Selection
Selection
• Overview
• Reliability & validity
• Initial screening
• Interview
• Employment testing
• Other selection tools
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MGMT 412 | Selection
Fall 2008
The Importance of Selection
• The first high-performance work
practice
• The economic value of better
employees
• Job skills (job match)
• Attitudes (organization match)
• The selection process as a ritual of
passage
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MGMT 412 | Selection
Fall 2008
Overview: The Selection Process
• Determining if a match exists
• Person-job match
• Person-organization match
• Multiple hurdle approach
• Precise steps depend on organization
• Begin with the less expensive steps
• More expensive or more lengthy screens when
applicant pool is smaller
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MGMT 412 | Selection
Fall 2008
Back to Reliability & Validity
Remember that under Uniform Guidelines, any selection
procedure counts as a “test,” for purposes of requiring validity
evidence
• Will we ever see a perfect correlation between test scores and
subsequent job behavior / performance?
•
• No
• But, tests, interviews, etc. are the best we’ve got.
• Look for .50 as the gold standard of validity (lower than .20 to be
avoided)
•
Another measurement issue….
• Whatever you use needs to distinguish among individuals; if
everyone gets the same score, what’s the point?
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MGMT 412 | Selection
Fall 2008
Reliability
Selection procedures need to be both reliable and valid
• Called for under Uniform Guidelines, but a standard
psychometric concept
• Reliability
•
• Does a procedure (test, interview) provide consistent results?
Candidate 1
Candidate 2
Candidate 3
Candidate 4
Candidate 5
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Interviewer A
90%
45%
71%
85%
18%
MGMT 412 | Selection
Interviewer B
87%
51%
75%
90%
18%
Fall 2008
Validity
• Does the procedure measure what it is
designed to measure?
• Called for under Uniform Guidelines, but,
again, a standard psychometric concept
100
95
90
85
80
75
70
65
60
55
50
100
95
90
85
80
75
70
65
60
55
50
0
1
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2
3
4
5
0
MGMT 412 | Selection
1
2
3
4
5
Fall 2008
No
Yes
Test Results Positive
Consequences of Error
Loss of
Talent
Appropriate
Reject
Good
Hire
Bad
Hire
Yes
No
Applicant Truly Qualified
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MGMT 412 | Selection
Fall 2008
Initial Screening
• Realistic job preview
• Employment applications
• Resumes
• Screening interviews
• Applicant tracking systems
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MGMT 412 | Selection
Fall 2008
Realistic Job Preview
• Lets the applicant know what the job
involves -- the good and the bad
• Idea is to self-select out individuals
• Also, employees later see this as fair
treatment
• Can be combined with recruiting / sales
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MGMT 412 | Selection
Fall 2008
Application Forms
•
•
•
•
•
Paper or electronic
Identifying information
Education
Past experience
Other skills
• License or certification if appropriate
•
Applicant signature
• Permission to conduct background check
• Termination for false or misleading information
• Have applicants complete form even if resume provided
•
Weighted Application Blank
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MGMT 412 | Selection
Fall 2008
Resumes
• Little known about resumes
• Standards of quality on a steady rise
• People do lie on resumes - what can
you do to detect this?
• Verify information
• Ask questions
• Look for what isn’t included, gaps and
contradictions
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MGMT 412 | Selection
Fall 2008
The Screening Interview
• Brief
• Based on job description and
resume/application
• Purpose:
• Making the initial cut
• Public relations
• New technology
• Video
• Telephone
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MGMT 412 | Selection
Fall 2008
Applicant Tracking Systems
• Computerized data bases of applicant
information
• Implication for job seekers:
• Resumes need to be in a standard format
and type font
• Some even add “key words”
Page 14
MGMT 412 | Selection
Fall 2008
The Employment Interview:
Overview
• Why use the interview?
• Types of interviews
• Problems with the interview
Page 15
MGMT 412 | Selection
Fall 2008
Types of Interviews
• Screening interview (already covered)
• “Free-form” interview
• Structured interview
• Panel interview
• Non-directive interview
• Stress interview
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MGMT 412 | Selection
Fall 2008
“Free Form” Interview
Unplanned and unprepared
• Not based on KSAOs required for job
• Questions often casual:
•
• “Tell me about yourself”
•
May involve interviewer “pet questions”:
• “What is your greatest strength?”
• “What is your greatest weakness”
•
Speculative questions:
• “What would you like to be doing ten years from now?”
•
Quick decision made (often in first few minutes)
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MGMT 412 | Selection
Fall 2008
Structured Interviews: What
• Two basic types:
• Situational (“What would you do?”)
• Experience-based (What did you do?)
