Learning Objectives

6-1 Answer the question: Why is it important to test Company’s

and select employees? Strategic Goals

6-2 Explain what is meant by reliability

and validity.

6-3 List and briefly describe the basic categories

of selection tests, with examples.
Employee Competencies
and Behaviors Required
for Company to Achieve

6-4 Explain how to use two work simulations for

selection.
These Strategic Goals

6-5 Describe four ways to improve an employer’s

background checking process.
ruitment an
Rec acemen d
Pl t

ent al
G
Environm Leg

Tra elopment
oogle job candidates used to have a dozen or

De
inin
v
Strategic and

g and
more grueling interviews. But, with Google hiring HR Policies and Practices
Required to Produce
thousands of people annually, this selection process Employee Competencies
and Behaviors
proved too slow.1 Now Google uses just four to five
interviews, but lets all its employees express opin-

Co
s
n

m
e tio pe
Rela ploye
ions on each candidate by e-mail, using what it calls
nsa
Em tion

“crowdsourcing.” The changes speed up hiring and

bring Google’s hiring policies more in line with its fast-
growth strategy.2 Where are We nOW …
Chapter 5 focused on how to build an ap-
plicant pool. The purpose of Chapter 6 is to
explain how to use various tools to select
the best candidate for the job. The main top-
ics we’ll cover include the selection process,
basic testing techniques, types of tests, work
samples and simulations, and making back-
ground and reference checks. In Chapter 7,
we will turn to the techniques you can use
to improve your skills at what is probably the
most widely used screening tool, the selection
interview.

166
 Chapter6 • employeetestingandseleCtion 167

LEarnIng OBjEcTIvE 6-1 Why Employee Selection is Important

Answer the question: Why is After reviewing the applicants’ résumés, the manager turns to selecting the best
it important to test and select candidate for the job. This usually means reducing the applicant pool by using the
employees?
screening tools we discuss in this and the following chapter: tests, assessment centers,
interviews, and background and reference checks. The aim of employee selection is
to achieve person-job fit. This means matching the knowledge, skills, abilities, and
other competencies (KSACs) that are required for performing the job (based on job
analysis) with the applicant’s KSACs.
Of course, a candidate might be “right” for a job, but wrong for the organiza-
tion.3 For example, an experienced airline pilot might excel at American Airlines but
perhaps not at Southwest, where the organizational values require that all employees
help out, even with baggage handling. Therefore, while person-job fit is usually the
main consideration, person-organization fit is important too.
In any case, selecting the right employee is important for three main reasons.
First, employees with the right skills will perform better for you and the company.
Employees without these skills or who are abrasive or obstructionist won’t perform
effectively, and your own performance and the firm’s will suffer. The time to screen
out undesirables is before they are in the door.
Second, effective selection is important because it is costly to recruit and hire
employees. One survey found that the average cost of hiring an employee who doesn’t
work out is about $50,000.4
Third, it’s important because inept hiring has legal consequences. For one thing,
we saw in Chapter 2 that equal employment laws require nondiscriminatory selec-
negligent hiring tion procedures.5 Negligent hiring is another such problem. It means hiring em-
Hiring workers with question- ployees with criminal records or other problems who then use access to customers’
able backgrounds without proper homes (or similar opportunities) to commit crimes.6 In one case, Ponticas v. K.M.S.
safeguards. Investments, an apartment manager entered a woman’s apartment and assaulted her.7
The court found the apartment complex’s owner negligent for not checking the man-
ager’s background properly.8

WLE
The Basics of Testing and Selecting Employees
KNO

DG

In this chapter, we’ll discuss several popular selection tools, starting with tests. A test
E

BASE is basically a sample of a person’s behavior. Any test or screening tool has two impor-
tant characteristics, reliability and validity. We’ll start with the former.
LEarnIng OBjEcTIvE 6-2 Reliability
Explain what is meant by reliabil-
ity and validity.
Reliability is a selection tool’s first requirement and refers to its consistency: “A reli-
able test is one that yields consistent scores when a person takes two alternate forms
reliability of the test or when he or she takes the same test on two or more different occasions.”9
The consistency of scores obtained If a person scores 90 on an intelligence test on a Monday and 130 when retested on
by the same person when retested Tuesday, you probably wouldn’t have much faith in the test.
with the identical tests or with alter- You can measure reliability in several ways. One is to administer a test to a
nate forms of the same test. group one day, re-administer the same test several days later to the same group, and
then correlate the first set of scores with the second (called test-retest reliability es-
timates).10 Or you could administer a test and then administer what experts believe
to be an equivalent test later; this would be an equivalent or alternate form estimate.
(The Scholastic Assessment Test [SAT] is one example.) Or, compare the test taker’s
answers to certain questions on the test with his or her answers to a separate set of
questions on the same test aimed at measuring the same thing. This is an internal
comparison estimate. For example, a psychologist includes 10 items on a test believ-
ing that they all measure interest in working outdoors, and then determines the
degree to which responses to these 10 items vary together.
Many things cause a test to be unreliable. These include physical conditions
(quiet one day, noisy the next), differences in the test taker (healthy one day,
168 part2 • reCruitment,plaCement,andtalentmanagement

