GROUP 3:

DENNY DESY DINA

ERIC KEVIN PRISCILLA

SELECTION AND PLACEMENT

Learning Objectives

1. Establish basic scientific properties of personnel selection

methods, including reliability, validity and generalizability.
2. Discuss how particular characteristics of job, organization or
applicant affect the utility of any test.
3. Describe government’s role in personnel selection decisions,
particularly in areas of constitutional law, federal laws,
executive orders and judicial precedent.
4. List common methods used in selecting HR.
5. Describe the degree to which common methods used in
selecting HR meet the demands of reliability, validity,
generalizability, utility and legality.
5 Evaluation Selection Method Standards

1. Reliability
2. Validity
3. Generalizability
4. Utility
5. Legality
RELIABILITY
Reliability is the degree to which a measure of physical or
cognitive abilities or traits is free from random error.

Correlation coefficient is a measure of the degree to which two

sets of numbers are related.
 A perfect positive relationship equals +1.0
 A perfect negative relationship equals - 1.0

Test-retestreliability is knowing how scores on the measure at

one time relate to scores on the same measure at another time.
VALIDITY

Validity is the extent to which a performance measure

assesses all and only the relevant aspects of job performance.

Criterion-related validation is a method of establishing

validity of a personnel selection method by showing a
substantial correlation between test scores and job-
performance scores. The types include:
 Predictive validation
 Concurrent validation
 Criterion-Related Validity

Predictive Concurrent

Test Measure Test Measure

Applicants Performance Existing Their
of Those Hired Employees Performance

TIME TIME
 Concurrent Validation

Obtain
Measure all Measure all correlation
current job current job between
incumbents incumbents’ these two
on attribute performance sets of
numbers
 Predictive Validation
2.
Hire
applicants
and reject
others.
1. Measure Obtain
all job correlation 3.
applicants between
on Wait.
attribute. measurements.

4. Measure
all newly
hired job
incumbents’
performance.
 Content Validation

is a test-validation strategy performed by demonstrating

that the items, questions, or problems posed by a test are a
representative sample of the kinds of situations or problems
that occur on the job.
 Best for small samples

 Achieved primarily through expert judgment

 GENERALIZABILITY

Generalizability - degree to which the validity of a selection

method established in one context extends to other contexts.

3 Contexts:
1. different situations (jobs or organizations)
2. different samples of people
3. different time periods
 UTILITY
 The degree to which the information provided by selection
methods enhances the effectiveness of selecting personnel in
organizations.

 It is impacted by reliability, validity and generalizability.

 Other factors will influence utility even when the latter is constant.
• For example, the selection ratio, which is the percentage of people
tested versus the total number of applicants, will impact utility as
well as the number of people selected, race of employee turnover
and level of performance among chose who leave.
LEGALITY

• All selection methods must conform to existing laws

and legal precedents.

• Three acts have formed the basis for a majority of the suits
filed by job applicants:
• Civil Rights Act of 1964 and 1991

• Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967

• Americans with Disabilities Act of 1991
LEGALITY (CONT’D)

• Civil Rights Act of 1964 and 1991

This act protects individuals from discrimination based on

• race, color, sex, religion, and national origin.

Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967  Covers

individuals who are over the age of 40.

• Americans with Disabilities Act of 1991

Protects individuals with physical or mental disabilities (or

with a history of the same).
TYPES OF SELECTION METHODS

REFERENCES,
INTERVIEWS BIOGRAPHICAL DATA, PHYSICAL ABILITY TEST
APPLICATION BANKS

PERSONALITY
COGNITIVE ABILITY HONESTY AND
INVENTORY WORK SAMPLES
TEST DRUG TEST
TEST
INTERVIEWS
Dialogue to gather information and evaluate the qualifications of an applicant for employment

+ Most widespread selection method used

+ Hundreds of studies examining their effectiveness is available
- Relatively costly
- Might be biased and unreliable

TIPS
 Keep the interview structured, standardized, and focused on accomplishing a small number of goals
quantitative ratings on observable things (e.g interpersonal styles) and tests for other things (e.g. intelligence)

 Have structured note taking system for justifying the rating

 Perform situational interview (Experience or future based)

 Conduct training (around $3k-30k) and use multiple trained-interviewers to avoid subjectivity error
 Conduct digitally-taped interview and send it from place to place to get “multiple eyes” (also cost effective)

 Use web search or social media to check

REFERENCES, BIOGRAPHICAL DATA, APPLICATION BANK
Getting background information on applicants before an interview

+ Get insights from people who know the candidate

+ Low Cost
- Information collected may not be accurate
Most reference letters are positive. Applicants can choose the writer
of the reference letter who usually will not provide “damaging”
information
- Applicants do not always tell the truth when listing their references or
biographical data (Resume Fraud)
45% of job applications that were audited are inaccurate

TIPS
• Call the list provided to increase the validity
• 80% of companies check references prior to an interview or making an offer
• Hire outside companies to do background check on employee
• A good elaboration forces applicants to support their answers with evidence that includes names of other
people involved, dates, locations, and other objective evidence
PHYSICAL ABILITY TEST
7 Classes of test:
o Muscular Tension
o Muscular power
o Muscular endurance
o Cardiovascular endurance
o Flexibility
o Balance
o Coordination

+ May be relevant not only to predict performance but also injuries.

