Selection: Interviewing

Candidates
Session 7- 8

Sonakshi Gupta

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Learning Objectives
6.1 Answer the question: Why is it important to test and
select employees?
6.2 Explain what is meant by reliability and validity.
6.3 List and briefly describe the basic categories of selection
tests, with examples.
6.4 Explain how to use two work simulations for selection.
6.5 Describe four ways to improve an employer’s
background checking process.

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Why Employee Selection Is Important
• Performance
• Cost
• Legal obligations
• Person and job/organization fit

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The Basics of Testing and Selecting
Employees
• Reliability
• Validity

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Test Reliability
• Reliability is a selection tool’s first requirement. It is
defined as the consistency of scores obtained by the
same person when retested with the identical tests or
with alternate forms of the same test.

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What Can Cause a Test to be Unreliable?
• Physical conditions
• Differences in the test taker
• Differences in test administration
• The questions may do a poor job of sampling the material

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Reliability Coefficient
Figure 6-1 Test Score Correlation Examples

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Test Validity
• Validity is the accuracy with which a test (or selection tool)
measures what it purports to measure or fulfills the function
it was designed to fill.

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How to Demonstrate Validity
1. Criterion Validity
2. Content Validity
3. Construct Validity

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Evidence-Based HR: How to Validate a
Test (1 of 2)
Step 1: Analyze The Job
Step 2: Choose The Test
Step 3: Administer The Test
Step 4: Relate Your Test Scores and Criteria
Step 5: Cross-Validate and Revalidate

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Utility Analysis
• Answering the question, “Does it pay to use the test?”
requires utility analysis.
• Shows the degree to which use of a selection measure
improves the quality of individuals selected over what
would have happened if the measure had not been used.

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Validity Generalization
• Validity generalization “refers to the degree to which
evidence of a measure’s validity obtained in one situation
can be generalized to another situation without further
study.”

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Test Taker’s Individual Rights and Test
Security
• The American Psychological Association’s (APA) standard
for educational and psychological test.
• These guide psychologists but are not legally enforceable.
• Test takers have rights:
– To the confidentiality of test results.
– To informed consent regarding use of these results.
– To expect that only people qualified to interpret the
scores will have access to them, or that sufficient
information will accompany the scores to ensure their
appropriate interpretation.
– To expect the test is fair. For example, no test taker
should have prior access to the questions or answers.
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Diversity Counts

Gender Issues in Testing

Interpret results with care

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Types of Tests
• Tests of cognitive abilities
– Intelligence tests (IQ)
– Specific cognitive abilities
• Tests of motor & physical abilities
• Measuring personality
• Interest inventories
• Achievement tests

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Work Samples and Simulations
• With work samples, you present examinees with situations
representative of the job for which they’re applying, and
evaluate their responses.
• Considered tests

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Using Work Sampling for Employee
Selection
• Basic procedure
• Situational judgment tests
• Management Assessment Centers
• Situational Testing
• Video-Based Situational Testing
• The Miniature Job Training and Evaluation Approach
• Realistic Job Preview
• Choosing a Selection Method

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Management Assessment Centers
Examples

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Background Investigations and Other
Selection Method
• Background investigations
• Reference checks
• Pre-employment information services
• Human lie detector
• Substance abuse screening

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Why Perform Background
Investigations and Reference Checks?
• Avoid hiring mistakes
– Verify information
– Uncover damaging information

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Using Preemployment Information
Services
• Background checks can be outsourced to certain
companies that provides such services. This way the
employers don’t have to do the background checks on
their own
• The organization has to pay the company for their services

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Steps for Making the Background
Check More Valuable
• Statement authorizing a background check
• Phone references
• Attentiveness to red flags
• Compare the application to the resume
• Ask open-ended questions
• Ask references to suggest other references
• Aim for “360” reference checking

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“Human Lie Detectors”
• Testing for honesty
– Practical guidelines

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Physical Exams
• Physical exams
– After the job offer has been extended
• Reasons for Physical exams
– To verify that the applicant meets the job’s physical
requirements,
– To discover any medical limitations you should consider
in placement,
– and to establish a baseline for future workers’
compensation claims.
– Exams can also reduce absenteeism and accidents
and detect communicable diseases.

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Substance Abuse Screening and Drug
Testing Legal Issues
• Common in western companies, not used much in India

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Thank You

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