Figure 6-1 Test Score

Correlation examples

Test Score Time 2

Test Score Time 2

Test Score Time 1 Test Score Time 1

sick the next), and differences in test administration (courteous one day, curt
the next). Or the questions may do a poor job of sampling the material; for ex-
ample, test one focuses more on Chapters 1 and 3, while test two focuses more on
Chapters 2 and 4.
Because measuring reliability generally involves comparing two measures that
assess the same thing, it is typical to judge a test’s reliability in terms of a reliability
coefficient. This basically shows the degree to which the two measures (say, test score
one day and test score the next day) are correlated.
Figure 6-1 illustrates correlation. In both the left and the right scatter plots, the
psychologist compared each applicant’s time 1 test score (on the x-axis) with his or
her subsequent (time 2) test score (on the y-axis). On the left, the scatter plot points
(each point showing one applicant’s test score and subsequent test performance)
are dispersed. There seems to be no correlation between test scores obtained at time
1 and at time 2. On the right, the psychologist tried a new test. Here the resulting
points fall in a predictable pattern. This suggests that the applicants’ test scores cor-
relate closely with their previous scores.
WLE
Validity
KNO

DG
E

Reliability, while indispensable, tells you only that the test is measuring something
BASE
consistently. Validity tells you whether the test is measuring what you think it’s sup-
test validity posed to be measuring.11 Test validity answers the question “Does this test measure
The accuracy with which a test, what it’s supposed to measure?” Put another way, it refers to the correctness of the
interview, and so on, measures what inferences that we can make based on the test.12 For example, if Jane’s scores on me-
it purports to measure or fulfills the chanical comprehension tests are higher than Jim’s, can we be sure that Jane possesses
function it was designed to fill. more mechanical comprehension than Jim?13 With employee selection tests, validity
often refers to evidence that the test is job related—in other words, that performance
on the test accurately predicts job performance. A selection test must be valid since,
without proof of validity, there is no logical or (under EEO law) legally permissible
reason to use it to screen job applicants.
A test, as we said, is a sample of a person’s behavior, but some tests are more
clearly representative of the behavior being sampled than others. A swimming test
clearly corresponds to a lifeguard’s on-the-job behavior. On the other hand, there may
be no apparent relationship between the test and the behavior. Thus, in Figure 6-2, the
psychologist asks the person to interpret the picture, and then draws conclusions about
the person’s personality and behavior. Here it is more difficult to prove that the tests are
measuring what they are said to measure, in this case, some trait of the person’s person-
ality—in other words, prove that they’re valid.
criterion validity There are several ways to demonstrate a test’s validity.14 Criterion validity
A type of validity based on showing involves demonstrating statistically a relationship between scores on a selection pro-
that scores on the test (predictors) cedure and job performance of a sample of workers. For example, it means demon-
are related to job performance strating that those who do well on the test also do well on the job, and that those who
(criterion).
do poorly on the test do poorly on the job. The test has validity to the extent that the
people with higher test scores perform better on the job. In psychological measure-
ment, a predictor is the measurement (in this case, the test score) that you are trying
to relate to a criterion, such as performance on the job. The term criterion validity
reflects that terminology.
 Chapter6 • employeetestingandseleCtion 169

Figure 6-2 A Slide from

the rorschach Test
Source: Fotolia LLC.

content validity Content validity is a demonstration that the content of a selection procedure is
A test that is content valid is one representative of important aspects of performance on the job. For example, employ-
that contains a fair sample of the ers may demonstrate the content validity of a test by showing that the test constitutes
tasks and skills actually needed for a fair sample of the job’s content. The basic procedure here is to identify job tasks
the job in question.
that are critical to performance, and then randomly select a sample of those tasks
to test. In selecting students for dental school, one might give applicants chunks of
chalk, and ask them to carve something like a tooth. If the content you choose for
the test is a representative sample of the job, then the test is probably content valid.
Clumsy dental students need not apply. Subject matter experts (SMEs, such as prac-
ticing dentists) help choose the tasks.
construct validity Construct validity means demonstrating that (1) a selection procedure measures
A test that is construct valid is one a construct (an abstract idea such as morale or honesty) and (2) that the construct is
that demonstrates that a selection important for successful job performance.
procedure measures a construct and At best, invalid tests are a waste of time; at worst, they are discriminatory. Tests
that construct is important for suc-
you buy “off the shelf ” should include information on their validity.15 But ideally,
cessful job performance.
you should revalidate the tests for the job(s) at hand. In any case, tests rarely predict
performance with 100% accuracy (or anywhere near it). Therefore, don’t make tests
your only selection tool; also use other tools like interviews and background checks.

