Predictors: Résumés are among the most
popular screening methods

This makes sense
 Applicants
perceive them
as fair (Steiner &
Gilliland 1996)
 Detailed background on
what a person has done
 Can be linked to job
analysis information
 No cost to collect them

This also seems strange
 Easy
to fake
 Biased information (only
good things are
mentioned)
 Hard to compare
 Expensive in terms of
employee time
Unit 2, Lecture 4: Initial Selection Techniques
Predictors: Seniority and Experience

Definitions

Seniority


Experience


Length of service with organization, department, or job
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 capricious treatment and favoritism
Promoting senior or experienced employees is socially acceptable -- viewed
as rewarding loyalty
Unit 2, Lecture 4: Initial Selection Techniques
Predictors: Seniority and Experience


Employees typically expect promotions will go to most senior or
experienced employee
Relationship to job performance



Experience is superior because it is:



Seniority is unrelated to job performance
Experience is moderately related to job performance, especially in the short
run
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
Unit 2, Lecture 4: Initial Selection Techniques
Predictors: Seniority and Experience


Experience is nearly universally used to select
individuals
There are many different ways to conceptualize
experience however
 Levels
of specificity: do you measure just the specific tasks
(from job analysis) the person is doing, or do you measure
the entire scope of the job?
 Measurement mode: do you measure quantity, quality, or
type of experience?
Unit 2, Lecture 4: Initial Selection Techniques
Predictors: Seniority and Experience
Corrected correlation with job performance
0.5
0.45
0.4
0.35
0.3
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
Time
Type
Task
Job
Organization
Quinones, Ford, & Teachout (1995) showed that work experience is not a unitary concept by
demonstrating by meta-analysis that the overall correlation of experience and job performance is .27
(Time = number of years, months practiced, times performed. Type = experience similar in type and
Unit
2, unit
Lecture
4: Initial
Selection
Techniques
size to target job. Athe
the
of analys
of task,
job, organization
Predictors: Seniority and Experience
Corrected Correlation with Performance
0.6
(McDaniel, Schmidt, &
Hunter, 1988) N = 16,058
0.5
The correlation between job
experience and job
performance moderated by
two variables:
0.4
1. length of experience
0.3
2. job complexity
0.2
The highest correlations were
found for those with
1. low mean levels of job
experience
0.1
0
0-2.99 years
3-5.99 years
Low complexity
6-8.99 years
9-11.99 years
High complexity
Unit 2, Lecture 4: Initial Selection Techniques
2. for jobs that place low
levels of cognitive
demands on employees
Predictors: Education and Job Performance

Arguments for using
education (Roth & Bobko,
2000)
 Indicator
for job skills
 Measures how smart
people are (r=.50+)
 Measures
conscientiousness (r=.35)
 Cheap and objective

Arguments against using
education
 Why
not measure
intelligence and skills
directly?
 Years of education is
vague
 Potential for adverse
impact against minorities
Unit 2, Lecture 4: Initial Selection Techniques
Predictors: Education and Job Performance
Correlations between Education and Performance
0.45
0.4
0.35
0.3
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
Years of
Education
GPA
(overall)
GPA
(business
jobs)
GPA
GPA
(medical (education
jobs)
jobs)
(Roth, BeVier, Switzer, & Schippmann, 1996)
Unit 2, Lecture 4: Initial Selection Techniques
Predictor: Job Specific Knowledge and Aptitude Tests

Work samples
Actual physical mock up of job tasks
 In-basket exercises for managerial tasks
 Relationship with job performance r=0.54


Job knowledge
Questions regarding factual and procedural elements of the
job
 Relationship with job performance r=0.48


Advantages and disadvantages of testing directly?
Unit 2, Lecture 4: Initial Selection Techniques
Predictor: Situational Judgment Tests



Present job applicants with realistic, job related
scenarios and evaluate their responses based on a
careful analysis of the tasks performed on the job
Scores are relative to those provided by experts in the
content area
Results from studies of organizations show that SJTs
are predictive of job performance
 are related to traits like general mental ability and personality

