Lecture III

Employee Testing
& Selection
 Learning Objectives
 Explain the Selection Process
 Identify Sources of Information
 Explain Value of Selection Instruments
 Discuss importance of Testing
 Describe Selection Decision Strategies
 Selection Tools
 Nature of Selection
 Measurement parameters
 Reliability & Validity of test
 Relationship between performance and test score
 Antitheft screening procedure
 Drug Screening
The Testing & Selection Process

 The process of choosing individuals who have relevant

qualifications fit to a job.
 Selecting an appropriate incumbent having package of
knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs).
 Fit between the applicant and the organization affects both
the employer’s willingness to make a job offer and an
applicant’s willingness to accept a job.
 Fitting a person to the right job is called placement.
Steps in Selection Process

Hiring Decision
Medical Examination/
Drug Testing
Supervisory Interview or Team
Interview
Preliminary Selection in HR
Department
Background Investigation

Employment Tests

Initial Interview in HR Department

Completion of Application Form

Why Selection is Important

The Importance of Selecting the

Right Employees

Organizational Costs of recruiting Legal obligations

performance and hiring and liability
Selection Tools

 Application Forms and/or Resumes

 Academic Credentials
 Interview
 Tests
 References
 Avoiding Negligent Hiring Claims

 Carefully scrutinize information on application form.

 Get the applicant’s written authorization for reference checks.
 Save all records and information you obtain about the
applicant.
 Reject applicants who make false statements of material facts
or who have conviction records for offenses.
 Do not skip any question regarding job predictor.
Equal Employment Opportunity
(EEO) Aspects of Testing
 An organization must be able to prove:
 That its tests are related to success or failure on the job
(validity)
 That its tests don’t unfairly discriminate against minority or
nonminority subgroups (disparate impact).
 EEO guidelines and laws apply to all selection devices, including
interviews, applications, and references.
 Test Takers’ Individual Rights and
Test Security
 Under the APA’s standard for educational and psychological
tests, test takers have the following rights:
 The right to the confidentiality of test results.
 The right to informed consent regarding use of these
results.
 The right to expect that only people qualified to interpret
the scores will have access to them, or that sufficient
information will accompany the scores to ensure their
appropriate interpretation.
 The right to expect the test is fair to all. For example, no
one taking it should have prior access to the questions or
answers.
 Legal Privacy Issues

 Defamation
 Libeling or slandering of employees or former employees
by an employer.
 Avoiding Employee Defamation Suits
 Train supervisors regarding the importance of employee
confidentiality.
 Adopt a “need to know” policy.
 Disclose procedures impacting confidentially of
information to employees.
How Do Employers Use Tests at
Work?

 Major Types of Tests

 Basic skills tests
 Job skills tests
 Psychological tests
 Why Use Testing?
 Increased work demands = more testing
 Screen out bad or dishonest employees
 Reduce turnover by personality profiling
Sample Test
 The “Big Five”

Extraversion

Conscientiousness Neuroticism

Openness to
Agreeableness
experience
Computerized and Online Testing
 Online Tests
 Telephone prescreening
 Offline computer tests
 Virtual “inbox” tests
 Online problem-solving tests
 Types of Tests
 Specialized work sample tests
 Numerical ability tests
 Reading comprehension tests
 Clerical comparing and checking tests
 Nature of Selection
 Candidate must have required KSA to do a job well.
 For certain jobs it may be good selection strategy to deemphasize
specific KSAs of a job and focus on more general predictors of
success.
 For entry level position, specific KSAs might be less important than
general ability to learn and conscientiousness.
 Whether an employer uses specific KSAs or the more general
approach, effective selection of employees involves using criteria
and predictors of job performance.
What do all test measure???

What Different Tests Measure

Cognitive Personality Current

Physical abilities
abilities and interests achievement
Type of Question for Mechanical
Comprehension
Basic Testing Concepts -
Reliability Definition
 The degree to which interviews, tests, and other selection
procedure yield comparable data over time and alternative
measures.