Trends shaping hr: Digital and Social Media

Talent analytics is revolutionizing employee selection.16 Its numbers-crunching data
analysis tools including statistical techniques, algorithms, data mining, and problem-
solving let employers search through their employee data to identify patterns and
correlations that show what types of people succeed or fail. For example, department
store chain Bon-Ton Stores Inc. had very high turnover among its cosmetics sales as-
sociates.
Bon-Ton chose 450 current cosmetics associates who filled out anonymous sur-
veys aimed at identifying employee traits. By using talent analytics to analyze these
and other data, the company identified cosmetics associates’ traits that correlated
with performance and tenure. Bon-Ton had assumed that the best associates were
friendly and enthusiastic about cosmetics. However, the best were actually problem
solvers. They take information about what the customer wants and needs, and solve
the problem.17 Talent analysis thereby helped Bon Ton formulate better selection
criteria. ■
170 part2 • reCruitment,plaCement,andtalentmanagement

WLE Evidence-Based HR: How to Validate a Test

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Employers often opt to demonstrate evidence of a test’s validity using criterion va-

E
lidity. Here, in order for a selection test to be useful, you need evidence that scores
BASE
on the test relate in a predictable way to performance on the job. Thus, other things
being equal, students who score high on the graduate admissions tests also do better
in graduate school. Applicants who score high on mechanical comprehension tests
perform better as engineers. In other words, you validate the test before using it by
ensuring that scores on the test are a good predictor of some criterion like job perfor-
mance—thus demonstrating the test’s criterion validity.18
An industrial psychologist usually conducts the validation study. The human
resource department coordinates the effort. Strictly speaking, the supervisor’s role is
just to make sure that the job’s human requirements and performance standards are
clear to the psychologist. But in practice, anyone using tests (or test results) should
know something about validation. Then you can better understand how to use tests
and interpret their results. The validation process consists of five steps:

STep 1: AnAlyze The Job The first step is to 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. For example, must an applicant be verbal,
a good talker? These requirements become the predictors, the human traits and skills
you believe predict success on the job. For an assembler’s job, predictors might include
manual dexterity and patience.19
In this first step, also define “success on the job,” since it’s this success for which
you want predictors. The standards of success are criteria. You could use production-
related criteria (quantity, quality, and so on), personnel data (absenteeism, length of
service, and so on), or worker performance (reported by supervisors).

STep 2: ChooSe The TeSTS Once you know the predictors (such as manual dexterity)
the next step is to decide how to test for them. Employers usually base this choice on
experience, previous research, and “best guesses.” They usually don’t start with just
one test. Instead, they choose several tests and combine them into a test battery. The
test battery aims to measure an array of possible predictors, such as aggressiveness,
extroversion, and numerical ability.
What tests are available and where do you get them? Ideally, use a professional,
such as an industrial psychologist. However, many firms publish tests.20 Some tests are
available to virtually any purchaser, others only to qualified buyers (such as with
degrees in psychology). Wonderlic, Inc., publishes a well-known intellectual capacity
test and other tests, including aptitude test batteries and interest inventories. G. Neil
Company of Sunrise, Florida, offers employment testing materials including, for
example, a clerical skills test, telemarketing ability test, service ability test, manage-
ment ability test, team skills test, and sales abilities test. Figure 6-3 lists several Web
sites that provide information about tests or testing programs.

Figure 6-3 examples

of Web Sites offering • [Link]/data/[Link]
information on Tests or Provides general information and sources for all types of employment tests.
Testing programs • [Link]
Provides technical information on all types of employment and nonemployment tests.
• [Link]/testcoll
Provides information on more than 20,000 tests.
• [Link]
Information from Kaplan test preparation on how various admissions tests work.
• [Link]
One of many firms offering employment tests.
 Chapter6 • employeetestingandseleCtion 171

However, do not let the widespread availability of tests blind you to this fact: You
should use tests in a manner consistent with equal employment laws, and in a manner
that is ethical and protects the test taker’s privacy.
STep 3: AdminiSTer The TeST Next, administer the selected test(s). One option is to
administer the tests to employees currently on the job. You then compare their test
scores with their current performance; this is concurrent (at the same time) validation.
Its advantage is that data on performance are readily available. The disadvantage is that
current employees may not be representative of new applicants (who, of course, are really
the ones for whom you are interested in developing a screening test). Current employees
have already had on-the-job training and screening by your existing selection techniques.
Predictive validation is the second and more dependable way to validate a test.
Here you administer the test to applicants before you hire them, then hire these appli-
cants using only existing selection techniques, not the results of the new tests. After
they’ve been on the job for some time, measure their performance and compare it to
their earlier test scores. You can then determine whether you could have used their
performance on the new test to predict their subsequent job performance.
STep 4: relATe your TeST SCoreS And CriTeriA Here, 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 (1) scores on the
test and (2) job performance using correlation analysis, which shows the degree of
statistical relationship.
If there is a correlation between test and job performance, you can develop an
expectancy chart expectancy chart. This presents the relationship between test scores and job perfor-
A graph showing the relationship mance graphically. To do this, split the employees into, say, five groups according to
between test scores and job perfor- test scores, with those scoring the highest fifth on the test, the second highest fifth,
mance for a group of people. and so on. Then compute the percentage of high job performers in each of these five
test score groups and present the data in an expectancy chart like that in Figure 6-4.
In this case, someone scoring in the top fifth of the test has a 97% chance of be-
ing a high performer, while one scoring in the lowest fifth has only a 29% chance of
being a high performer.21
STep 5: CroSS-VAlidATe And reVAlidATe Before using the test, you may want to check
it by “cross-validating”—in other words, by again performing steps 3 and 4 on a new
sample of employees. At a minimum, revalidate the test periodically.
Some tests (such as the 16PF® Personality Profile) are professionally scored and
interpreted. Thus Wonderlic, Inc., lets an employer administer the 16PF. The employer
then faxes (or scans) the answer sheet to Wonderlic, which scores the candidate’s profile