• Responses can be handled in several ways
• Interviewer can rate applicant based on responses
• Responses can actually be scored
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MGMT 412 | Selection
Fall 2008
Structured Interviews: Why
• Far greater validity than unstructured or free-
form interviews
• r = .44
• That is, about 19% in variance explained by
interview
• Equal to any other predictor (such as tests)
• Based on relevant KSAOs and job tasks
• Job analysis essential
• Critical incident approach to job analysis
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MGMT 412 | Selection
Fall 2008
The Situational Interview
• Based on behaviors, rather than traits
• Best predictor of future behavior is past
behavior
• Harder to fake
• Validity about .50
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MGMT 412 | Selection
Fall 2008
A Situational Question: Job
Duties
Suppose you find yourself in an
argument with several co-workers
about who should perform a very
disagreeable, but routine task.
Which of the following would likely
be the most effective way to resolve
this situation?
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MGMT 412 | Selection
Fall 2008
Some Possible Responses:

Have your supervisor decide, because this
would avoid any personal bias

Arrange for a rotating
everyone shares the chore

Let the workers who show up earliest
choose on a first-come, first-serve basis

Randomly assign a person to perform the
task and don’t change the assignment
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MGMT 412 | Selection
schedule
so
Fall 2008
A Situational Question: Organization
Behavior
• You have an emergency at home
(plumbing, family illness, whatever). It’s
two hours before your shift starts.
What do you do?
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MGMT 412 | Selection
Fall 2008
Experience-Based Questions
• What is the correct procedure for
determining the appropriate oven
temperature when running a new batch
of steel?
• How do you set up files to perform a
mail merge?
• What are several ways of prospecting
for sales leads?
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MGMT 412 | Selection
Fall 2008
A Rating Scale
"Describe a time when you explained technical
features of a project to someone who had a limited
background in the field"
1
Low
Does not describe such an
experience
3
Medium
Provides a general description, but
few details
5
High
Describes a situation in detail,
including questions asked and
appropriate information provided
Page 25
MGMT 412 | Selection
Fall 2008
Panel Interviews
• Can be free-form or structured
• May be used in team environment or
public sector
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MGMT 412 | Selection
Fall 2008
Non-Directive Interviews
• Conducted by a trained psychologist
• Not unplanned or random, but general
rather than job-specific
• Found in assessment setting, where it is
combined with other selection tools
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MGMT 412 | Selection
Fall 2008
Stress Interviews
• This type of interview supposedly
assesses the applicant’s ability to cope
with stress
• Developed for use by OSS in WW II
• Not particularly valid
• VERY negative applicant reactions
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MGMT 412 | Selection
Fall 2008
What Should the Interviewer Do?
• Begin with light conversation to set the stage
• Talk 10% of the time
• Keep interview on course
• Follow-up for complete information
• Probe for additional information
• Keep to original plan
• Take notes
• What the candidate says
• What the candidate doesn’t say
• How the candidate answers the questions
• Avoid answering “Do I get the job?”
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MGMT 412 | Selection
Fall 2008
Contrast Error
First and Last Impressions
Halo Effect
Stereotyping
“Similar-to-Me Effect”
Central Tendency Error
Negative and Positive Leniency
Landmines to Avoid
BAD
BETTER
BAD
BETTER
BAD
BETTER
BAD
BETTER
Page 31
"Do you have any physical disabilities?"
"The job requires lifting up to 50 pounds. Can you perform this
activity?"
"Do you own your own home? Rent?"
There is no better way to ask this question; it has nothing to do with
performing a job.
"Do you have children? Do you plan to have children? Who takes
care of your children?"
"This job requires shift work / overtime / travel. Will this be a
problem for you?
"When did you graduate from high school?"
If the high school education is job-related, ask "Did you graduate
from high school?"
MGMT 412 | Selection
Fall 2008
Employment Testing
• Overview
• Computerized testing
• Skill testing
• Personality testing
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MGMT 412 | Selection
Fall 2008
Testing Overview
• General issues in testing
• Access to tests and confidentiality
• Applicants entitled to confidentiality
• Validity goes out the window if test security
compromised
• Establishing validity
• Computerized testing
• Types of tests
• General ability
• Job skill
• Personality
Page 33
MGMT 412 | Selection
Fall 2008
Computerized Testing
• Has become extremely popular, Internet-based
testing especially
• Definitely an advantage for distant applicants,
geographically dispersed organizations
• Questions and concerns
• Not much is known about the significance of transferring
tests from paper-and-pencil format to computer
• Security issues
• Do applicants need computer skills? If not, computer
testing introduces irrelevancies
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MGMT 412 | Selection
Fall 2008
General Ability Testing
• Content or criterion validity model
• General mental ability (current area of controversy)
• Specific types of intelligence
•
•
•
•
Verbal
Mathematical
Mechanical
Social
• Physical abilities
• Psychomotor (coordination)
• Physical strength
• Sensory / perceptual abilities
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MGMT 412 | Selection
Fall 2008
Job Skill Testing
• Content or criterion validity model
• Some examples
• Typing tests
• In-baskets
• Supervisory skills
• Arithmetic skills
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MGMT 412 | Selection
Fall 2008
Basic Issues in Personality
Testing
• Construct validity model
• Types of personality tests
• Paper-and-pencil
• Interview
• Projection
• Validity good, if properly selected and
interpreted
• Normally requires professional expertise
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MGMT 412 | Selection
Fall 2008
Caution!
