1. Chapter 8 The Selection Process
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Copyright © 2009 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

2. External Candidates McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Copyright © 2009 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

3. Logic of Prediction: Past Performance Predicts Future Performance
Not specific enough to make selection decisions
Job titles
Number of years of experience
What counts is the specific types of experiences required and the level of success at each

4. Assessment Methods by Applicant Flow Stage
9-4

5. Resumes and Cover Letters
Information provided is controlled by applicant
Information needs to be verified by other predictors to ensure accuracy and completeness
Major issues
Large number received by organizations
Falsification and misrepresentation of information

6. Overview of Application Blanks
What areas are covered?
Education
Training
Job experience
Key advantage -- Organization dictates information provided
Major issue -- Information requested should
Be critical to job success and
Reflect KSAOs relevant to job

7. Reference Checks
Approach involves verifying applicant’s background via contact with
Prior immediate supervisor(s) or coworkers, or
HR department of current of previous companies
What are the possible problems?
Same as problems with letters of recommendation
Reluctance of companies to provide requested information due to legal concerns

8. Fair Credit Reporting Act (1970)
Purpose
Regulates organization’s acquisition and use of consumer reports on job applicants
Required compliance
Before obtaining a report, organization must
Give applicant notice in writing a report may be obtained
Obtain written authorization from applicant
If an “adverse action” is taken, organization must
Notify (written, oral, electronic) applicant of adverse action
Provide information of consumer reporting agency to applicant
Provide notice of applicant’s rights to applicant
Enforcement
Enforced by Federal Trade Commission
Noncompliance may result in fines up to $1,000

9. EEOC’s Enforcement Guidance on Criminal Records (2012)
For arrest and conviction records in employment decisions
Inquiring about arrest and/or conviction records, while not per se unlawful, can lead to potential discrimination issues if not handled properly.
Blanket policies may result in:
Disparate impact
Disparate treatment
Race and national origin
Determinations should be made on an individual case-by-case basis

10. EEOC’s Enforcement Guidance on Criminal Records (2012)
Generally prohibits decisions based on arrests/convictions that are not job related and consistent with business necessity – criteria:
Nature of the crime; and
Time elapsed since it occurred; and
Its relation to the nature of the job had or sought.
Employers need to
Give notice to applicant or employee that they have been screened out because of criminal conviction;
Provide with opportunity to demonstrate that exclusion should not be applied due to their particular circumstances; and
Consider whether the additional information provided warrants an exception to the exclusion and shows that the policy as applied is not job related and consistent with business necessity.

11. Use of Criminal Records - California
Don’t ask applicants to disclose information
About an arrest or detention that did not result in conviction.
Relating to a referral to or participation in a criminal diversion program (a work education program as part of probation).
About convictions for most marijuana possession offenses more than two years old.
You can’t seek the information from any other source, nor use it as a factor in hiring, promoting, training, or termination.
You can ask employees and applicants about any arrest for which the employee or applicant is out on bail or out on their own recognizance pending trial.
Certain exceptions exist for peace officers, health care employees, and people with access to drugs and medication.

12. Initial Interview Characteristics Video and computer interviews
Begins process of necessary differentiation
Purpose -- Screen out most obvious cases of person / job mismatches
Limitation -- Most expensive method of initial assessment
Video and computer interviews
Offers cost savings

13. Evaluation of Initial Interview
Guidelines to enhance usefulness
Ask questions assessing most basic KSAOs
Stick to basic, fundamental questions suitable for making rough cuts rather than subjective questions
Keep interviews brief
Ask same questions of all applicants

14. Discretionary Assessment Methods
Used to separate people who receive job offers from list of finalists (assumes each finalist is considered fully qualified for position)
Often very subjective, relying heavily on intuition of decision maker
Factors other than KSAOs are evaluated
Assess person/organization match
Assess motivation level
Assess people on relevant organizational citizenship behaviors

15. Contingent Assessment Methods
“We offer you this job contingent upon ….”
Might involve confirmation of
Drug test results
Medical exam results
Background check results

16. Internal Candidates McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Copyright © 2009 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

17. Logic of Prediction: Past Performance Predicts Future Performance
Advantages of internal over external selection
Greater depth and relevance of data available on internal candidates
Greater emphasis can be placed on samples and criteria rather than signs

18. Skills Inventory Use skills inventory for data on employees
List of KSAOs held by each employee
Records a small number of skills listed in generic categories, such as education, experience, and supervisory training received

19. Substantive Assessment Methods
Seniority and experience
Job knowledge tests
Performance appraisals
Promotability ratings
Assessment centers
Interviews

20. Overview of Seniority and Experience
Definitions
Seniority
Length of service with organization, department, or job
Experience
Not only length of service but also kinds of activities an employee has undertaken
Why so widely used?
Direct experience in a job content area reflects an accumulated stock of KSAOs necessary to perform job
Information is easily and cheaply obtained
Protects employee from unfair treatment and favoritism
Promoting senior or experienced employees is socially acceptable -- viewed as rewarding loyalty

21. Evaluation of Seniority and Experience
Employees typically expect promotions will go to most senior or experienced employee
Relationship to job performance
Seniority is unrelated to job performance
Experience is moderately related to job performance, especially in the short run
Experience is superior because it is:
a more valid method than seniority
more likely to be content valid when past or present jobs are similar to the future job
Experience is unlikely to remedy initial performance difficulties of low-ability employees
is better suited to predict short-term rather than long-term potential

22. Job Knowledge Tests
Job knowledge includes elements of both ability and seniority
Measured by a paper-and-pencil test or a computer
Holds great promise as a predictor of job performance
Reflects an assessment of what was learned with experience
Also captures cognitive ability

23. Performance Appraisal
A possible predictor of future job performance is past job performance collected by a performance appraisal process
Advantages
Readily available
Probably capture both ability and motivation
Weaknesses
Potential lack of a direct correspondence between requirements of current job and requirements of position applied for

24. Principles of Promotion
“Peter Principle”
Employees tend to be promoted until they reach a position at which they cannot work competently.
“Dilbert Principle” – 1990’s
Companies tend to systematically promote their least-competent employees to management (generally middle management), in order to limit the amount of damage they are capable of doing.

25. Discretionary Assessment Methods
Narrows list of finalists to those who will receive job offers
Decisions often made on basis of
Organizational citizenship behavior
Differences from external selection
Previous finalists not receiving job offers do not simply disappear