Figure 6-4 expectancy (Highest 20%) 57–64 97

Chart
Note: This expectancy chart
shows the relation between (Next highest 20%) 51–56 84
scores made on the Minnesota
Test scores

Paper Form Board and rated

success of junior draftspersons. (Middle 20%) 45–50 71
Example: Those who score
between 37 and 44 have a 55%
chance of being rated high (Next lowest 20%) 37–44 55
performer and those scoring
between 57 and 64 have a 97%
chance. (Lowest 20%) 11–36 29

0 20 40 60 80 100

Chances in a hundred of being rated a

“high performer”; and % of “high performers”
found in each test score group
172 part2 • reCruitment,plaCement,andtalentmanagement

and faxes (or scans) back the interpretive report. Psychologists easily score many psy-
chological tests online or using interpretive Windows-based software. However, man-
agers can easily score many tests, like the Wonderlic Personnel Test, themselves.

Bias
Most employers know they shouldn’t use biased tests in the selection process.22 For
example, a particular IQ test may provide a valid measure of cognitive ability for
middle-class whites but not for some minorities, if the score depends on familiarity
with certain aspects of middle-class culture.23 Until recently, many industrial psy-
chologists believed they were adequately controlling test bias, but that issue is under
review.24 Employers should therefore redouble their efforts to ensure that the tests
they’re using aren’t producing biased decisions.

Utility Analysis
Knowing that a test predicts performance isn’t always of practical use. For example,
if it is going to cost the employer $1,000 per applicant for the test, and hundreds of
applicants must be tested, the cost of the test may exceed the benefits derived from
hiring a few more capable employees.
Answering the question, “Does it pay to use the test?” requires utility analysis. Two
selection experts say, “Using dollar and cents terms, [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.”25 The information
required for utility analysis generally includes, for instance, the validity of the selection
measure, a measure of job performance in dollars, applicants’ average test scores, cost
of testing an applicant, and the number of applicants tested and selected.
Prudent employers endeavor to streamline their selection processes, for instance
to minimize how long it takes to fill a position. For example, with almost 60,000 job
applicants per day, the U.S. federal government was taking about 122 days to fill a
position. By reviewing each step in its hiring process, it reduced time to hire to about
105 days by, for instance, eliminating the applicant essay.26 The accompanying HR as
a Profit Center feature shows how employers use tests to improve performance.

IMPROVING PERFORMANCE: HR as a Profit Center

Using Tests to Cut Costs and Boost Profits
Financial services firm Key Bank knew it needed a better way to screen and select tellers and call-center em-
ployees.27 The company calculated it cost about $10,000 to select and train an employee, but it was losing
13% of new tellers and call-center employees within the first 90 days. That turnover number dropped to 4%
after Key Bank implemented a computerized virtual job tryout candidate assessment screening tool. “We
calculated a $1.7 million cost savings in teller turnover in one year, simply by making better hiring decisions,
reducing training costs and increasing quality of hires,” said the firm’s human resources director.
Outback Steakhouse has used preemployment tests almost from when the company started. The test-
ing seems successful. While annual turnover rates for hourly employees may reach 200% in the restaurant
industry, Outback’s turnover ranges from 40% to 60%. Outback wants employees who are highly social,
meticulous, sympathetic, and adaptable. They use a personality assessment test to screen out applicants
who don’t fit the Outback culture. This test is part of a three-step preemployment screening process.
Applicants take the test, and managers then compare the candidates’ results to the profile for Outback
Steakhouse employees. Those who score low on certain traits (like compassion) don’t move to the next
step. Those who score high are interviewed by two managers, who ask behavioral questions such as “What
would you do if a customer asked for a dish we don’t have?”28 ■

Source: Based on Dave Zielinski, “Effective Assessments,” HR Magazine, January 2011, pp. 61–64.; Sarah Gale,
“Three Companies Cut Turnover with Tests,” Workforce, Spring 2002, pp. 66–69.

If your professor has assigned this, go to the Assignments section of [Link] to

complete this discussion.
Talk About it 1: Choose a position with which you are familiar, such as a counterperson at a
McDonald‘s restaurant, and describe how you would create a selection process for it similar to those
in this feature.
  Chapter6 • employeetestingandseleCtion 173

Watch It!
How does a company actually do testing? If your professor has assigned this, go to the Assignments
section of [Link] to complete the video exercise titled Patagonia Employee Testing
and Selection.

