Lecture 5

Employee Testing and

Selection

MGT 351 UHM

 Look for COMPATIBILTY, not just LIKEABILTY!

The “Big Five”

Extraversion

Emotional stability/
Conscientiousness
Neuroticism

Openness to
Agreeableness
experience
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Why employee selection is important?
• Organizational Performance
• Person-Job fit
• Person- Organization fit
• KSACs (knowledge, skills, abilities and other competencies)
• Costs of recruiting and hiring
• Legal obligations and liability
• Non-discriminatory recruitment and selection procedure
• Negligent hiring
• Criminal records

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Testing Tool Characteristics
Reliability – refers to the consistency
• Test-retest reliability estimate
• Equivalent or alternate form estimate
• Internal comparison estimate

Validity – refers to the correctness of the inference

– Criterion validity
– Content validity
– Construct validity
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Evidence-Based HR: How to Validate a Test
Steps in Test Validation
1 Analyze the Job: predictors and criteria

2 Choose the Tests: test battery or single test

3 Administer the Test: concurrent or predictive validation

4 Relate Your Test Scores and Criteria: scores versus actual

performance (check Figure 1)

5 Cross-Validate and Revalidate: repeat Steps 3 and 4 with a

different sample (understand bias and utility)

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 FIGURE 1 Expectancy Chart

Note: This expectancy

chart shows the relation
between scores made
on the Minnesota Paper
Form Board and rated
success of junior Lecture 5 Employee Testing and Selection UHM 6
draftspersons.
Do you believe every organization,
big or small, carries over the entire
process of test validation?

Lecture 5 Employee Testing and Selection UHM 7

Validity Generalization
• It 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.

Lecture 5 Employee Testing and Selection UHM 8

 Types of Tests

What Different Tests Measure

Cognitive Motor and Personality Current

abilities physical abilities and interests achievement

Lecture 5 Employee Testing and Selection UHM 9

Work Samples and Simulations
Measuring Work Performance
Directly

Management Video-based Miniature job

Work
assessment situational training and
samples
centers testing evaluation

Lecture 5 Employee Testing and Selection UHM 10

Background Investigations and Other Methods
• Investigations and Checks
• Reference checks
• Background employment checks
• Criminal records
• Driving records
• Credit checks
• Why?
• To verify factual information provided by applicants
• To uncover damaging information

Lecture 5 Employee Testing and Selection UHM 11

Background Investigations and
Reference Checks

Former Employers

Current Supervisors

Sources of Commercial Credit

Information Rating Companies

Written References

Social Networking Sites

Lecture 5 Employee Testing and Selection UHM 12

Limitations on Background Investigations
and Reference Checks
Legal Issues:
Defamation

Background
Employer Legal Issues:
Guidelines
Investigations and Privacy
Reference Checks

Supervisor
Reluctance

Lecture 5 Employee Testing and Selection UHM 13

Making Background Checks More Useful
1. Include on the application form a statement for applicants to sign
explicitly authorizing a background check.
2. Use telephone references if possible.
3. Be persistent in obtaining information.
4. Compare the submitted résumé to the application.
5. Ask open-ended questions to elicit more information from
references.
6. Use references provided by the candidate as a source for other
references.
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The Polygraph and Honesty Testing
• Employee Polygraph Protection Act of 1988
• Generally prohibits polygraph examinations by all private employers unless:
• The employer has suffered an economic loss or injury.
• The employee in question had access to the property.
• There is a reasonable prior suspicion.
• The employee is told the details of the investigation, as well as questions to be asked on
the polygraph test itself.
• Private business exceptions:
• Private security employees
• Employees with access to drugs
• Ongoing economic loss or injury investigations

Lecture 5 Employee Testing and Selection UHM 15

Honesty Testing Programs: What Employers Can Do
• Antitheft Screening Procedure:
• Ask blunt questions.
• Listen, rather than talk.
• Do a credit check.
• Check all employment and personal references.
• Use paper-and-pencil honesty tests and psychological
tests.
• Test for drugs.
• Establish a search-and-seizure policy and conduct
searches.

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Physical Examinations
• Reasons for preemployment medical examinations:
• To verify that the applicant meets the physical requirements of the position.
• To discover any medical limitations to be taken into account in placing the
applicant.
• To establish a record and baseline of the applicant’s health for future
insurance or compensation claims.
• To reduce absenteeism and accidents.
• To detect communicable diseases that may be unknown to the applicant.

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Substance Abuse Screening
• Types of Screening
• Before formal hiring
• After a work accident
• Presence of obvious behavioral symptoms
• Random or periodic basis
• Transfer or promotion to new position
• Types of Tests
• Urinalysis
• Hair follicle testing

Lecture 5 Employee Testing and Selection UHM 18