Unit 2, Lecture 4: Initial Selection Techniques
Predictor: Situational Judgment Tests


Sales Scenario
You are a Business Representative in the MSD Group. You have been in contact with an import company, CREO Imports, that is developing its electronic
equipment import business. This company has never had any personal contact with XYZ and has never shipped with XYZ. Most of its shipments have been truck
to local markets, but the company is very interested in extending its reach. Its orders in these new markets correspond to 45 loads worth $110,000 in the first
month, which represents a significant opportunity for XYZ.
The only relationship between CREO Imports and XYZ is your series of phone calls. You feel that a face-to-face meeting with them will be the most effective
way to further the relationship and help them feel comfortable with using your services.
For each of the following questions, choose the best possible response.
1. What information would MOST help you to convince your management of the potential
opportunity at CREO?
A. Comparison numbers for electronic equipment traffic vs. other traffic.
B. A review of XYZ’s service capabilities from the ports.
C. The customer’s projected shipping volume and the revenue generted.
D. Revenue and volume information on all electronic equipment import customers.
2. What would be the MOST important thing to ask the customer to help you plan the
most productive first meeting?
A. What the customer hopes to accomplish at the meeting.
B. What the customer’s strategic market goals are.
C. What the customer takes into consideration when choosing a transportation provider.
D. How the company is currently shipping.
3. What should be the primary focus of your initial meeting with the customer?
A. The benefits XYZ can offer the company as it moves into new markets.
B. Basic shipping information for inexperienced shippers.
C. Potential problems that may occur.
D. Other electronic equipment traffic that XYZ ships from ports.
Unit 2, Lecture 4: Initial Selection Techniques
Predictor: General mental ability for selection

Critical area for measurement
Everyone agrees that they want smarter employees
 Intelligence would seem to matter for every single aspect of
job performance
 There is evidence that this is something that is fairly stable
within a person


Why are intelligent individuals better at their jobs?
Unit 2, Lecture 4: Initial Selection Techniques
Predictor: General mental ability for selection



What is it?
 It goes by many names: g, general mental ability, IQ, intelligence
 A general measure of cognitive functioning that should work across several
different domains
 First proposed by Francis Galton, an English geneticist and relative of
Darwin
 It remains one of the most studied of all human characteristics
Is it really a trait? Is it stable?
 Test re-test (age 6 to 18=0.77; age 12 to age 18=0.89)
 Estimates of heritability range as high as h2=0.75
So what’s the alternative?
 The SAT/GRE dimensions
 Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences
Unit 2, Lecture 4: Initial Selection Techniques
Predictor: General mental ability for selection




After taking into account gender and physical stature,
brain size is correlated about .40 with IQ
The speed of nerve conduction is also correlated with
IQ
Energy expended during problem solving is inversely
related to IQ levels
The brain waves of individuals with higher IQs respond
more quickly to simple sensory stimuli (clicks, lights)
Unit 2, Lecture 4: Initial Selection Techniques
Predictor: General mental ability for selection

Correlation of GMA (1980) with life outcomes (1990)
Sample size = 8891 (NLSY)
0.70
0.60
Correlation
0.50
0.40
0.30
0.20
0.10
0.00
-0.10
-0.20
Education
Income
Self-esteem
-0.30
Weeks
unemployed
Criteria
Unit 2, Lecture 4: Initial Selection Techniques
Data clearly show that
general mental ability
as measured by the
ASVAB is correlated
with education levels,
income, self-esteem, and
weeks of unemployment
even with a 10-year
gap between measures
Predictor: General mental ability for selection
GATB Validity for:
Proficiency
Training
ratings
success
% of U.S. Workers
in these
occupations
Job complexity
General job families
High (synthesizing/coordination)
0.59
0.50
15%
Medium (compiling/computing)
0.51
0.57
63%
Low (comparing/copying)
0.40
0.54
18%
Industrial job families
High (setup work)
0.56
0.65
3%
Low (feedback/offbearing)
0.23
n/a
2%
Percentage of training
success explained by:
Everything
GMA
else
Nuclear weapons specialist
77.3%
0.8%
Air crew operations specialist
69.7%
1.8%
(Hunter and Hunter, 1984;
Weather specialist
68.7%
2.6%
Ree and Earles, 1990)
Intelligence specialist
66.7%
7.0%
Fireman
59.7%
0.6%
Dental assistant
55.2%
1.0%
Security police
53.6%
1.4%
Vehicle maintenance
49.3%
7.7%
General maintenance
28.4%
2.7%
Unit 2, Lecture 4: Initial Selection Techniques
Predictor: General mental ability for selection
Unit 2, Lecture 4: Initial Selection Techniques
Predictor: Personality