Reliability Standards
 Consistency Performance
 Over a Time Period
 Re-evaluation Must Yield Some Result
 Across People/Tools
Reliability Examples (Stability over
time)
HIGH RELIABILITY
APPLICANT TEST SCORE RETEST SCORE
Smith 90 93
Perez 65 62
Riley 110 105
Chan 80 78
VERY LOW RELIABILITY
APPLICANT TEST SCORE RETEST SCORE
Smith 90 72
Perez 65 88
Riley 110 67
Chan 80 111
Basic Testing Concepts –
Validity Definition
 How well a test or selection procedure measures a person’s
attributes.
 Indicates whether a test is measuring what it is supposed to be
measuring.
 Does the test actually measure what it is intended to measure?
Types of Validity

Types of
Test Validity

Criterion validity Construct validity Content validity

Performance Emotion & Tasks & Skills

Oriented Intelligence Oriented
Evidence-Based HR: How to
Validate a Test

Steps in Test Validation

1 Analyze the Job: predictors and criteria

2 Choose the Tests: test battery or single test

3 Administer the Test: concurrent or predictive validation

4 Relate Your Test Scores and Criteria: scores versus

actual performance
5 Cross-Validate and Revalidate: repeat Steps 3 and 4
with a different sample
Expectancy Chart
Evaluation of Assessment Methods on Four Key Criteria
Costs (Develop/
Assessment Method Validity Adverse Impact Administer) Applicant Reactions
Cognitive ability tests High High (against Low/low Somewhat favorable
minorities)
Job knowledge test High High (against Low/low More favorable
minorities)
Personality tests Low to Low Low/low Less favorable
moderate
Biographical data Moderate Low to high for High/low Less favorable
inventories different types
Integrity tests Moderate Low Low/low Less favorable
to high
Structured interviews High Low High/high More favorable
Physical fitness tests Moderate High (against females High/high More favorable
to high and older workers)
Situational judgment Moderate Moderate (against High/low More favorable
tests minorities)
Work samples High Low High/high More favorable
Assessment centers Moderate Low to moderate, High/high More favorable
to high depending on exercise
Physical ability tests Moderate High (against females High/high More favorable
to high and older workers)
Background Investigations and
Other Selection Methods
 Investigations and Checks
 Reference checks
 Background employment checks
 Criminal records
 Driving records
 Credit checks
 Why?
 To verify factual information provided by applicants
 To uncover damaging information
Background Investigations &
Reference Checks

Former Employers

Current Supervisors

Sources of Commercial Credit

Information Rating Companies

Written References

Social Networking Sites

 Making Background Checks More
Useful
 Include on the application form a statement for applicants
to sign explicitly authorizing a background check.
 Use telephone references if possible.
 Be persistent in obtaining information.
 Compare the submitted résumé to the application.
 Ask open-ended questions to elicit more information from
references.
 Use references provided by the candidate as a source for
other references.
 Background Screening
 Paper-and-Pancil Test 4–27
 The Polygraph and Honesty
Testing

 Employee Polygraph Protection Act of 1988

 Generally prohibits polygraph examinations by all private
employers unless:
 The employer has suffered an economic loss or injury.
 The employee in question had access to the property.
 There is a reasonable prior suspicion.

 Private business exceptions:

 Private security employees
 Employees with access to drugs
 Ongoing economic loss or injury investigations
Honesty Testing Programs:

What
Employers Can
Do???
 Antitheft Screening Procedure:

 Ask blunt questions.

 Listen, rather than talk.
 Do a credit check.
 Check all employment and personal references.
 Use paper-and-pencil honesty tests and psychological tests.
 Test for drugs.
 Physical Examination

 Reasons for pre-employment medical examinations:

 To verify that the applicant meets the physical requirements of
the position.
 To discover any medical limitations to be taken into account in
placing the applicant.
 To establish a record and baseline of the applicant’s health for
future insurance or compensation claims.
 To reduce absenteeism and accidents.
 To detect communicable diseases that may be unknown to the
applicant.
Case Study

Improving Performance at
the Hotel Paris

Thank You