Chapter 6

Selecting Employees and Placing Them in

Jobs

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 What Do I Need to Know?
LO 6-1 Identify the elements of the selection process.
LO 6-2 Define ways to measure the success of a selection method.
LO 6-3 Summarize the government’s requirements for employee selection.
LO 6-4 Compare the common methods used for selecting human resources.
LO 6-5 Describe major types of employment tests.
LO 6-6 Discuss how to conduct effective interviews.
LO 6-7 Explain how employers carry out the process of making a selection decision.

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 Selection Process 1

Personnel Selection
Process through which organizations decide who will or will not be invited to
join the organization.
• Begins with identifying candidates through recruitment.
• Number of applicants is reduced to best-qualified individuals.
• Ends with selected individuals placed in jobs.

Applicant-tracking system automates selection process of online applications.

• Can also measure the performance of the hiring process.

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 Figure 6.1 Steps in the Selection Process

Access the text alternative for slide images.

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 Selection Process 2

Effective Selection Systems

• Support job descriptions.
• Provide ability to run background checks and store important documents and
applicant information.
• Allow the hiring manager, HR, and the job candidate to coordinate interview
schedules.
• Set up to help identify applicants with necessary skills, abilities, and other
characteristics (KSAOs).

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 Employee Interactions

For employees who work directly with

customers, companies should create a
selection process that measures
employees’ interest in customers and their
ability to interact in a positive way.

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 Selection Process 3

Successful Selection Method

• Provides reliable information.
• Provides valid information.
• Information can be generalized to apply to candidates.
• Offers high utility (practical value).
• Includes criteria that are legal.

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 Selection Process 4

Reliability
Extent to which measurement is free from random error.
• Reliable measurement generates consistent results.
• Organizations use statistics, like correlation coefficients, to compare results and
determine reliability.

Determines whether measurements are accurate.

Does not determine whether what is being measured matters.

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 Selection Process 5

Validity
Extent to which performance on measure (test score) relates to what the
measure is trying to assess (job performance).
Current jobholders are tested, and then test scores are compared to existing
measures of job performance.
Three ways to measure:
1. Criterion-related validity.
2. Content validity.
3. Construct validity.

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 Selection Process 6

Criterion-related validity:
• Based on showing a substantial correlation between test scores and job performance
scores.
• Two kinds of research used:
• Predictive validation uses the test scores of all applicants and looks for a relationship
between the scores and the future performance of those who were hired.
• Concurrent validation administers a test to people who currently hold a job, then
compares their scores to existing measures of job performance.

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 Figure 6.2 Criterion-Related Measurements of a Student’s Aptitude

Access the text alternative for slide images.

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 Selection Process 7

Content validity:
• Consistency between test items and kinds of situations or problems that occur on
job.
• Experts can evaluate and write valid test items.

Construct validity:
• Used for tests that measure abstract qualities or constructs.
• Establishes that test accurately measures the construct.
• Shows association between construct and job success.

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 Selection Process 8

Ability to Generalize
Selection method should be generalizable.
Generalizable methods are valid in other contexts other than the one in which it
was developed.
• Applicable to other organizations, jobs, applicants, etc.

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 Selection Process 9

Practical Value
Selection method should produce information that is actually beneficial to the
company.
Testing and interviewing cost money.
Methods that provide economic value greater than the cost of using them are
said to have utility.
• Should cost significantly less than benefits gained from hiring.

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 Selection Process 10

Legal Standards for Selection

• Civil Rights Acts of 1991.
• Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967.
• Americans with Disabilities Act of 1991.
• Fair Credit Reporting Act.
• Equal employment opportunity laws affect the kinds of info organizations can gather
on forms and in interviews.

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 Table 6.1 Permissible and Impermissible Questions for Applications and Interviews 1

Permissible Questions Impermissible Questions

What is your full name? Have you ever worked under a
different name? [Ask all candidates.]
If you are hired, can you show proof of age (to meet a
legal age requirement)?
Will you need any reasonable accommodation for this
hiring process? Are you able to perform this job, with
or without reasonable accommodation?
Are you fluent in [language needed for job]?
[Statement that employment is subject to verification
of applicant’s identity and employment eligibility under
immigration laws.]
What was your maiden name? What’s the nationality of
your name?
How old are you? How would you feel about working for
someone younger than you?
What is your height? Your weight? Do you have any
disabilities? Have you been seriously ill? Please provide a
photograph of yourself.
What is your ancestry? Are you a citizen of the United
States? Where were you born? How did you learn to
speak that language?