We can train people to do things where skills are
concerned. But there is one capability we do not have
and that is to change a person’s attitude. So we prefer
an unskilled person with a good attitude…to a highly
skilled person with a bad attitude


Herb Kelleher, CEO, Southwest Airlines
Most organizations want to hire people based on their
personalities, but personality is notoriously difficult to
measure
Unit 2, Lecture 4: Initial Selection Techniques
Predictor: Personality
Dimensions of personality: Meta-analytic results
Unit 2, Lecture 4: Initial Selection Techniques
Predictor: Personality
Conscientiousness




Tendency towards orderliness, dutifulness, achievement
striving, self-discipline, and caution
Are there positive features of this trait?
Are there drawbacks?
When do you think this would be most important?
Unit 2, Lecture 4: Initial Selection Techniques
Predictor: Personality
Conscientiousness

Summary of processes
Increases goal setting behaviors
 Increases self-efficacy
 Increases value placed on social order and conformity


Summary of situational effects
Stronger effects when situations are weak or when supervision
is non-existent
 Average conscientiousness of a group is related to group
performance
 Can actually decrease performance for novel tasks
 More likely to be entrepreneurs

Unit 2, Lecture 4: Initial Selection Techniques
Predictor: Personality
Extroversion




A tendency towards friendliness, gregariousness,
assertiveness, activity, and excitement seeking
Are there positive features of this trait?
Are there drawbacks?
When do you think this would be most important?
Unit 2, Lecture 4: Initial Selection Techniques
Predictor: Personality
Extroversion

Summary of processes





Decreases blood flow to frontal lobes
Both introverts and extraverts are trying to regulate their level of
psychological arousal
Associated with increased self-efficacy
Linked to achievement motivation
Summary of situational effects




More important in social situations like leadership
Can increase citizenship behavior (helping) in some social situations
Extraversion is a hindrance in distributive bargaining
Higher variability in extroversion linked to superior group performance
Unit 2, Lecture 4: Initial Selection Techniques
Predictor: Personality
Agreeableness




A tendency towards trust, morality, altruism,
cooperation, modesty, and sympathy
Are there positive features of this trait?
Are there drawbacks?
When do you think this would be most important?
Unit 2, Lecture 4: Initial Selection Techniques
Predictor: Personality
Agreeableness

Summary of processes




Associated with values of benevolence and traditionalism
Has a relatively large negative relationship with goal-setting
Breaks into two dimensions—morality and conflict avoidance
Summary of situational effects





Agreeable individuals are more helpful in minimally constrainted situations
Agreeable individuals prefer tasks calling for helping, but dislike tasks
calling for conflict
Agreeableness does not moderate helping friends or family—but
agreeableness does moderate helping strangers
Agreeableness is related to citizenship and helping performance in groups
(not surprisingly)
Agreeableness is a hindrance in distributive bargaining
Unit 2, Lecture 4: Initial Selection Techniques
Predictor: Personality
Openness to experience




A tendency towards imagination, artistic interests,
emotionality, adventurousness, “intellect”, and
liberalism
Are there positive features of this trait?
Are there drawbacks?
When do you think this would be most important?
Unit 2, Lecture 4: Initial Selection Techniques
Predictor: Personality
Openness to experience
 Summary of processes
Increased activity in the dopamine systems
 More flexible organization of ideas
 Mildly linked to goal setting motivation
 Place more value on universalism and self-direction; tend to
distain conformity and tradition


