Welcome

Employee Testing and Selection

Reza Bilgin
[email protected]
 Topics
• The Importance of Testing and selecting Employees
• Reliability and Validity
• The basic categories of selection tests
• Four ways to improve an employer’s background checking
process
• Two work simulations for selection
Why Employee Selection Is Important?
Why Employee Selection Is Important?
Why Employee Selection Is Important?
 Why Employee Selection Is Important?
• Person and job fit & person organization (culture) fit
• Performance
• Cost
• Legal obligations
 Legal Obligations
• The EEO laws boil down to two things:
• You must be able to prove that your tests are related to success or
failure on the job, and
• You must prove that your tests don’t unfairly discriminate against
either minority or nonminority subgroups.
 Legal Obligations
• Test takers have rights such as:
• 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.

• The Federal Privacy Act gives federal employees the right to inspect
their personnel files, and limits the disclosure of personnel
information without the employee’s consent, (the recent hacking of
federal employees’ files notwithstanding) among other things.
 KSACs
• Knowledge
• Skills
• Abilities
• Competencies
 Selection Tools
• Tests
• Assessment centers
• Interviews
• Background and reference checks
 Activity: Read and Comment
Crowd Sourcing at Google: Google knows that to maintain its fast-growth
strategy, it needs to keep new Google tools like Gmail and Google Maps
coming. To support that strategy, Google needs its employees engaged and
interacting with each other. Having employees thinking of themselves in isolated
silos would inhibit the cross-pollination Google depends on. In formulating its
employee selection practices, Google therefore found a way to foster the
employee engagement and interaction its success depends on. Google uses
crowd sourcing when it comes to making hiring decisions. Here s how it works.
When a prospective employee applies for a job, his or her information (such as
school and previous employers) goes into Google s applicant tracking system
(ATS). The ATS then matches the applicant s information with that of current
Google employees. When it finds a match, it asks those Google employees to
comment on the applicant s suitability for the position. This helps give Google
recruiters a valuable insight into how the Google employees actually doing the
work think the applicant will do at Google. And it supports Google s strategy, by
fostering a sense of community and interaction among Google employees, who
see themselves working together to select new Googlers.
 How Do Employers Use Test at Work?
• About 41% of companies in one survey tested applicants for
basic skills (defined as the ability to read instructions, write
reports, and do arithmetic).
• About 67% of the respondents required employees to take job
skills tests, and 29% required some form of psychological
measurement.
• Tests are not just for lower-level workers. In general, as work
demands increase(in terms of skill requirements, training, and
pay), employers tend to rely more on selection testing.
• Employers don’t use tests just to find good employees, but also
to screen out bad ones.
 Test Requirements
• A test is basically a sample of a persons behavior
•Reliability
•Validity
•Criterion validity
•Content validity
•Construct validity
 Selection Tools Challenges
• Bias: A test for a certain social group might not fit others
• Utility: The cost of a test might out weight its benefit
• Validity generalization
 Test Reliability
• The consistency of scores obtained by the same person when
retested with the identical tests or with alternate forms of the
same test
 Sources of Unreliability
• Physical conditions (quiet one day noisy nest day, lighting,
temperature, etc.
• Differences in the test taker (healthy, sick)
• Differences in test administration
• The questions may do a poor job of sampling the material
Reliability Correlation
 Test Validity
• The accuracy with which a test, interview, and so on, measure
what is purports to measure or fulfills the function it was
designed to fill.
 Validity (3C)
• Criterion Validity
• Content Validity
• Construct Validity
 Criterion Validity
• Involves demonstrating statistically a relationship between
scores on a selection procedure and job performance of a
sample of workers.
• Example, it means demonstrating that those who do well on the test
also do well on the job, and that those who do poorly on the test do
poorly on the job
 Content Validity
• Is a demonstration that the content of a selection procedure is
representative of important aspects of performance on the job.
• Example, employers may demonstrate the content validity of a test
by showing that the test constitutes a fair sample of the job’s
content. The basic procedure here is to identify job tasks that are
critical to performance, and then randomly select a sample of those
tasks to test.
• In selecting students for dental school, many schools give applicants
chunks of chalk, and ask them to carve something that looks like a
tooth.
 Construct Validity
• Construct validity means demonstrating that
• A selection procedure measures a construct (an abstract idea such as
morale or honesty)
• The construct is important for successful job performance.
 Test Validation
• Step 1: Analyze The Job and write job descriptions and job
specifications. The aim here is to specify the human traits and
skills you believe are required for job performance and identify
predictors
• Step 2: Choose The Test
• Step 3: Administer The Test: Concurrent validation, Predictive
validation
 Test Validation
• Step 4: Relate Your Test Scores and Criteria: ascertain if there is a
significant relationship between test scores (the predictor) and
performance (the criterion). The usual method is to determine the
statistical relationship between
• scores on the test
• job performance using correlation analysis, which shows the degree
of statistical relationship.
• Step 5: Cross-Validate and Revalidate (Periodically repeat 3 & 4)
Expectancy Chart
 More on Testing
• Test Taker’s Individual
• Test Security
• Testing and Equal Employment Opportunity
 Types of Test
• Test of cognitive abilities
• Intelligence tests (IQ): abilities, including memory, vocabulary, verbal
fluency, and numerical ability.
• Specific cognitive abilities (aptitude tests): as deductive reasoning, verbal
comprehension, memory, and numerical ability
• Test of motor & physical abilities: finger dexterity, manual dexterity, and
(if hiring pilots) reaction time. Tests of physical abilities may also be
required. These include static strength (such as lifting weights), dynamic
strength (pull-ups), body coordination (jumping rope), and stamina

• Measuring Personality: extraversion, emotional stability/neuroticism,

agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience.
 Types of Test
• Interests
• Interest inventories: A personal development and selection device
that compares the person’s current interests with those of others now
in various occupations so as to determine the preferred occupation for
the individual.

• Achievement tests: - Achievement tests measure what someone has

learned. Most of the tests you take in school are achievement tests.
They measure your “job knowledge.”
 Computerized Tests Resources
• (www.shl.com/us/)
• www.iphonetypingtest.com)
• Google Applicant Tracking system ATS
• https://www.criteriacorp.com/
 Using Work Sampling for Employee Selection
• Basic procedure
• Situational judgment tests
• Management Assessment Centers
• Situational Testing and Video-Based Situational Testing
• The Miniature Job Training and Evaluation Approach
• Realistic Job Preview
• Choosing a Selection Method
 Background Check
• The Polygraph and Honesty Testing
• Meet Standards
• Written Honesty Test
• Testing for Honesty Guidelines
• Graphology
• Human Lie Detectors
• Medical Check
• Substance Abuse Screening and Drug Testing Legal Issues
•
 Background Check
• Verify the applicant’s information
• Uncover damaging information.
•
Background Check