Explanation: Cultural noise is a type of bias in which the candidate begins responding as he believes the interviewer would prefer. For instance, for a job that requires extensive travel, a candidate might attempt to sway the odds in his favor by claiming to enjoy travel, even if he has no travel experience in other jobs (and/or might not really care to travel but hopes to get the job). The halo effect results from an interviewer focusing on a single good quality to define the candidate. The horn effect is the opposite of this; it occurs when the interviewer focuses on a single negative quality, over all other qualities, to rate the candidate. The central tendency occurs if an interviewer is unable to make a clear decision about a preferred candidate and averages their results.

Explanation: A SWOT analysis would be most useful during the environmental scanning phase of the strategic planning process. During this phase, the strategy team tries to get the most accurate picture of the current state of the organization. A SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis is a common template for organizational selfassessment. It is a useful format because it requires planners to consider both internal (strengths and weaknesses) and external (opportunities and threats) factors.

Explanation: Immigrant visas are allocated by the federal government on a first come, first served basis. This principle was established by the 1965 amendments to the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. There is some preferential treatment for immigrants with special skills. However, work experience is not a factor in visa decisions.

Explanation: Simply put, the conditions in the labor market can influence the available candidates for open positions in a company. Answer choice B might be correct in the larger, but conditions in the labor market do not have to have a negative effect on the bottom line. An analysis of competition with other companies might result from overall economic changes, but changes in the labor market do not necessarily cause this, so answer choice C is incorrect. Answer choice D might also be accurate in a broad way, but this is not clear enough for an immediate connection to the changes in the labor market and the way that they affect a company. Answer choice E contains interesting information, but it is not relevant to the way that changes in the labor market affect a company.

Explanation: An employee's performance on an assembly line is likely to follow a negatively accelerating learning curve. This type of learning curve is typical of rote tasks, which can be learned and indeed mastered in a short time, but which do not permit much improvement after the initial learning. A positively accelerating learning curve, on the other hand, is marked by a slow start followed by a gradually increasing speed of learning. A positively accelerating learning curve is typical of complex tasks, which are difficult at first but which may be improved upon over a long interval.