Selection 1 MANA 4328 Dr. George Benson

Selection Mechanisms  Personality tests  Physical ability tests  Job knowledge tests  Work sample tests  Simulators  Situational interviews  Unstructured interviews  Assessment centers  Recommendations  Many others…..  Applications  Resumes  Biographical information  Background investigations  Checking references  Credit reports  Polygraph tests  Honesty tests  Graphology  Drug testing  Cognitive ability tests

Why Use Selection Mechanisms?

Choosing Selection Methods Multiple factors need to be considered.  Specificity of skills required  Risk of bad hire or mistakes made by employees  Employee reactions  Level of adverse impact  Cost  Administration time  “Screening-in” vs. “Screening out” methods

Developing A Selection Plan List each of the KSA’s required for the job  Does it need to be assessed?  What are the minimum qualifications? List potential selection mechanisms for those KSA’s that need to be assessed along with costs and benefits.  Validity and reliability  $$$ Costs  Level of adverse impact Detail the selection sequence  Data to be collected at each point  Criteria to be used to move applicants through the sequence

Most Common Methods  Application  Interview  Education level  Training and experience  Reference checks  Resumes  Licensing and certification  Biodata

Required for Every Selection Test…  Equal opportunity (non-discriminatory)  Reliability  Validity (a) Test reflects the content of the job. (b) Test predicts job performance.

Test Reliability Reliability – consistency of the measure If the same person takes the test again will he/she earn the same score? Potential contaminations:  Test takers physical or mental state  Environmental factors  Test forms  Multiple raters How to determine reliability: Statistical techniques  Test – retest reliability  Inter-rater reliability  Others

Relative Reliability of Measures Visual acuity High Hearing Dexterity Mathematical ability Verbal ability Intelligence Clerical skills Mechanical aptitudes Sociability Cooperativeness Tolerance Emotional stability Low

Test Validity Validity – accuracy of the measure Are you measuring what you intend to measure? (CONTENT) OR Does the test measure a characteristic related to job performance? (CRITERION) Testing criterion validity: Criterion – test predicts job performance in general  Predictive – test predicts job future performance  Concurrent – test predicts performance at time of test How to determine validity:  Conduct a job analysis  Collect statistics  Use outside evidence

The Goal of Selection: Maximize “Hits” MISS Inaccurate prediction (Person would have succeeded on the job) Inaccurate prediction (Person would have succeeded on the job)MISS HIT Accurate prediction (Person succeeds on the job) Accurate prediction (Person succeeds on the job)HIT HIT Accurate prediction (Person would not have succeeded on the job) Accurate prediction (Person would not have succeeded on the job)HIT MISS Inaccurate prediction (Person fails on the job) Inaccurate prediction (Person fails on the job)MISS Predicted Success Job Performance Low High “Earns a Bonus” “Is a Bonehead”

Correlation Scatterplots Figure 5.3

Reliability vs. Validity

Blood, Sweat and Type O: Japan's Weird Science In Japan, using blood type to predict a person’s character is as common as going to McDonald’s and ordering a teriyaki burger. Theodore Bestor, a professor of Japanese studies at Harvard: “It’s a piece of information that supposedly gives you some idea of what that person is like as a human being.” Japanese popular culture has been saturated by blood typology for decades. Dating services use it to make matches. Employers use it to evaluate job applicants. A person can have one of four blood types, A, B, AB or O, and while the most common blood type in Japan is Type A, many of the more prominent Japanese are Type O. In Japan, people with Type O are commonly referred to as warriors because they are said to be self- confident, outgoing, goal-oriented and passionate. Can any of these correlations be scientifically supported? “There’s absolutely no evidence that there are different character traits that you can define by blood type,” said Marc Siegel, an associate professor of medicine at the New York University School of Medicine. NYT

Principles of Assessment  Don’t rely on a single method.  Use only fair and unbiased instruments.  Use only reliable instruments.  Use only valid instruments for a specific purpose.  Use only tools designed for a specific group.  Use instruments with understandable instructions.  Ensure test administration staff are properly trained.  Ensure test conditions are suitable for all test takers.  Provide reasonable accommodation.  Maintain confidentiality of results.  Ensure proper interpretation of results.

Effectiveness of Selection Methods A survey of 201 HR executives rated selection methods on the effectiveness producing the best employees. Work samples3.68 References/recommendations3.49 Structured interviews3.42 Assessment centers3.42 Specific aptitude tests3.08 Personality tests2.93 General cognitive ability tests2.89 Biographical information blanks2.84 HR Focus 1996

Steps in Pre-Employment Screening 1.Verify applicants employment history 2. Competency-based screening  Written or simulation tests generally reliable and valid  Benefits need to be balanced with costs 3. Use structured interviews  Question objectivity and job relatedness  Standardized administration  Multiple raters 4. Consider “screening-out” tool

Applicants Candidates Offers Hires Initial Substantive Contingent Methods and Applicant Flow

Initial Selection  Initial Selection  Resumes  Application Forms  Reference Checks  Initial / Contingent  Background Checks  Drug Tests

Application Forms Only ask info related to job KSA’s  Link to job performance  Use thorough job analysis and validation techniques  Consider potential adverse impact  Consider “knockout” questions Careful collecting personal characteristics  Race, National Origin, Gender, Age etc.  Law assumes all questions are used in hiring  More is not necessarily better  Different applications for different jobs  Instructions and Disclaimers  Not particularly valid

Application Forms How to ask non-discriminatory questions?  You are always permitted to ask if applicant is qualified and able to perform primary job duties.  You should never ask questions that indicate protected class status.  Allow people to “self-select” as much as possible. What if you need to collect demographic information for EEO purposes?  Race, National Origin, Gender, Age etc

How to ask…  Do you have child-care for your children?  Do you own a car?  How old are you?  Do you have a physical or mental disability?  Height? Weight?  What is your maiden name?  Are you a U.S. citizen?  Have you every been arrested?  Do you smoke or use tobacco?

Resumes  Applicant controls the information  Many examples of fraud or omission  Up to 50% contain some inaccuracy  What are possible indicators of resume fraud?  Jobs and education should be verified  One question honesty test  Requirements for education and experiences should be job-related.

Potential Problems NY Times Sept 12, 2005 Ronald L. Zarrella, the chief executive of Bausch & Lomb, claimed to have had a master's in business administration from New York University. Shares in the company dropped 3 percent the day the company divulged Mr. Zarrella's resume-fudging. David J. Edmondson, the chief executive of RadioShack, was fired after a newspaper investigation showed that his resume was padded with two degrees in psychology and theology, degrees he never got from a university that was not even accredited. Brad Fredericks, a co-founder of ResumeDoctor.com had his employees pull about a thousand of them that had been uploaded to the company Web site and check them for easily identifiable facts like job titles, education and dates of employment. ''What we found was shocking,'' Mr. Fredericks said. ''We discovered that 42.7 percent of them had significant inaccuracies.” The Rutgers University Career Services office did an audit last year and found that 20 percent of students submitting resumes had inflated their grade-point averages.