E.g: firefighting

- May be disadvantageous for applicants with disabilities or female applicants

E.g: man might score higher on muscular tension test

TIPS
• Ask ourselves two Key Questions:
1. Is physical ability essential to perform the job and is it mentioned well in job description?
2. Is there a probability that failure to adequately perform the job would result in some risk to the safety or
health of the applicants, coworkers or clients?
HONESTY AND DRUG TEST
• Paper and pencil honesty test with different forms:
 Direct: e.g past theft admissions
 Indirect: tap more basic traits such as social conformity,
conscientiousness, emotional stability
• Drug test: Urinalysis and blood test

TIPS
• Companies have to check the predictive accuracy of these kinds of tests themselves and not rely solely
the results reported by test publishers
• Drug-testing must be conformed to some general rules
• Should be administered systematically to all applicants for the same job
• Use drug testing for jobs that involve safety hazards associated with failure to perform
• Should be reported back to applicants
• Should be conducted in an environment that is an un-intrusive as possible
• Should be held in strict confidence
• Should be part of a wider organizational program that provides rehabilitation counseling
COGNITIVE ABILITY TEST
Differentiate individuals based on their mental rather than physical capacities

• Test includes 3 Dimensions:

 Verbal comprehension: capacity to understand and use written and
spoken language
 Quantitative ability: speed and accuracy to solve arithmetic problems
of all kinds
 Reasoning ability: capacity to invent solutions to many diverse
problems
• Some jobs may require one or two dimensions but high complexity jobs
may require most.
• Jobs in rapidly changing industry (e.g. technology sector) often require high
levels of cognitive ability

+ Highly commercial tests are widely available and one general test is often as good as many tests of separate
dimensions.
+ Provide valid prediction of the job performance in many different kinds of contexts and countries
- When “Grade” is used, some amount of score difference may get ignored
- Applicants may have temptation to cheat to get higher score
PERSONALITY INVENTORIES
Categorize individuals by what they are like

EXTROVERSION

5 DIMENSIONS OF ADJUSTMENT
PERSONALITY AGREEBLENESS
(THE BIG FIVE) CONSCIENTIOUSNESS
OPENNESS to EXPERIENCE

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
SELF-REGULATION EMPATHY

SELF-AWARNESS SELF-MOTIVATION SOCIAL SKILLS

+ This test provide more job-specific insights

+ Companies can use this for staffing a team (Must remember to avoid fault lines)
- People lack insight into what their own personalities
- People’s personalities sometimes vary across different contexts
- Easy to fake traits
WORK SAMPLES
Prehiring context, to observe how the applicant performs in the simulated jobs

Examples:
 Standardized hypothetical case studies
 Role play
 Job tryout
 Hire on temporary basis
 Companies to sponsor competitions
 E.g. google code jam “wherever the best talent is, Google wants them”

+ More engaging
+ Higher levels of prediction of the applicants
- New test has to be developed for each job and because of no standardized formats, the test is relatively
expensive to develop

TIPS
• In the area of managerial selection, work-sample tests are typically the cornerstone in assessment centers.
• Assessment center : multiple raters and multiple selection methods to rate applicants
• One of the best combination of selection methods includes work-sample tests with a highly structured
interview and a measure of general cognitive ability.
Summary of Selection Methods
METHOD RELIABILITY VALIDITY GENERALIZABILITY UTILITY LEGALITY

Interviews Low if Low if Low Low, Low because of

unstructured unstructured expensive subjectivity and
bias
Reference Low Low Low Low, but Depends
Checks not
expensive
to obtain
Biographical High, if verified Low to High Usually job-specific High, not May have
Information expensive adverse impacts
Physical Ability High Moderate to Low Moderate May have
Test High adverse impacts
Cognitive Ability High Moderate High High May have
Test adverse impacts
Personality High Low to Low Low Low
Inventories moderate
Work-sample High High Usually job-specific High High
tests
Drug tests High High High Expensive Depends
 SUMMARY

• There are 5 critical standards with which all selection methods

should conform: Reliability, Validity, Generalizability, Utility and
Legality

• Although we covered 9 types of selection method, there is no

need to use only one type of test for any job.

• Indeed, managerial assessment centers use many different forms

of tests over two or three days period to learn as much as possible
about candidates. Thus, create highly accurate and valid
predictions.
THANK
YOU!