Validity Generalization
Many employers, particularly smaller ones, won’t find it cost-effective to conduct
validity studies for the selection tools they use. These employers must find tests and
other screening tools that have been shown to be valid in other settings (companies),
and then bring them in-house in the hopes that they’ll be valid there, too.29
If the test is valid in one company, to what extent can we generalize those va-
lidity findings to our own company? Validity generalization “refers to the degree
to which evidence of a measure’s validity obtained in one situation can be gener-
alized to another situation without further study.”30 Factors to consider include
existing validation evidence regarding using the test for various specific purposes,
the similarity of the subjects with those in your organization, and the similarity of
the jobs.31
Under the Uniform Guidelines, validation of selection procedures is desirable, but
“the Uniform Guidelines require users to produce evidence of validity only when adverse
impact is shown to exist. If there is no adverse impact, there is no validation requirement
under the Guidelines.”32

KnoW your employmenT lAW

Testing and Equal Employment Opportunity
Suppose a plaintiff shows that one of your selection procedures has an adverse
impact on his or her protected class. If so you may have to demonstrate the validity
and selection fairness of the allegedly discriminatory test or item.
With respect to testing, the EEO laws boil down to two things:
(1) You must be able to prove that your tests are related to success
or failure on the job, and (2) you must prove that your tests don’t
unfairly discriminate against either minority or nonminority sub-
groups. (Also note that the same burden of proving job relatedness
falls on interviews and other techniques, including performance
appraisals, that falls on tests). ■

Test Takers’ Individual Rights and Test Security

Test takers have rights to privacy and feedback under the American
Psychological Association’s (APA) standard for educational and psy-
chological tests; these guide psychologists but are not legally enforce-
able. Test takers have rights such as:
●● To the confidentiality of test results.
●● To informed consent regarding use of these results.
Fotosearch/AGE Fotostock

●● 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.33
The Federal Privacy Act gives federal employees the right to
inspect their personnel files, and limits the disclosure of personnel
manyemployersadministeronline information without the employee’s consent, (the recent hacking of
employmentteststojobcandidates. federal employees’ files notwithstanding) among other things.34
174 part2 • reCruitment,plaCement,andtalentmanagement

Common law provides employees some protection against disclosing information

about them to people outside the company. The main application here involves
defamation (either libel or slander), but there are privacy issues, too.35 The bottom
line is this:
1. Make sure you understand the need to keep employees’ information confidential.
2. Adopt a “need to know” policy. For example, if an employee has been
rehabilitated after a period of drug use, the new supervisor may not “need
to know.”

Diversity Counts: Gender Issues in Testing

Employers using selection tests should know that gender issues may distort results.
Some parents and others socialize girls into traditionally female roles and boys into
traditionally male roles. For example, they may encourage young boys but not girls
to make things with tools, or young girls but not boys to take care of their siblings.
Such encouragement may in turn translate into differences in how males and females
answer items on and score on, say, tests of vocational interests. And these test score
differences may in turn cause counselors and others to nudge men and women into
what tend to be largely gender-segregated occupations, for instance, male engineers
and female nurses.
The bottom line is that employers and others need to interpret the results of vari-
ous tests (including of interests and aptitudes) with care. It may often be the case that
such results say more about how the person was brought up and socialized than it
does about the person’s inherent ability to do some task. ■

How Do Employers Use Tests 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).36 About 67% of the
respondents required employees to take job skills tests, and 29% required some form
of psychological measurement.37 To see what such tests are like, try the short test in
Figure 6-5.
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

Figure 6-5 Sample Test

Source: Based on a sample
CHECK YES OR NO YES NO
selection test from the New York
Times.
1. You like a lot of excitement in your life.

2. An employee who takes it easy at work

is cheating on the employer.

3. You are a cautious person.

4. In the past three years you have found yourself

in a shouting match at school or work.

5. You like to drive fast just for fun.

Analysis: According to John Kamp, an industrial psychologist, applicants who answered no, yes, yes, no, no to questions 1, 2, 3, 4,
and 5 are statistically likely to be absent less often, to have fewer on-the-job injuries, and, if the job involves driving, to have
fewer on-the-job driving accidents. Actual scores on the test are based on answers to 130 questions.
 Chapter6 • employeetestingandseleCtion 175

selection testing.38 And, employers don’t use tests just to find good employees, but
also to screen out bad ones.39 For good reason: In retail, employers apprehended
about one out of every 28 workers for stealing.40

Hr in Practice at the Hotel Paris As she considered what to do next to improve the employees’
performance in a way that would support the Hotel Paris’s strategy, Lisa Cruz, the Hotel Paris’s HR
director, knew that employee selection had to play a role. The Hotel Paris currently had an informal
screening process in which local hotel managers obtained application forms, interviewed applicants,
and checked their references. To see how she improved their system, see the case on page 195.

LEarnIng OBjEcTIvE 6-3 Types of Tests

List and briefly describe the We can conveniently classify tests according to whether they measure cognitive (men-
basic categories of selection tal) abilities, motor and physical abilities, personality and interests, or achievement.41
tests, with examples.
We’ll look at each.

