KSA Quandaries

Our readers apparently have pretty different views of whether Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities statements are useful. KC says they can be faked:

C'ommon people! How could you know that the applicant even wrote the KSA? There's no guarantee. I was in a panel and read someone's writing scoring the max points. Was in the interview and let me tell ya: no way that woman talking wrote the KSAs I scored for that position. I didn't recommend this woman but a guy; my boss hired her. Six months later, my boss was able to "transfer" her out because she discovered she was not who she portrayed to be, and hired the guy I recommended originally. We found out later (with another writing piece) that her husband wrote things for her as she admitted. I said to my boss: "Told ya! I knew this woman didn't speak they way her KSAs were written..." I rest my case. I applaud that the stupid KSAs are finally gone; sometimes they asked the same thing using different words. Time-wasters! If management is interested in seeing someone's writing, they should ask the last 2-3 candidates interviewed to submit KSAs as a deciding factor. There, that's a simple solution.

But Fed HR Employee says it's unclear how resumes differentiate candidates enough to narrow down the pool to candidates who should be asked to write KSAs:

This is reactive medicine. Who is going to screen 1,000 or more applicants for a single position to determine who should fill out the KSA's??? AND BASED ON WHAT? How will managers be able to determine from a generic resume, who is best qualified to interview. I like the elimination of the rule of 3 (and I cannot think of a SINGLE hiring official that would support continuing the rule of 3 despite what the article says). I am VERY concerned that someone is out of touch with reality when I see that type of statement!!! You think "cronyism" was happening before? Now wait until you aren't even asked to submit a KSA in round 2. Based on what? No substantial documentation to support or defend anything.

I do wonder if having folks write KSAs later in the process might help prevent fraud, if only because then interviewers will have a better sense of a candidates' style.