Assignment No.

Questions To Answer:

1. Why must anyone working in the area of HR be familiar with the professional and legal standards that
govern the use of employment tests?

- These professional and legal standards offer the guidelines and processes required for carrying out the
employment process, eliminating unfair hiring discrimination, and ensuring equity. Additionally, it
outlines a company's or employer's legal authority to carry out job-related employment tests. In this
manner, the hiring managers will avoid any accusations or legal actions relating to discrimination and
unjust treatment of the applicants. Additionally, the hiring manager will be careful to only administer
tests to applicants that are relevant to their potential jobs if they are aware of the legal requirements
that regulate the usage of employment tests. Knowing well-validated tests that are expertly prepared in
accordance with UGESP's requirements can lessen the company's legal concerns.Therefore it is very
important that every employee in HR is fully aware and familiarized with these professional and legal
standards that govern the use of employment tests so that they don't put the company into any form of
legal exposure. 

2. What are the limitations of cognitive ability testing? Do these limitations outweigh the advantages of
selecting employees based on cognitive ability?

- According to my research Cognitive ability tests are used by organizations to measure an applicant's
general intelligence in areas such as memory, problem solving, verbal, mathematical ability, reasoning
and perception. These test enables the organization to determine how an applicant will use his or her
intelligence to solve any work-related problems and even acquire new knowledge in the job. Some of
the limitations of cognitive ability testing include;

These tests do not put into consideration soft skills such as time-management, motivation and social
skills and these way applicants for possess such good qualities are cut off. This may limit the company
from acquiring employees who have such skills just because they were unable to pass the cognitive
ability test.

Cognitive tests subject the applicants to test anxiety which may lead to failure of the tests. This is
because most cognitive test are set to take the tests within a pre-defined period of time which increases
anxiety levels of the candidates. Therefore this tests will prevent the candidates from performing to
their level best due to the pressure and anxiety.Various reasons may hinder a candidate from
performing well in the cognitive tests and for therefore these test are early judgement for some
applicants. Therefore rejecting a candidate because of failing a cognitive test might not be ideal way of
determining who should be rejected or selected for the job role.

This tests do not consider factors such as the age, education, and gender of the job applicants which can
also play a create role in the tests results. For instance applicants who are older and have vast
knowledge and experience will pass the cognitive tests as compared to young and recent graduates who
are looking for the same jobs.

No the limitations of cognitive ability tests do not outweigh the advantages of selecting employees
based on cognitive ability. Some of those advantages include but not limited to; it focuses on Core
Competencies needed for the job, it enhances objective assessment thereby ensuring that the
candidates are fit for the job, it enable s the hiring managers to evaluate the candidates beyond their
resumes and determine skills and competencies which cannot be determined by only screening their
resumes, it ensures standardization and fairness since all applicants are subjected to the same tests
without discriminations, and it is also cost effective since the candidates can undertake the tests
remotely.

3. What is the Big Five model of personality and what is its relationship to employment testing?

- The five personality traits according to the Big Five model are;

Openness

These type of personality refers to individuals who have characteristics like great insight and
imagination. There are two types of people who have this trait, those who are high and those who are
low. People with high openness trait have a wide range of interest and are always eager to try new
experiences and things. They are creative, adventurous and they focus on tackling new problems and
challenges. People who are low in the openness trait dislike change, they resist new ideas, less
imaginative and do not enjoy new experiences or things.

Conscientiousness

Individuals with this personality trait have good impulse control, goal-oriented behaviors, and with high
levels of thoughtfulness. People who are high in the Conscientiousness trait spend time preparing, are
highly organized, pay great attention to detail, and love having a determined schedule. People with low
Conscientiousness trait tend to dislike schedules and structure, don't care about things and make a lot of
mess, have a habit of procrastination of key tasks and fail to accomplish assigned duties and tasks.

Extraversion

This personality trait is characterized by sociability, assertiveness, talkativeness and excitability.

Individuals with high extraversion personality trait are outgoing, enjoy attention, love meeting and
interacting with new people , have many acquaintances and friends, make friends easily and feel
energized when surrounded or with other people. Individuals who are low in Extraversion personality
trait are more reserved, do not like small talks, don't love attention, do not start conversations easily
with others and they mostly think about what to say before speaking.

Agreeableness

This personality trait includes; altruism, affection, kindness and trust. Individuals who are high in this
personality trait are more cooperative, have interest in other individuals, care for others, assist those
who need help or assistance and love making others happy. Those who are low in agreeableness have
less interest in people, don't care about the feelings of others, belittles and manipulates people so as to
get what they want.