Tests of Cognitive Abilities

Cognitive tests include tests of general reasoning ability (intelligence) and tests of
specific mental abilities like memory and inductive reasoning.
inTelligenCe TeSTS Intelligence (IQ) tests are tests of general intellectual abilities.
They measure not a single trait but rather a range of abilities, including memory,
vocabulary, verbal fluency, and numerical ability. An adult’s IQ score is a “derived”
scored; it reflects the extent to which the person is above or below the “average”
adult’s intelligence score.
Intelligence is often measured with individually administered tests like the
Stanford-Binet Test or the Wechsler Test. Employers can administer other IQ tests
such as the Wonderlic individually or to groups of people.42 In one illustrative study
of firefighter trainees’ performance over 23 years, the researchers found that a mea-
sure of general intellectual ability and a physical ability assessment were highly pre-
dictive of trainee performance.43
SpeCiFiC CogniTiVe AbiliTieS There are also measures of specific mental abilities, such
as deductive reasoning, verbal comprehension, memory, and numerical ability.
Psychologists often call such tests aptitude tests, since they purport to measure
aptitude for the job in question. Consider the Test of Mechanical Comprehension illus-
trated in Figure 6-6, which tests applicants’ understanding of basic mechanical princi-
ples. This may reflect a person’s aptitude for jobs—like that of machinist or engineer—
that require mechanical comprehension. Other tests of mechanical aptitude include the
Mechanical Reasoning Test and the SRA Test of Mechanical Aptitude. The revised
Minnesota Paper Form Board Test consists of 64 two-dimensional diagrams cut into
separate pieces. It provides insights into an applicant’s mechanical spatial ability; you’d
use it for screening applicants for jobs such as designers or engineers.

Tests of Motor and Physical Abilities

You might also want to measure motor abilities, such as finger dexterity, manual dex-
terity, and (if hiring pilots) reaction time. Thus, the Crawford Small Parts Dexterity

Figure 6-6 Type of

Question Applicant
might expect on a
Test of mechanical Which gear will turn the
same way as the driver?
Comprehension
DRIVER

A B
176 part2 • reCruitment,plaCement,andtalentmanagement

Test measures the speed and accuracy of simple judgment as well as the speed of
finger, hand, and arm movements. Other tests include the Stromberg Dexterity Test
and the Purdue Peg Board.
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.44 Applicants for the U.S. Marines must pass its Initial Strength Test (2 pull-
ups, 35 sit-ups, and a 1.5-mile run).
WLE
Measuring Personality and Interests
KNO

DG

A person’s cognitive and physical abilities alone seldom explain his or her job perfor-
E

BASE mance. As one consultant put it, most people are hired based on qualifications, but
are fired because of attitude, motivation, and temperament.45
Personality tests measure basic aspects of an applicant’s personality, such as in-
troversion, stability, and motivation. Industrial psychologists often focus on the “big
five” personality dimensions: extraversion, emotional stability/neuroticism, agree-
ableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience.46
Neuroticism represents a tendency to exhibit poor emotional adjustment and ex-
perience negative effects, such as anxiety, insecurity, and hostility. Extraversion
represents a tendency to be sociable, assertive, active, and to experience positive
effects, such as energy and zeal. Openness to experience is the disposition to be
imaginative, nonconforming, unconventional, and autonomous. Agreeableness
is the tendency to be trusting, compliant, caring, and gentle. Conscientiousness
is comprised of two related facets: achievement and dependability.47
Some personality tests are projective. The psychologist presents an ambiguous
stimulus (like an inkblot or clouded picture) and the person reacts. The person sup-
posedly projects into the ambiguous picture his or her attitudes, such as insecurity.
Other projective techniques include Make a Picture Story (MAPS) and the Forer
Structured Sentence Completion Test.
Other personality tests are self-reported: applicants fill them out. Thus, available
online,48 the Myers-Briggs test provides a personality type classification useful for
decisions such as career selection and planning. Its DiSC Profile learning instrument
enables the user to gain insight into his or her behavioral style.49
Personality test results do often correlate with job performance. For example “in
personality research, conscientiousness has been the most consistent and universal
predictor of job performance.”50 In another study, neuroticism was negatively
related to motivation.51 Extroversion correlates with success in sales and man-
agement jobs.52 The responsibility, socialization, and self-control scales of the
California Psychological Inventory predicted dysfunctional job behaviors among law
enforcement officers.53 Emotional stability, extroversion, and agreeableness predicted
whether expatriates would leave their overseas assignments early.54 The HR Practices
feature presents an example.

IMPROVING PERFORMANCE: HR Practices Around the Globe

Testing for Assignments Abroad
Living and working abroad require some special talents. Not everyone can easily adapt to having one’s
family far away, and to dealing with colleagues with different cultural values. Doing so requires high levels
of adaptability and interpersonal skills.55
Employers often use special inventories such as the Global Competencies Inventory (GCI) here. It
focuses on three aspects of adaptability.
✓✓ The Perception Management Factor assesses people’s tendency to be rigid in their view of cultural
differences, to be judgmental about those differences, and to deal with complexity and uncertainty.
✓✓ The Relationship Management Factor assesses a person’s awareness of the impact he or she is having
on others.
✓✓ The Self-Management Factor assesses one’s mental and emotional health. ■

Source: Adapted from [Link]/-[Link], accessed March 3, 2008; and http:// ko-zaigroup
.com/inventories/the-global competencies-inventory-gci/what is-the-gci/.
 Chapter6 • employeetestingandseleCtion 177

If your professor has assigned this, go to the Assignments section of [Link] to

complete this discussion.
Talk About it 2: You are trying to decide if you would be a good candidate for a job abroad,
but you don’t want to take any formal tests. Discuss another indicator you would use to answer
the question, “Would I be a good candidate for a job abroad?”