Summary of situational effects
Open individuals learn faster in situations calling for change
 Openness is very strongly linked to creativity
 More likely to be entrepreneurs

Unit 2, Lecture 4: Initial Selection Techniques
Predictor: Personality
Neuroticism

Summary of processes




Increased sensitivity to environmental stimuli due to activation of the
sympathetic nervous system
Linked to worry, negative emotional states, and increased use of avoidance
coping strategies
Negatively linked to all aspects of motivation
Summary of situational effects



Less likely to do well as entrepreneurs
Higher variability in neuroticism negatively linked to team performance
Interesting—not more likely to turnover from jobs and relationships with
performance as a whole are weak
Unit 2, Lecture 4: Initial Selection Techniques
Predictor: Personality
Core Self-Evaluations

Scale items
I am confident I get the success I deserve in life.
 I am capable of coping with most of my problems.
 There are times when things look pretty bleak and hopeless to
me (R).
 When I try, I generally succeed.
 I determine what will happen in my life.
 I am filled with doubts about my competence (R)

Unit 2, Lecture 4: Initial Selection Techniques
Predictor: Personality
Core Self Evaluations: Normal Personality

These are measures of core self-evaluations
 Typical
features
 Positive self image (self-esteem and self-efficacy)
 Internal locus of control
 Low neuroticism

Stability can be inferred from self-esteem measures
 Test-retest
correlations among adults over periods around
two years typically average around 0.60
 Lower stability in very young and very old individuals
Unit 2, Lecture 4: Initial Selection Techniques
Predictor: Personality
Core Self Evaluations: Performance

People with positive self-evaluations set higher goals for themselves, which is a major reason
for their higher levels of performance (Erez & Judge, 2001)
Unit 2, Lecture 4: Initial Selection Techniques
Predictor: Personality
Big Five Personality Traits at Work
Unit 2, Lecture 4: Initial Selection Techniques
Predictor: Interviews
Questions

Would you ever work at a company that didn’t interview
you first?
Why or why not?
 What do you try to learn in an interview?


Would you ever hire an applicant that hadn’t been
interviewed first?
Why or why not?
 What do managers try to learn in an interview?


As an applicant, what are the best and worst interview
experiences you’ve had
Unit 2, Lecture 4: Initial Selection Techniques
Predictor: Interviews
Interviews are very familiar and very important

Applicants typically like them
 Asked
applicants to rate
lots of methods of
selection
 They liked interviews,
simulations, and job
knowledge tests the best
 They liked personality
and life history items the
least

Organizations typically
like them too
 Interviews
are the most
common selection method
in real organizations
 Managers may prefer
candidates they have met
prior to hiring
Unit 2, Lecture 4: Initial Selection Techniques
Predictor: Interviews
What do interviewees say that they’re looking for?

In general, research suggests that applicants prefer:



Non-invasive questions
Interviewers who know something about the job (preferably not someone
from HR)
Interviewers’ general interpersonal skills





Warmth
Sincerity
Listening skills
However, job characteristics are much more predictive of applicant
intentions to take a job than are their perceptions of interviewers
Interviewers are seen as signals of the company’s culture
Unit 2, Lecture 4: Initial Selection Techniques
Predictor: Interviews
Huffcutt, Conway, Roth, & Stone:
Constructs Measured in Interviews

Tried to build up a taxonomy of constructs that might be relevant
for job performance





Mental capability, since most jobs obviously involve some mental operations
The actual declarative information a person has stored regarding the job
(knowledge and skills)
Personality traits as represented by the FFM
Applied social skills, which are apropos because interviews might be
especially good for measuring these
Fit with the values of the organization, that again might be difficult to assess
outside of a conversation
Unit 2, Lecture 4: Initial Selection Techniques
Predictor: Interviews
Research Had Demonstrated GMA Loadings for Interviews
Interview characteristics
rc
Overall relationship
0.40
Structure
Low
0.52
Medium
0.40
High
0.35
Situational
0.32
Behavioral
0.18
Yes
0.59
No
0.38
Content
Ability scores
available?

