Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Ms. Rachel Green asked that I write this letter in support of her
application as an assistant manager and I am pleased to do so. I
have known Rachel for six years as she was my assistant in the
accounting department.
Ms. Monica Geller asked that I write this letter in support of her
application as an assistant manager and I am pleased to do so. I
have known Monica for six years as she was my assistant in the
accounting department.
• Types of Experience
– Work
– Life
Experience
• Evaluated through:
– Application blanks
– Resumes
– Interviews
– Reference checks
– Biodata instruments
Experience
• Considerations
– How much experience?
– How well did the person perform?
– How related is it to the current job?
Experience Predicts Best…
• Credit prior work experience only:
– In the same occupational area as that in which performance is to
be predicted
– In the performance of tasks or functions that have direct
application on the job
• Recency of experience should be used as a decision rule for awarding
credit only when justified on a case-by-case basis
• Credit for duration of work experience should be limited to a few
years.
• High prediction up to about 3 years of experience, declining to low
prediction for more than 12 years of experience.
Biodata
A selection method that considers an
applicant’s life, school, military,
community, and work experience
Example of Biodata Items
Development of Biodata Items
1. Choose a job
2. Create pool of potential biodata items
3. Choose a criterion to measure behavior
4. Prescreen items and test on employees
5. Retest items on second sample of
employees
Biodata Standards
Gandy & Dye, 1989; Mael, 1991
Good Biodata Items Bad Biodata Items
Historical Future or Hypothetical
How old were you when you got What position do you think you will
your first paying job? be holding in 10 years?
External Internal
Did you ever get fired from a job? What is your attitude toward
friends who smoke marijuana?
Objective Subjective
How many hours did you study for Would you describe yourself as
your bar exam? shy?
First-hand Second-hand
How punctual are you about How would your teachers describe
coming to work? your punctuality?
Good Biodata Items Bad Biodata Items
Discrete Summative
At what age did you get your driver’s How many hours do you study during an
license? average week?
Verifiable Non-verifiable
What was your grade point average in How may servings of fresh vegetables do
college? you eat everyday?
Controllable Non-controllable
How many tries did it take you to pass How many brothers and sisters do you
the CPA exam? have?
Noninvasive Invasive
Were you on the tennis team in college? How many young children do you have at
home?
Strengths of Biodata
Electronic Testing
• Polygraph testing
Reliability
• Reports of test-retest reliabilities between .90-.70
Evaluation of Integrity Tests
• Advantages
– Good validity (ρ = .34)
– Inexpensive to use
– Easy to administer
– Little to no racial adverse impact
• Disadvantages
– Males have a higher fail rate than females
– Younger people have a higher fail rate than older people
– Failure has a negative psychological impact on
applicants.
Conditional Reasoning Tests
• Designed to reduce faking
• Applicants are given a series of statements and asked to select the
reason that justifies each statement
• Aggression predicts CWB (r = .16) and job performance (r = .14)
• Aggressive individuals tend to believe
– most people have harmful intentions behind their behavior (hostile
attribution bias)
– it is important to show strength or dominance in social interactions
(potency bias)
– it is important to retaliate when wronged rather than try to maintain a
relationship (retribution bias)
– powerful people will victimize less powerful individuals (victimization
bias)
– evil people deserve to have bad things happen to them (derogation of
target bias)
– social customs restrict free will and should be ignored (social discounting
bias).
Graphology
• Concept
– A person’s handwriting is a reflection on his or her personality and
character
• Use
– 6,000 U.S. organizations
– 75% of organizations in France
– 8% of organizations in the United Kingdom
• Evaluation
– Few studies
– Validity depends on the writing sample
• Autobiographical (r = .16, p = .22)
• Non-autobiographical (r = .09, p = .12)
Drug Testing
Forms of Testing
– Pre-employment testing
– Random selection at predetermined times
– Random selection at random times
– Testing after an accident or disciplinary action
Responses to the Presence of Drugs
– 98% of job offers withdrawn
– Current employees who test positive
• 25% are fired after a positive test
• 66% are referred to counseling and treatment
Two Stages of Drug Testing
• Initial screening of hair or urine
– Cheaper method ($30 for urine, $50 for hair sample)
– Enzyme Multiplied Immunoassay Technique (EMIT)
– Radioimmunoassay (RIA)
• Confirmation test
– Typically used only after a positive initial screening
– Thin layer chromatography/mass spectrometry
– More expensive
Other Exams
1. Psychological Exams
2. Medical Exams
– After the offer has been made
– For jobs requiring public safety
Typical Corrected Validity Coefficients for
Selection Techniques
Method Validity Method Validity
Structured Interview .57 College grades .32
Cognitive ability .51 References .29
Biodata .51 Experience .27
Job knowledge .48 Conscientiousness .24
Work samples (verbal) .48 Unstructured interviews .20
Assessment centers .38 Interest inventories .10
Integrity tests .34 Handwriting analysis .02
Situational judgment .34 Projective personality tests .00
Summary of Types of Selection
Methods
1. Training and Education 4. Knowledge
• Degree • Job Knowledge Tests
• GPA 5. Experience
2. Ability • Application Blank
•
• Resumes
Cognitive • Interviews
• Perceptual • Reference Checks
• Pychomotor • Biodata
• Physical 6. Personality and
3. Applicant Skills Character
• Work Samples • Personality Tests
• Assessment Techniques • Integrity Tests
• Resume
• Interest Inventories
Rejecting an Applicant
• A personally addressed signed letter
• Appreciating for applying
• Complimenting qualifications
• Some information about the individual who
got hired
• A wish of luck
• A promise to keep application on file