Source: Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, “Prohibited Employment Policies/Practices,

http://www. eeoc.gov, accessed April 3, 2020; “Appendix E: Guide to Legally Permissible Interview Questions and Discussions,”
http://hr.fas.harvard.edu, accessed April 3, 2020; Nikoletta Bika, “6 Illegal Interview Questions Not to Ask—and Legal Alternatives,” Workable,
https://resources.workable.com, accessed April 3, 2020; “Guidelines on Interview and Employment Application Questions,” Society for Human Resource
Management, May 2, 2018, https://www.shrm.org.
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 Table 6.1 Permissible and Impermissible Questions for Applications and Interviews 2

Permissible Questions Impermissible Questions

What schools have you attended? What degrees have
you earned? What was your major?
Can you meet the requirements of the work schedule?
[Ask all candidates].
Can you meet the job requirement to travel overnight
several times a month?
Have you ever been convicted of a crime?
What organizations or groups do you belong to that
you consider relevant to being able to perform this job?
Is that school affiliated with [religious group]? When did
you attend high school? [to learn applicant’s age].
What is your religion? What religious holidays do you
observe?
What is your marital status? Would you like to be
address as a Mrs., Ms., or Miss? Do you have any
children?
Have you ever been arrested?
What organizations or groups do you belong to?

Note: This table provides examples and is not intended as a complete listing of permissible and impermissible questions. The examples are based
on federal requirements; state laws vary and may affect these examples.

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 Selection Process 11

Legal Standards for Selection continued

Candidates’ privacy rights.
• Information gathered during selection may include information that candidates consider
confidential.
• Employers should only collect data using secure platforms.

Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.

• Requires employers to verify and maintain records on applicant’s legal rights to work in U.S.

State laws.
• Pay inquiry bans forbid employers from asking about pay history.
• May be illegal to ask about arrest and conviction records.

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 1
POLLING QUESTION Which interview question is legally permissible?

A. Will child care demands affect your ability to get to work on time?
B. Do you have a car so you can get to work on time?
C. This job requires you to be here from 8:00am to 5:00pm. Can you meet
that job requirement?
D. Do you have any disabilities that will interfere with your ability to get to
work on time?

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 Job Applications and Résumés 1

Application Forms
Low-cost way to gather basic information.
• Contact information.
• Work experience.
• Educational background.
• Applicant’s signature.

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 Job Applications and Résumés 2

Résumés
Submitted by applicant to introduce self.
Applicants control content and presentation of info.
• Drawback: information is biased and sometimes inaccurate.

Inexpensive way to gather information and used as basis to determine which

candidates to investigate further.
• Evaluated in terms of elements of job description.

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 Job Applications and Résumés 3

References
• Applicants provide names and contact
info of people who can vouch for
abilities and past job performance.
• Biased: applicants choose people who
will say nice things.
• Usually checked when candidate is a
finalist for the job.

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 Job Applications and Résumés 4

Background Checks
• Verify that applicants are who they say they are.
• False information is increasingly being found on résumés.
• Criminal background checks are a sensitive issue; EEOC has guidelines for checking
criminal histories.
• Use of credit checks scrutinized; banned in some states.

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 Employment Tests and Work Samples 1

Two Broad Categories of Employment Tests

Aptitude Tests Achievement Tests

• Assess how well a person can learn or • Measure a person’s existing knowledge
acquire skills and abilities. and skills.
• General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB). • Civil service exams.

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 Employment Tests and Work Samples 2

Physical Ability Tests

• Strength and endurance are essential in many jobs, but not as much as they were in
the past.
• Assess different aspects of physical ability including power, endurance, flexibility,
balance, and coordination.
• Tend to exclude women and people with disabilities.

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 Employment Tests and Work Samples 3

Cognitive Ability Tests

• Designed to measure verbal skills,
quantitative skills, and reasoning
ability; sometimes called intelligence
tests.
• Valid and relatively low cost.
• Pose legal risks: especially when it
comes to race.
Administering tests to job candidates
helps employers assess qualifications.
Why are problem-solving skills important
for an electrical technician?

©themorningglory/123RF
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 Table 6.2 Sources of Information about Employment Tests
Mental Measurements Yearbook Descriptions and reviews of tests that are
commercially available.
Principles for the Validation and Use of Personnel Guide to help organizations evaluate tests.
Selection Procedures (Society for Industrial and
Organizational Psychology)
Standards for Educational and Psychological Tests Description of standards for testing programs.
(American Psychological Association)
Tests: A Comprehensive Reference for Assessments Descriptions of thousands of tests.
in Psychology, Education, and Business
Test Critiques Reviews of tests, written by professionals in the
field.