Interviews are correlated with GMA





More structured interviews are less
correlated with ability
Situational interviews are more
correlated with ability
When scores are available,
interviewers engage in confirmatory
biases
It may be that structured interviews
are sometimes designed to avoid
ability.
Huffcutt & Roth, 1996
Unit 2, Lecture 4: Initial Selection Techniques
Predictor: Interviews
Huffcutt, Conway, Roth, & Stone: Constructs Measured in Interviews
Structure
Overall
Low
High
General intelligence
.24
.26
.11
Job knowledge
.42
.49
.33
Extroversion
.33
.22
.40
Conscientiousness
.33
.24
.37
Agreeableness
.51
.25
.53
Emotional stability
.47
.18
.56
Interpersonal skills
.39
.31
.40
Communication skills
.26
.05
.31
Leadership
.47
.40
.40
Org. fit
.49
.07
.58


Interviewers are
basically looking for the
same things that most
tests are
Results suggest that
structured interviews
may do a slightly better
job at getting
personality
Unit 2, Lecture 4: Initial Selection Techniques
Predictor: Interviews
Huffcutt, Conway, Roth, & Stone:Constructs Measured in Interviews



Structured interviews appear to be better at
measuring several constructs that are important for job
performance
Unstructured interviews appeared to show larger race
and sex differences
Interviews are not really completely different from
tests, they measure many of the constructs we try to
assess with tests
Unit 2, Lecture 4: Initial Selection Techniques
Predictor: Interviews
Are there trade offs in which interview methods are best?
Legal defensibility?
 Face validity?
 Content validity?
 Criterion-related
validity?

0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
Unstr.
Semi-str. High str.
Unit 2, Lecture 4: Initial Selection Techniques
Predictor: Interviews
Methods for structured interviews

Behavioral interviews



Tell me about a time that you
showed leadership skills…
Premise: past behavior predicts
future behavior
Development


Get lists of critical behaviors
through interviewing incumbents
and SMEs
Develop scoring systems based on
points for quality of each
response

Situational interviews



Calculate a product demand
forecast given this raw data…
Premise: performance best
demonstrated by real life
situation
Development


Get lists of typical tasks through
interviewing incumbents and SMEs
Develop scoring systems based on
points for each response
Unit 2, Lecture 4: Initial Selection Techniques
Predictor: Interviews
Very common, but hopelessly vague questions

Tell me about yourself…
 Problem:

Totally unstandardized
What would you say is your greatest strength?
 Problem:
Again, unstandardized; difficult to define what a
“good” answer is

Describe a challenge you faced at your last job; how
did you overcome it?
 No
assurance this challenge is similar to the current job
Unit 2, Lecture 4: Initial Selection Techniques
Predictor: Interviews
Common behavioral interview questions




Describe a time when you independently decided that something
needed to be done, and you independently took responsibility for
making certain it was done.
Tell me about a problem that you tried to solve (at work) related
to task xxx on the job description. How did you identify and solve
the problem?
Describe a time when you tried to persuade someone to do
something that he/she was unwilling to do.
Describe a time when you had to do task xxx on the job
description.
Unit 2, Lecture 4: Initial Selection Techniques
Predictor: Interviews
Example: Developing a behavioral interview


Tell me about a time when you have worked with customers who were angry.
If you haven’t worked with customers, tell me about another time you dealt
with an angry person.
Examples of behaviors:




0 points: complained about customers and explained how they refused to back
down
1 point: gave a full refund or caved in completely without any supporting
information; described feeling stressed out
2 points: politely told the person that policy says no refunds are given; note
customer seemed to be happy in the end
3 points: apologize and explain that while store policy requires a receipt, the
person is welcome to contact the manager with further questions; note a positive
feeling from the customer at the end
Unit 2, Lecture 4: Initial Selection Techniques