MGT 351

Employee Testing and Selection - 1

 Significance of careful
selection
• Organizations need to select the right candidates
once they have attracted the candidates

• The importance of selecting the right employee

- Organizational performance always depends in part
on subordinates having the right skills and
attributes
- Recruiting and hiring employees is costly
- The legal implications of incompetent hiring
How to get the right person
in?
• Ensure the reliability and validity of the selection tools
or tests
• Analyze the tests
• Use the right set of tools
• Implement the tools successfully
 Reliability & Validity
• Reliability
• The consistency of scores obtained by the same person
when retested with the identical or equivalent tests.
• Are the test results stable over time?

• Test validity
• Will tell you whether you are measuring what you intend
to meausre
• The accuracy with which a test, interview, and so on
measures what it purports to measure or fulfills the
function it was designed to fill.
• Does the test actually measure what we need for it to
measure?
Reliability and Validity
 Types of Validity
 Criterion validity
◦ A type of validity based on showing that scores on the
test (predictors) are related to job performance
(criterion).
 Are tests scores in this class related to students’ knowledge
of human resource management?

 Content validity
◦ A test that is content valid is one that contains a fair
sample of the tasks and skills actually needed for the job
in question.
 Do the test questions in this course relate to human
resource management topics?
 Is taking an HR course the same as doing HR?
 Examples of Web Sites Offering Information

on Tests or Testing Programs

• www.hr-guide.com/data/G371.htm
• Provides general information and sources for all types of employment
tests.

• http://buros.unl.edu/buros/jsp/search.jsp
• Provides technical information on all types of employment and
nonemployment tests.

• www.ets.org/testcoll/index.html
• Provides information on over 20,000 tests.

• www.kaplan.com/
• Information from Kaplan test preparation on how various admissions tests
work.

• www.assessments.biz/default.asp?source=GW-emptest
• One of many firms offering employment tests.
 How to Validate a Test
• Step 1: Analyze the job
• Analyze the job and, write job description and job specification
• Quantitative and qualitative measures of job success

• Step 2: Choose the tests

• Test battery or single test?
• You can include several tests and combine them into a test battery

• Step 3: Administer the test

• Concurrent validation
• Current employees’ scores with current performance
• Predictive validation
• Later-measured performance with prior scores
 How to Validate a Test
(cont.)
• Step 4: Relate Test Scores and Criteria
• Correlation analysis
• Actual scores on the test with actual
performance

• Step 5: Cross-Validate and Revalidate

• Repeat Step 3 and Step 4 with a different
sample of employees.
 Types of tests
• Personality tests
• Tests that use projective techniques and trait
inventories to measure basic aspects of an
applicant’s personality, such as introversion,
stability, and motivation.
• Disadvantage
• Personality tests—particularly the projective type—
are the most difficult tests to evaluate and use.
• Advantage
• Tests have been used successfully to predict
dysfunctional job behaviors and identify successful
candidates for overseas assignments.
 The “Big Five”
 Extroversion
◦ The tendency to be sociable, assertive, active, and to experience
positive effects, such as energy and zeal.
 Emotional stability/neuroticism
◦ The tendency to exhibit poor emotional adjustment and experience
negative effects, such as anxiety, insecurity, and hostility.
 Openness to experience
◦ The disposition to be imaginative, nonconforming, unconventional,
and autonomous.
 Agreeableness
◦ The tendency to be trusting, compliant, caring, and gentle.
 Conscientiousness
◦ Is comprised of two related facets: achievement and dependability.
◦ Punctual, organized and systematic
 Left or right brained?
Left-brained Right-brained
Logical Emotional
Analytical Thoughtful
Objective Subjective
Critical thinking Creative
Numbers Intuition
 Types of tests (cont.)
• Tests of cognitive abilities
• Intelligence Tests
• Tests of general intellectual abilities that measure a
range of abilities, including memory, vocabulary,
verbal fluency, and numerical ability.
• Example: IQ tests
• Mike and Todd have $21 between them. Mike has $20
more than Todd. How much money each of them has?
• Aptitude tests
• Tests that measure specific mental abilities, such as
inductive and deductive reasoning, verbal
comprehension, memory, and numerical ability.
 Situational Tests

• The candidates will be presented with situations

representative of the job for which they are
applying in order to evaluate their responses
• A testing method based on measuring an
applicant’s performance on actual basic job
tasks.
 A situational test

Walk a mile in British Airways’ shoes.

Description- Imagine, you have applied at British

Airways for a Customer Service Officer position. The
manager of the department is happy with your
qualifications. However, he wants you to take a
situational test prior to getting into the job.
 Scenario
• British Airways has been under fire quite a bit
for its bad customer service, and social media
only promotes its problem

• A customer named Hassan Syed recently paid

to promote a Tweet complaining about British
Airways’ customer service after the company
lost his father’s suitcase
Here is what Hassan Syed posted on
Twitter!
 What happens next?
• The tweet was seen by 76,000 users

• It negatively impacted on the reputation of the

organization

• To make things worse, British Airways failed to

respond to the promoted tweet for eight
hours
 What happens next?
(cont.)
• Finally, BA replied to the message!
 What happens next?
(cont.)
• The Customer Service Manager of British Airways is
really worried about the issue

• He wants you to resolve the issue.