There are four caveats. First, projective personality tests are particularly hard to
interpret. An expert must analyze the test taker’s interpretations and infer from them
his or her personality.
Second, personality tests can trigger legal challenges. For example, one court
held that the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) is a medical test
(because it can screen out applicants with psychological impairments), and so might
violate the ADA.56
Third, a panel of distinguished industrial psychologists said using self-report per-
sonality tests in selection “should be reconsidered [due to low validity].”57 Other experts
call such concerns “unfounded.”58
Fourth, people can and will fake responses to personality and integrity tests.59
The bottom line: make sure the personality tests you use predict performance for the
jobs you are testing for.

interest inventory inTereST inVenTorieS Interest inventories compare one’s interests with those of
A personal development and people in various occupations. Thus, the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory provides
selection device that compares the a report comparing one’s interests to those of people already in occupations like
person’s current interests with those accounting or engineering. Someone taking the Self-Directed Search (SDS) ([Link]-
of others now in various occupations
[Link]) uses it to identify likely high-fit occupations. The assumption
so as to determine the preferred oc-
is that someone will do better in occupations in which he or she is interested, and
cupation for the individual.
indeed such inventories can predict employee performance and turnover.60 One study
found that poor vocational fit correlated with counterproductive work behaviors,
perhaps because poor fit frustrates the worker.61

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” in areas like
economics, marketing, or human resources. Achievement tests are also popular at
work. For example, the Purdue Test for Machinists and Machine Operators tests
the job knowledge of experienced machinists with questions like “What is meant
by ‘tolerance’”? Some achievement tests measure the applicant’s abilities; a swim-
ming test is one example.

Improving Performance Through HRIS: Computerization and Online Testing

Computerized and/or online testing is increasingly replacing paper-and-pencil
tests. For example, Timken Company uses online assessment of math skills for
hourly position applicants.62 Many employers have applicants take short Web-
based tests before reviewing their résumés and holding interviews. This leaves a
smaller pool to undergo the more personal and costly testing and interviewing.63
The applicant tracking systems we discussed in Chapter 5 often include online pre-
screening tests.64 Vendors (as in [Link]) are making tests avail-
able for applicants to take via their smart phones.65 Employers using automated
screening systems should remember that applicants are human beings. Ensure
the rejection standards are valid, and inform applicants quickly regarding their
status.66
Computerized and online tests are increasingly sophisticated. For example,
SHL ([Link]/us/) offers online adaptive personality tests. As a candidate an-
swers each question, these tests adapt the next question to the test taker’s answers
178 part2 • reCruitment,plaCement,andtalentmanagement

to the previous question. This improves test validity and may reduce cheating (since
each candidate basically gets a customized test).67 Service firms like Unicru process and
score online preemployment tests from employers’ applicants. Most of the tests we
describe are available in computerized form. ■

CompuTerized mulTimediA CAndidATe ASSeSSmenT ToolS Development Dimensions

International developed a computerized multimedia skill test that Ford Motor
Company uses for hiring assembly workers. “The company can test everything from
how people tighten the bolt, to whether they followed a certain procedure correctly,
to using a weight-sensitive mat on the floor that, when stepped on at the wrong time,
will mark a candidate down in a safety category.”68

IMPROVING PERFORMANCE: The Strategic Context

Crowdsourcing at Google
Google knows that to maintain its fast-growth strategy, it must keep innovating new services. To support
that strategy, Google needs its employees engaged and collaborating with each other. Having employ-
ees thinking of themselves in isolated “silos” would inhibit the cross-pollination that Google’s strategy
depends on. In formulating its employee selection practices, Google therefore found a way to foster the
employee engagement and collaboration its success depends on. Google uses “crowdsourcing” when it
comes to making hiring decisions.69
Here’s how it works.70 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 recruit-
ers 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 collaboration among
Google employees, who see themselves working together to select new “Googlers.” ■

Source: Based on Wright, “At Google, It Takes a Village to Hire an Employee.”

If your professor has assigned this, go to the Assignments section of [Link] to

complete these discussion questions.
Talk About it 3: Do you think it would really go counter to the sort of culture Google is trying to
nurture to have a central HR department simply test candidates and assign them to work teams with
just an interview with the team supervisor? Why?

LEarnIng OBjEcTIvE 6-4 Work Samples and Simulations

Explain how to use two work With work samples, you present examinees with situations representative of the job
simulations for selection. for which they’re applying, and evaluate their responses.71 Experts consider
these (and simulations, like the assessment centers we also discuss in this section)
to be tests. But they differ from most tests because they directly measure job
work samples performance.
Actual job tasks used in testing
applicants’ performance. Using Work Sampling for Employee Selection
The work sampling technique tries to predict job performance by requiring job
work sampling technique candidates to perform one or more samples of the job’s tasks. For example, work
A testing method based on measur- samples for a cashier may include operating a cash register and counting money.72
ing performance on actual basic job Work sampling has several advantages. It measures actual job tasks, so it’s harder
tasks. to fake answers. The work sample’s content—the actual tasks the person must per-
form—is not as likely to be unfair to minorities (as might a personnel test that pos-
sibly emphasizes middle-class concepts and values).73 Work sampling doesn’t delve
into the applicant’s personality, so there’s almost no chance of applicants viewing it
as an invasion of privacy. Designed properly, work samples also exhibit better valid-
ity than do other tests designed to predict performance.
 Chapter6 • employeetestingandseleCtion 179

Figure 6-7 example of a

Work Sampling Question Checks key before installing against:
Note: This is one step in install- —shaft score 3
ing pulleys and belts. —pulley score 2
—neither score 1

Note: This is one step in installing pulleys and belts.

