EMPLOYEE SELECTION
Selection
- Process of choosing individuals who have relevant
qualifications to fill existing or projected job
openings
- Goal is to maximize hits and avoid misses
○ Hits - Accurate predictions
○ Misses - Inaccurate predictions
The Goal of Selection: Maximize Hits
Job Analysis
- Job specifications help identify the competencies
employees need for success
o Knowledge, skills, abilities, and other factors
(KSAOs)
- Applicants whose KSAOs are well matched to the
job are hired
- Firms need to be cautious about hiring too many of
the same type
Steps in the Selection Process
1. Submission of resume
2. Completion of application
3. Interviews
4. Reference and background checks
5. Pre-employment test
6. Medical and drug test
7. Hiring decision
Obtaining Reliable and Valid Information
Reliability: Degree to which interviews, tests, and other
selection procedures yield comparable data over time
and alternative measures
Interrater reliability - Agreement among two or more
raters
Validity: Degree to which a test or selection procedure
measures a person’s attributes
Initial Screening Methods
Internet checks and phone screening - Internet and
online social networking sites are checked before
inviting applicants for face-to-face interviews
Cover letters and résumés - Assesses the applicants
based on the skills, abilities, education, and experience
outlined in the job description
Initial Screening Methods
Phone screening: is used to narrow down the field and
save managers time. //////////
Video resumes: Short video clips that highlight
applicants’ qualifications beyond what they can
communicate on their résumés
Application Forms
- Provide quick and systematic means of obtaining a
variety of information about the applicant
- Weighted application blank (WAB) or scored
application form
o Designed to distinguish between successful
and unsuccessful employees
Interviews
- Plays a central role in the selection process
- Practical when there are only a small number of
applicants
- Serves other purposes, such as public relations
- Interviewers maintain great faith and confidence in
their judgements
Types of Interviews
Nondirective Interviews: maximum amount of
freedom is given to the applicant in determining the
course of the discussion
Structured Interviews: uses a set of standardized
questions that have an established set of answers
 EMPLOYEE SELECTION
Situational Interview: applicant is given a hypothetical
incident and asked how he or she would respond to it
Behavioral Description Interview (BDI): applicant is
asked questions about what he or she actually did in a
given situation
Sequential Interview: format in which a candidate is
interviewed by multiple people, one right after another
Panel Interview: board of interviewers questions and
observes a single candidate
Variables in the Employment Interview
Methods for Administering Interviews
Video interviews: Conducted via video conferencing or
over the web
Phone interview - Effective method and actually helps
expand a company’s talent pool
Computer-administered (automated) interview:
Questions are administered to applicants via computers
- Conducted at a firm’s facilities, using kiosks, online
or via phone
Diversity Management
- Avoid asking questions related to race, color, age,
religion, sex, or national origin
- Questions are acceptable if job-related, and do not
discriminate against a protected class
- Consult EEOC and FEP information when
constructing guidelines for interviewers
Post-Interview Screening
- Reference Checks
- Background Checks
○ Negligent hiring: Failure of an
organization to discover, via due diligence, that
an employee it hired had the propensity to do
harm to others
○ Criminal records checks
○ Credit checks
Pre-Employment Tests
- Objective and standardized measure of a sample of
behavior that is used to gauge a person’s KSAOs
relative to other individuals
○ Process of evaluating individuals
- Has the potential for legal challenges by applicants
Types of Tests
Job Knowledge Tests: designed to measure people’s
level of understanding about a particular job
Work Sample Tests: require the applicant to perform
tasks that are actually a part of the work required on the
job
Assessment Center Tests: Process by which managerial
candidates are evaluated at an assessment center as they
participate in a series of situations that resemble what
they might need to handle on the job
Cognitive Ability Tests: Measure mental capabilities
such as general intelligence, verbal fluency, numerical
ability, and reasoning ability
Biodata Tests: Collect biographical information about
candidates that has shown to correlate with on-the-job
success
Polygraph Tests: Used to determine if a person uses
drugs, has stolen from an employer, or has committed a
serious undetected crime
Honest and Integrity Tests: Used for predicting job
performance and disruptive behaviors of the applicant by
asking series of questions
Physical Ability Tests: Assess a person’s physical
abilities for demanding and dangerous jobs
Medical Examinations: Ensure the health of an
applicant is adequate to meet the job requirements
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Drug Tests: Right of an employer in accordance with

Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988
Summarizing Information about Applicants
Employer takes into consideration all the gathered
Personality and Interest Inventories information about the applicants by organizing it
systematically
Dimensions that summarize personality traits
Each applicant is evaluated and rated according to the
- Extroversion
tests undertaken by him/her
- Agreeableness
- Conscientiousness Employer weighs applicant based on can-do and will-do
- Neuroticism factors before recruitment
- Openness to experience

Test Scores Scatterplot with Hypothetical Cutoffs

Criterion-Related Validity
Extent to which a selection tool predicts, or significantly
correlates with, important elements of work behavior
-Concurrent validity: Extent to which the test scores of
current employees correlate with job performance
-Predictive validity: Extent to which applicants’ test
scores match criterion data obtained from those
applicants after they have been on the job for some
indefinite period
-Cross-validation: Verifying the results obtained from a
validation study by administering a test
o Validity coefficient - Obtained by applying
statistical formula to the data

Correlation Scatterplots
Decision Making Strategy
Should individuals to be hired according to their highest
potential or according to the needs of the organization
At what grade or wage level to start the individual
Should selection be for employee-job match, or should
advancement in potential be considered

Decision Making Strategy

Determining the Validity of Tests Should those not qualified but qualifiable be considered
Content validity: Extent to which a selection Should overqualified individuals be considered
instrument, such as a test, adequately samples the
knowledge and skills needed to perform a particular job What effect will a decision have on meeting affirmative
action plans and diversity considerations
Construct validity: Extent to which a selection tool
measures a theoretical construct or trait
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Clinical Approach
Those making the selection decision review all the data
on the applicants
Decision is made on the basis of applicant’s
understanding of the job and his/her previous success in
that job
○ Varies according to the evaluator

Statistical Approach
Identifying the most valid predictors and weighting them
using statistical methods
Compensatory model: Selection decision model in
which a high score in one area can make up for a low
score in another area
Multiple cutoff model: Selection decision model that
requires an applicant to achieve some minimum level of
proficiency on all selection dimensions
Multiple hurdle model: Sequential strategy in which
only the applicants with the highest scores at an initial
test stage go on to subsequent stages
Cutoff-Point: in the distribution of scores above which a
person should be considered and below which the person
should be rejected
Selection Ratio: Number of applicants compared with
the number of people to be hired
- When low, most promising applicants are hired
- When high, selectivity is reduced for filling the
vacancies
Final Decision
Taken by the managers or supervisors who communicate
to the applicant through the HR department
- Internal candidates are informed about the
recruitment by hiring managers
Rejected candidates are to be notified about the decision
by the organization