• How would you respond this situation?

 Video based situational
testing
• Video-Based situational testing
• A situational test comprised of several video
scenarios, each followed by a multiple choice
question that requires the candidate to choose
from among several courses of action.
• While the evidence is mixed, the results suggest
that video-based situational tests can be useful
for selecting employees.
 An example
(A manager is upset about the condition of the department and
takes it out on one of the department’s employees)

Manger- Well, I am glad you’re here.

Associate- Oh? Why is that?
Manager- Look, at this place, that’s why! I take a day off and
come back to find the department in mess. You should know
better.
Associate- But, I didn’t work late last night.
Manager- May be not. But, there have been plenty of times
before when you’ve left the department in a mess.

(the scenario stops here. If you were this associate, what would
you do? )
You have the following
choices
a. Let the other associates responsible for the
mess know that you had to take the heat
b. Straighten up the department and try to
reason with the manager later
c. Suggest to the manager that he talks to the
other associates who made the mess
d. Take it up with the manager’s boss
 The miniature job training and
evaluation approach
• Candidates are trained to perform a sample of
the job’s tasks, and then are evaluated on their
performance.
• The approach assumes that a person who
demonstrates that he or she can learn and
perform the sample of tasks will be able to learn
and perform the job itself.
 Test of motor and
physical abilities
• Tests of motor abilities
• Tests that measure motor abilities, such as
finger dexterity, manual dexterity, and reaction
time.
• Example- Crawford Small Parts Dexterity Tests

• Tests of physical abilities

• Tests that measure static strength, dynamic
strength, body coordination, and stamina
• Example- Lifeguard Tests
 Problem from the Test of

Mechanical Comprehension

Which gear will turn the same way as the driver?

 Achievement Tests
• Achievement tests
• Test that measure what a person has already
learned
• Example- The tests you take at NSU
• These tests measure your “job knowledge” in
areas like accounting, marketing, or personnel
 Background Investigations & Reference Check

• Did the candidates lie? Did they furnish false

documents?
• Commonly verified data may include past
employment, education, identification and legal
eligibility for the employment
• 31% of the applicants had lied about their qualifications
and 19% had posted information about their drinking
and drug
• On Facebook, one employer found that a candidate
had described his interests as smoking pots and
shooting people
 Background Investigations & Reference Check

(cont.)
• Most employers are concerned with
background investigation and reference check

• Extent of investigations and checks

• Reference checks (87%)
• Background employment checks (69%)
• Criminal records (61%)
• Driving records (56%)
• Credit checks (35%)
 Background Investigations and Reference
Checks (cont.)
• Sources of information for background checks:
• Former employers
• Educational institution
• Local police station
• Commercial credit rating companies
• Written references
 Reference Checking Form
(Verify that the applicant has provided permission before conducting
reference checks)
Candidate Name:
Reference Name: Company Name:
Dates of Employment: (From: and To:)
Position(s) Held: Salary History:
Reason for Leaving:
Explain the reason for your call and verify the above information with the supervisor (including the
reason for leaving)
1. Please describe the type of work for which the candidate was responsible.
2. How would you describe the applicant’s relationships with coworkers, subordinates (if
applicable), and with superiors?
3. Did the candidate have a positive or negative work attitude? Please elaborate
4. How would you describe the quantity and quality of output generated by the former employee?
5. What were his/her strengths on the job?
6. What were his/her weaknesses on the job?
7. What is your overall assessment of the candidate?
8. Would you recommend him/her for this position? Why or why not?
9. Would this individual be eligible for rehire? Why or why not?
Other comments?
The Polygraph and Honesty
Testing
• The polygraph (or lie detector)
• A device that measures physiological changes,
• The assumption is that such changes reflect
changes in emotional state that accompany
lying.
 Permitted Users of the
Polygraph
• Employers with contracts involving:
• National defense or security
• Nuclear-power (Department of Energy)
• Access to highly classified information
• Counterintelligence (the FBI or Department of
Justice)

• Other exceptions
• Hiring of private security personnel
• Hiring persons with access to drugs
• Conducting ongoing investigations involving
economic loss or injury to an employer’s business.
 Paper-and-Pencil Honesty
Tests
• Paper-and-pencil honesty tests
• Psychological tests designed to predict job
applicants’ proneness to dishonesty and other
forms of counterproductivity.
• Measure attitudes regarding things like
tolerance of others who steal, acceptance of
rationalizations for theft, and admission of
theft-related activities.
 Graphology
• Graphology (handwriting analysis)
• Assumes that handwriting reflects basic
personality traits.
• Graphology’s validity is highly suspect.

Handwriting Exhibit Used by Graphologist

 Physical Examination
 Reasons for preemployment medical
examinations:
◦ To verify that the applicant meets the physical
requirements of the position
◦ To discover any medical limitations you should take
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.
Thanks