Employee Testing & Selection

Chapter 5
 Person –
Person- Job Fit Negligent
Organization Fit
(P-J Fit) hiring
(P-O Fit)

Hiring workers with

questionable
backgrounds without
proper safeguards.
 Cognitive
(Mental
Abilities)

Types
Achievements
of Motor & Physical
Abilities

Tests

Personality &
Interests
Tests of Cognitive Abilities
 General Reasoning, memory & inductive reasoning.
 Intelligence Tests (IQ)
 Intellectual ability
 Range of abilities are measured
 Memory, Vocabulary, Verbal fluency & Numerical ability
 E.g: Wechsler adult intelligence tests, Wonderlic Tests

 Specific cognitive abilities

 Deductive reasoning, verbal comprehension, memory and
numeric ability
 Aptitude tests
Wechsler Test: https://openpsychometrics.org/tests/FSIQ/
Wonderlic Test: https://beatthewonderlic.com/take-a-free-wonderlic-test-online/
Test of Motor & Physical Abilities
 Motor Abilities  Physical Abilities
 Dexterity  strength
 Reaction time; speed,  Body coordination
accuracy  Stamina
Measuring Personality & Interests
 Personality Tests  Projective tests
 Big-five personality  Rorschach Inkblot test
dimensions  MAPS – Make a picture
story
 Forer Structured sentence
completion test
 Self-Reported  Interest Inventories
 MBIT  Comparison of ones
 https:// interests with other people
www.16personalities.com/free- in various occupations
personality-test  Determine preferred
occupation

 Strong Career Interest Tests

 Self-directed Search (SDS)
 www. Self-directed-
Search.com
Achievement Tests

To measure
job
knowledge

Can be
Targeted at
physical,
specific areas
verbal or
or expertise
written
Work Samples &
Simulations
Work Samples & Simulations
 Work sampling
 Actual job tasks used in testing applicants performance.
 Situations are representative of job they're applying for.

 Situational judgement tests

 Designed to assess applicants judgement regarding a situation.
Management Assessment Centers
2-3 day simulations of realistic management tasks.
• The candidate gets reports, memos, notes of incoming phone calls, e-
The in-basket. mails, and other materials collected in the actual or computerized in-
basket of the simulated job he or she is about to start.

Leaderless group • Trainers give a leaderless group a discussion question and tell
discussion. members to arrive at a group decision.

• Participants solve realistic problems as members of simulated

Management games. companies competing in a marketplace.

Individual oral • Here trainers evaluate each participant’s communication

presentations. skills and persuasiveness.

• These may include tests of personality, mental ability,

Testing. interests, and achievements.

• Most require an interview with a trainer to assess interests,

The interview past performance, and motivation.
Video-based situational testing
A manager is upset about the condition of the department and takes it
out on one of the department’s employees.
 Manager: Well, I’m glad you’re here.
 Associate: Why?
 Manager: I take a day off and come back to find the department in a mess. You should know
better.
 Associate: But I didn’t work late last night.
 Manager: But there have been plenty of times before when you’ve left this department in a
mess.
(The scenario stops here.)

If you were this associate, what would you do?

a. Let the other associates responsible for the mess know that you took the heat.
b. Straighten up the department, and try to reason with the manager later.
c. Suggest to the manager that he talk to the other associates who made the mess.
d. Take it up with the manager’s boss.
 Miniature Job Training &
Evaluation

 Training the candidates to

perform several job tasks
and then evaluating them
before making a final offer
to hire.
Realistic Job Preview
Testing & Selecting Employees
Reliability
 The consistency of scores obtained by the same person
when retested with the identical tests or with alternate
forms of the same test.
Test-retest • a test to a group one day, re-administer the same test
reliability several days later to the same group, and then correlate the
first set of scores with the second
estimates
Equivalent or
• administer a test and then administer what experts believe
alternate form to be an equivalent test later
estimate.
Internal • compare the test taker’s answers to certain questions on the
comparison test with his or her answers to a separate set of questions
on the same test aimed at measuring the same thing.
estimate
 Validity
 Measuring what it is supposed to measure.
 The performance on test accurately predicts the job
performance.

Criterion validity
Criterion validity (or criterion-
related validity) measures how
well one measure predicts an
outcome for another measure
scores on the test (predictors)
are related to job performance
(criterion)
e.g. scoring 85 & above in a
mechanical test
Content validity
fair sample of the tasks and
skills actually needed for the
job in question.
e.g. R&D analysts job –
statistical software's knowledge
e.g. Restaurant manager - time
pressure, people skills, task
delivery
Construct validity
(1) a selection procedure
measures a construct (an
abstract idea such as morale or
honesty)
(2) that the construct is
important for successful job
performance.
 Evidence-Based HR: How to Validate a Test

Relate your Cross-

Choose the Administer
Analyze the job test scores validate and
tests the test
and criteria revalidate
Background Investigations &
Other selection methods
Legal eligibility for employment
Dates of previous employment
Driving record
Military service
Education
Identification
Motor vehicle record
Reference checks
Trend: Social media profile check
 Compare
Respond to application
red flags form to
resume

Use open-
Phone
ended
references
questions

Steps for
Making the 360
Undertaking reference
Backgroun checking
d Check
Polygraph & honesty testing
 Polygraph
 A device that measures physiological changes like increased
perspiration, on the assumption that such changes reflect lying.

 Written Honesty Tests

 Pencil-paper or computerized
 Graphology
 The use of handwriting analysis to determine the writer’s
personality characteristics and moods, and even illnesses, such
as depression.

 Human Lie Detectors

 Physical And Medical Exam