mechanism during the recruitment process?

• A lot of companies, and also educational institutions use group discussions to screen potential candidates before the interview stage. The purpose of the discussion, is presumably, to replicate a real-life scenario that the candidate would be in, if they were hired, and to observe their behavior in a group activity. In my experience, what happened in such a GD, is that candidates spoke very aggressively, often cutting off others midway, to get their point across. They spoke in raised voices. 'Mutual respect' is something they left outside the room when they walked in. A lot of material is available on the best ways to 'crack' a GD - essentially, impress the observer enough to get a call for an interview. Is this not counter-productive to the company? Do they want to foster an environment where employees try to impress the boss, rather than come up with the best solutions to problems? I'm not assuming the people who call the shots at these companies are so naive as to have not thought of this. Why then do they still use group discussions as a screening mechanism?

• Answer:

  A group discussion can be a way of measuring confidence and leadership capabilities, as well as communications skills generally. It's pretty easy to dupe an employer into believe you one-on-one, but when faced with competition and other noise, behaviours change.