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 Employment Tests and Work Samples 4

Job Performance Tests and Work Samples

Specialized skills needed for job may be tested.
• May come in form of showing samples of work, completing a project, or an in-basket
test.
• Tests for selecting managers may take form of assessment center.

Leads applicants to feel that evaluation is fair since they have a chance to
showcase skills.

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 Employment Tests and Work Samples 5

Personality Inventories
“Big Five” traits often used as basis of assessing personality traits.
1. Extroversion.
2. Adjustment.
3. Agreeableness.
4. Conscientiousness.
5. Inquisitiveness.

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Table 6.3 Five Major Personality Dimensions Measured by Personality Inventories

1. Extroversion Sociable, gregarious, assertive, talkative, expressive.

2. Adjustment Emotionally stable, nondepressed, secure, content.
3. Agreeableness Courteous, trusting, good-natured, tolerant, cooperative,
forgiving.
4. Conscientiousness Dependable, organized, persevering, thorough,
achievement-oriented.
5. Inquisitiveness Curious, imaginative, artistically sensitive, broad-minded,
playful.

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 Employment Tests and Work Samples 6

Honesty Tests and Drug Tests

Organizations want employees to be honest and safe.
Polygraph common honesty test; validity in question.
Rules for administering drug tests:
• Test all applicants for the same job.
• Use testing for jobs that involve safety hazards.
• Send report of results to applicant; include info on how to appeal.
• Keep results confidential; respect applicants’ privacy.

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 Employment Tests and Work Samples 7

Medical Examinations
Especially used for physically demanding jobs.
Determines if applicant can meet job’s requirements.
Must be used with care.
• Use measure of strength that does not exclude women.
• Attempt to accommodate applicants with disabilities if possible.
• Test components related to job requirements only after applicant has been hired.

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 2
Have you ever had to take a test as part of being hired for a job
or internship? If so, what kind of test?
POLLING QUESTION
A. I have not taken any tests
B. An aptitude test
C. An achievement test
D. A physical ability test
E. A cognitive ability test
F. A job performance test (or work sample)
G. A personality test
H. An honesty test
I. A medical exam

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 Interviews 1

Interviewing Techniques
Nondirective interview: Behavior description interview (B DI):
• Open-ended questions. • Has the highest validity.

Structured interview: Panel Interview:

• Only ask questions that are on the list. • Reduces bias

Situational interview:
• Has high validity.

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 Table 6.4 Sample Interview Questions
Skill to Be Measured
Motivating employees
Resolving conflict
Overcoming resistance to change
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Situational Interview
Suppose you were working with an
employee who you knew greatly disliked
performing a particular task. You needed
to get this task completed, however, and
this person was the only one available to
do it. What would you do to motivate
that person?
Imagine that you and a co-worker
disagree about the best way to handle
an absenteeism problem with another
member of your team. How would you
resolve that situation?
Suppose you had an idea for a change in
work procedures that would enhance
quality, but some members of your work
group were hesitant to make the change.
What would you do in that situation?
Behavior Description Interview
Think about an instance when you had to
motivate an employee to perform a task that he
or she disliked but that you needed to have
done. How did you handle that situation?
What was the biggest difference of opinion you
ever had with a co-worker? How did you resolve
that situation?
What was the hardest change you ever had to
bring about in a past job, and what did you do
to get the people around you to change their
thoughts or behaviors?
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 Interviews 2

Advantages Disadvantages
• Talking face to face provides evidence • Can be unreliable.
of candidates’ skills, personalities, and • Can be low in validity.
interpersonal styles.
• Can be biased against a number of
• Interviews provide means to check
different groups.
accuracy of information presented on
résumé or application. • They are costly.
• They are subjective.

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 Interviews 3

Preparing to Interview
Characteristics of a well-planned
interview:
• Standardized with prepared questions.
• Comfortable for participant and
conducted in quiet location.
• Focused on job and the organization.
• Enough time allotted for interviewer
and applicant to discuss position and for
both to ask questions.

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 Selection Decisions 1

How Organizations Select Employees

Multiple-Hurdle Model Compensatory Model

• Candidates eliminated at each stage of • All applicants go through all stages in
selection process until only one selection process.
applicant remains. • High score in one assessment can make
up for low score on another.

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 Selection Decisions 2

Communicating the Decision

Offer should be given to chosen candidate and include:
• Job responsibilities.
• Work schedule.
• Rate of pay.
• Starting date.
• Other relevant details (for example, required testing and contingencies).
• Deadline to respond with acceptance or rejection.

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 End of Chapter 6

© 2022 McGraw Hill. All rights reserved. Authorized only for instructor use in the classroom. No reproduction or further distribution permitted without the prior written consent of McGraw Hill. 41