Neuroticism

This personality trait is characterized by moodiness, emotional instability and sadness. People who are
high in Neuroticism have mood swings, sadness, anxiety and irritability. Individuals low in Neuroticism
are more emotionally resilient, stable, know how to deal and manage stress effectively and they don't
worry much.

When carrying out employment tests, organizations have to put all these factors into consideration as
they determine how well the candidates will relate with others, how they will perform their duties and
how well they will be able to manage job related stresses. Therefore based on these personality traits
the hiring managers are able to determine who are more suitable for the jobs and will fit well into the
organizational culture.

4. If you planned to use a personality test as part of a selection program, what characteristics

should the test have?

- Some of the characteristics that the personality test must have include but not limited to the following;

Cognitive Measurement

The personality test should be able to test on the candidates general intelligence and his or her ability to
solve problems or challenges related to the job. The test should be able to tests on the candidates
reasoning skills, , verbal, mathematical ability, and memory so as to determine just how well the
candidates will perform their duties and roles.

Compliance

A good personality test must comply to the guidelines provided by Equal Employment Opportunity
commission and the UGESP's guidelines. This is aimed at ensuring that the test does not discriminate the
candidates based on their age, gender, race and physical disability. Therefore one major characteristic of
the personality test is that it should be in accordance to the labor regulatory and law guidelines.

Versatility

The information obtained from the personality test should be versatile in that it can be used in other
phases of talent management. This tests should provide the organization with adequate information
about the candidate that will be useful in team building, to support training and development and
organizational engagements. The data should be used for the whole period the employee will be
working in the organization without necessarily having to complete more assessments.

Work-Related Behaviors

The test should be able to measure work related behaviors required from the candidates. Therefore the
assessment test should be able to demonstrate how well the candidate will perform in the job position.
This will give the hiring manger great insight about the candidates traits and therefore make informed
decisions about who is more qualified for the job.

5. Why is honesty or integrity testing controversial? When and how should these tests be used?

- The integrity test can be labelled as controversial because some candidates may fake the answers to
the integrity tests. Therefore this makes those who are honest with their answers to be labelled as
dishonest. This way those who fake the answers get hired and those who honestly answer some of the
questions to be disqualified. For instance one person who has a history of stealing office equipment can
lie and say they have never stolen, and another honest person can say yes they have ever stolen an
office equipment. It is obvious that the employer will go with the false positive. This way the company
will miss out on very talented and honest personnel and hire those who are dishonest in reality.
Moreover some questions asked in the integrity test could be termed as invasive, some of the questions
are used to test bipolar disorder and this is discriminatory according to American with Disabilities Act.

This test is best used in the last stages of of hiring process because this way the hiring manager can
administer it to few potential candidates and he or she will be able to take time to interpret the
answers. The integrity test should be used in conjunction with other assessment tests such as cognitive
ability test. This way the hiring manger will be at a better position to determine who is more suitable for
the job position.

6. Is an employer free to test for physical fitness or drug use before making a job offer? Explain your
answer.

- Yes. It is important to test job applicants either physical fitness or drug use before a job offer because
this will ensure the company hires individuals who are most fitted for the job. Some jobs require heavy
lifting, and therefore they have to be of certain physical fitness. Physical fitness comprises of hearing
ability, height, and eye sight, some jobs require employees with specific physical fitness and therefore it
would be better to conduct this tests before the job offer. This will ensure the employee is motivated in
their jobs, their will be reduced job related accidents and reduced employee turnover. This way before
hiring an employee the company will be aware of his or underlying health conditions so as not to put
him or her into any medical risk factors. Therefore it is important to conduct a physical fitness before
making a job offer.

7. What is an assessment center?

- This refers to the place where potential candidates are judged and evaluated on their ability to
perform duties and roles pertaining to certain job positions. Some of the activities conducted in an
assessment center include personality tests, role play, exams and written assessments, and group
activities. This procedures are used to evaluate potential candidates for promotion, classification and
even selection.

8. What is more important: the reliability and validity of a test or the applicant’s perception of the test?

- Reliability and validity are more important than the applicants perception. Reliability is how consistent
or dependable the test measures an applicants characteristics. A reliable test should give the same test
scores if an individual takes the test more than once otherwise it will be termed as unreliable. Validity
on the hand refers to how accurate the test is in measuring the characteristics of the job and its
requirements. Therefore validity should show that there is a link between the job performance and how
the candidate has performed in the test.