Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 July 2016
A secretary problem which allows the applicant to refuse an offer of employment with a fixed probability and admits backward solicitations of previous interviewees with known probability of successful solicitation is considered. The optimal strategy that maximizes the probability of employing the best applicant is derived. Two types of probability of successful solicitation, constant and geometric, are discussed in detail.
Work done while this author was at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.
An earlier draft of the paper was presented at the Annual Meeting of the Korean Statistical Society held in Taegu, Korea, on May 16–17, 1981.