Choosing Among Different Assessment Methods

Learning Objectives  Determine which assessment is best to utilize in the hiring process  Learn what required objectives influence assessment design  Learn the operational impact of assessments  Learn the pros and cons of utilizing different staffing assessments in the hiring process

Designing Effective Assessment Methods  No one method works equally well for all jobs Why?  Many assessments only work well for a limited range of jobs  Effectiveness of an assessment depends on on a companies operational issues and constraints

The Operational Impact of Assessments  Hiring Volumes  Realized when companies use assessments to hire new people  Quality of Applicant Flow  Assessments do not impact candidate quality  Staffing Practices  Assessments only work if decision makers use them consistently  Employee Retention  Can help identify the right candidates with the right motivations

Method 1: No Standardized Assessment: Start at The Bottom and Work Up  Look at existing staffing processes  Building on current staffing methods

Method 2: Self-Report Pre-Screening Questionnaires: The Value Structure  Increases administrative efficiency  Readily understood by most hiring managers and candidates  Helps create process that systematically screens out the wrong people

Method 3: Applicant Investigations: Avoiding Catastrophic Hiring Mistakes  Wrong employees can be a company's greatest liability  Downside: they add cost and time to the staffing process  Downside: may lead to loss of applicants  Little value for predicting job performance

Method 4: Structured Interviews: Maximizing Time Spent With Candidates  Unstructured interviews work very poorly, if at all  Not following a well defined agenda and set questions  Structured interviews work reasonably well  Follow a well defined agenda and set questions  Behavioral-based structured interviews tend to work best!  Uses behavioral base questions  Use behavioral-anchored rating scale for evaluation

Method 5: Broad Self-Report And Situational Judgment Measures: Asking Candidates for Greater Level of Self-Description  Assess job-relevant aspects of a candidates personality, motives and experience after interview  Off-the-shelf measures of broad personality  Pre-configured assessments for specific jobs classes  Can oversimplify the relationship between candidates and job performance (i.e. sales)

Method 6: Broad Knowledge and Skills Test: Testing Basic Job Requirements  Measures general knowledge and skills across board classes of jobs  Good for understanding if a candidate will lack fundamental skills and knowledge (SKs)  Transparent relevance for candidates and hiring managers

Method 7: Broad Ability Tests: Getting A General Sense of Candidates’ Ability To Learn and Solve Problems  Measures mental capabilities related to reasoning, critical thinking, and logical problem solving  Challenge: usually has some adverse impact against the protected class  Challenge: candidates perceive them to be difficult

Method 8: Integrating Broad Self Report Measures, Knowledge and Skills Tests, and Ability Test: Predicting Maximal and Typical Performance  Predicts task required to perform complex problems  Predicts performance on task that depend on volition

Method 9: Localized Scoring: Accurately Interpreting Candidate Responses Norming Process of comparing a candidate’s assessment scores against scores received by other people who have taken the same assessment  Base norms on groups of whose characteristics are relevant to the position being staffed  Norms do not provide predictive information about a candidates likely job performance

Method 10: Context-Specific Self-Report Measures: Asking Candidates To Describe Themselves in Greater Detail What do questions hone in on: 1.I am very good at most of the things I do. -taps into general self-confidence and self-esteem 2.I am very good at expressing my ideas to others. - taps into confidence in his or her speaking skills 3.I am very good at making formal presentations to large groups of people. - taps into experience training and making presentations

Method 10: Context-Specific Self-Report Measures: Asking Candidates To Describe Themselves in Greater Detail Advantages:  More job relevant and favored by candidates  Gives companies a competitive advantage since they can not be resold

Method 10: Context-Specific Self-Report Measures: Asking Candidates To Describe Themselves in Greater Detail Disadvantages:  Requires significant resources to develop  Requires a thorough job analysis  Requires development of new assessment content

Method 11: Context-Specific Knowledge,Skills, And Ability Tests: Seeing What Candidates Can Actually Do  Require candidates to interpret information and perform task that are similar to things employees actually do on the job (a.k.a work samples)  Tests are the single most predicative type of assessments  Favorably viewed by candidates

Method 11: Context-Specific Knowledge,Skills, And Ability Tests: Seeing What Candidates Can Actually Do Disadvantage:  Expensive to design and time-consuming to administer  May become quickly outdated if the job changes  May show adverse impact against protected class were solving complex problems is required