•
Polygraph is generally illegal, unless:
• Security services
• Manufacturers or distributors of controlled substances
• Government
•
Honesty / reliability tests (Reid Report, Stanton Survey, etc.)
•
•
•
•
•
•
Designed to detect individuals who may be dishonest
What is integrity?
Tests are relatively easy to fake
Do they predict? Some evidence that they do
Other ways to maintain employee honesty
Tests not appropriate for selection
• MMPI (designed for clinical settings)
• MBTI (validity questionable for selection, suitable for teambuilding
activities)
Page 38
MGMT 412 | Selection
Fall 2008
Other Selection Tools
• Reference checking
• License verification
• Physical exams
• Drug screening
• Handwriting analysis
• Assessment centers and individual
assessment
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MGMT 412 | Selection
Fall 2008
Reference Checking
• Why?
• Approaches
• What are you likely to find out?
• Legal issues in providing references
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MGMT 412 | Selection
Fall 2008
Why Check References?
• Remember, estimated 1/3 of resumes contain
inaccurate information
• Legal issue: negligent hiring
• Here, charges are placed by a third party
• An injury must be caused by employee
• Employee must be unfit for job
• Injury must be foreseeable result of hiring
employee
• Injury is reasonable and probable outcome of
what employer did /did not do in hiring employee
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MGMT 412 | Selection
Fall 2008
Approaches and Methods
• Who
• Former employers
• School
• Public records
• How
• Telephone
• Mail
• Letters of reference
• In-person
Page 42
MGMT 412 | Selection
Fall 2008
Reference Checking: What Former
Employers Will Tell
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Dates of employment (96%)
Eligibility for rehire (65%)
Job qualifications (56%)
Overall impression (49%)
Salary history (45%)
Driving record (42%)
Work habits (41%)
Human relations skills (37%)
Credit history (25%)
Personality traits (24%)
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MGMT 412 | Selection
Fall 2008
Providing References: Legal
Issues
• Adverse impact
• Defamation of character
• Written or oral statement must be given
• False statement of fact (knowingly)
• Injury must have occurred
• “Passing the trash”
• Providing favorable reference for one
employee sets a precedent
• Relief in sight?
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MGMT 412 | Selection
Fall 2008
Reference Checking: What to Do
• Ask applicant for additional references if
others cannot be obtained
• Check everything on resume or application
• Look for information on job-related issues;
don’t use one general form for all applicants
• Monitor for adverse impact and adverse
treatment
• Look for objective, not subjective information
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MGMT 412 | Selection
Fall 2008
Reference Checking: More
Suggestions
• Get written permission from applicants
• Train telephone checkers
• Record everything in writing
• Be careful in using negative information
• Could be a personal conflict or atypical behavior
• Verify from an alternate source
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MGMT 412 | Selection
Fall 2008
Physical Exams and Drug
Screening
• The last step before hiring
• Why?
• Cost factor
• Only after contingent offer of employment
• Physical exams
• Can the person perform the job?
• Pre-existing conditions (later workers’ comp claims)
• Drug screens
• Urine or hair
• Mandated for some industries (utilities, transportation)
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MGMT 412 | Selection
Fall 2008
Handwriting Analysis
• There is some legitimate psychological research in
this area
• Primarily European and Israeli
• Based on Freudian / Jungian theory (gestalt graphology)
• Often used in Europe; a handwritten letter of
application is the norm in France
• Validity very questionable
• US research does not support validity
• When validity found, often contamination from the content
of the written text
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MGMT 412 | Selection
Fall 2008
Assessment Centers
The origin: OSS selection during WWII
• Where do we see ACs?
•
• Used primarily for management jobs, possibly for supervisory and
professional jobs
• Private and public sector
Multiple methods of assessment
• The purpose of ACs:
•
• Selection from outside
• Promotion to an open position
• Succession planning
• Individual career development
•
Reports prepared for manager and/or candidate
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MGMT 412 | Selection
Fall 2008