The basic procedure is to select a sample of several tasks crucial to performing

the job, and then to test applicants on them.74 An observer monitors performance on
each task, and indicates on a checklist how well the applicant performs. For example,
in creating a work sampling test for maintenance mechanics, experts first listed all pos-
sible job tasks (like “install pulleys and belts”). Four crucial tasks were installing pul-
leys and belts, disassembling and installing a gearbox, installing and aligning a motor,
and pressing a bushing into a sprocket. Since mechanics could perform each task in a
slightly different way, the experts gave different weights to different approaches.
Figure 6-7 shows one of the steps required for the task installing pulleys and
belts—“checks key before installing …” Here the examinee might choose to check
the key against (1) the shaft, (2) the pulley, or (3) neither. The right of the figure lists
the weights (scores) reflecting the worth of each method. The applicant performs the
task, and the observer checks off and scores the approach used.

Situational Judgment Tests

Situational judgment tests are personnel tests “designed to assess an applicant’s judg-
ment regarding a situation encountered in the workplace.”75 For example:
You are a sales associate at Best Buy in Miami, Florida. The store sells elec-
tronics, including smart phones. Competition comes from other neighborhood
retailers, and from online firms. Many customers who come to your store
check the product with you, and then buy it on Amazon. As a sales associate,
you are responsible for providing exceptional customer service, demonstrating
product knowledge, and maximizing sales. You get a weekly salary, with no
sales incentive. How would you respond to this situation?

Situation:
A customer comes to you with a printout for a Samsung Galaxy phone from
[Link], and proceeds to ask you detailed questions about battery life,
and how to work the phone, while mentioning that “Amazon’s price is $50 less
than yours.” You have been with this customer for almost an hour, and there
are other customers waiting. You would:
1. Tell the customer to go buy the phone on Amazon.
2. Tell the customer to wait 20 minutes while you take care of another customer.
3. Tell the customer that the local Sprint Mobility dealer has the phone for
even less than Amazon.
4. Explain the advantages of similar phones you have that may better fulfill
the buyer’s requirements.
management assessment 5. Ask your supervisor to come over and try to sell the customer on buying
center the Galaxy from you.
A simulation in which management
candidates are asked to perform
Management Assessment Centers
realistic tasks in hypothetical
situations and are scored on their A management assessment center is a 2- to 3-day simulation in which 10 to
performance. It usually also involves 12 candidates perform realistic management tasks (like making presentations)
testing and the use of management under the observation of experts who appraise each candidate’s leadership poten-
games. tial. For example, The Cheesecake Factory created its Professional Assessment and
180 part2 • reCruitment,plaCement,andtalentmanagement

Development Center to help select promotable managers. Candidates undergo 2 days

of exercises, simulations, and classroom learning to see if they have the skills for
key management positions.76
Typical simulated tasks include:
●● The in-basket. The candidate gets reports, memos, notes of incoming phone
calls, e-mails, and other materials collected in the actual or computerized
in-basket of the simulated job he or she is about to start. The candidate must take
appropriate action on each item. Trained evaluators review the candidate’s efforts.
●● Leaderless group discussion. Trainers give a leaderless group a discussion ques-
tion and tell members to arrive at a group decision. They then evaluate each
group member’s interpersonal skills, acceptance by the group, leadership ability,
and individual influence.
●● Management games. Participants solve realistic problems as members of simu-
lated companies competing in a marketplace.
●● Individual oral presentations. Here trainers evaluate each participant’s commu-
nication skills and persuasiveness.
●● Testing. These may include tests of personality, mental ability, interests, and
achievements.
●● The interview. Most require an interview with a trainer to assess interests, past
performance, and motivation.
Supervisor recommendations usually play a big role in choosing center partici-
pants. Line managers usually act as assessors and arrive at their ratings through con-
sensus.77 Assessment centers are expensive to develop, take longer than conventional
tests, require managers acting as assessors, and often require psychologists. However,
studies suggest they are worth it.78

Situational Testing and Video-Based Situational Testing

situational test Situational tests require examinees to respond to situations representative of the job.
A test that requires examinees to Work sampling (discussed earlier) and some assessment center tasks (such as in-baskets)
respond to situations representative fall in this category. So do video-based tests and miniature job training (described next), and
of the job. the situational interviews we address in Chapter 7.79 Some employers, such as Knack,
use video games to determine candidates’ creativity and ability to multitask.80
video-based simulation The video-based simulation presents the candidate with several online or com-
A situational test in which exami-
puter video situations, each followed by one or more multiple-choice questions. For
nees respond to video simulations of
realistic job situations.
example, the scenario might depict an employee handling a situation on the job. At a
critical moment, the scenario ends and the video asks the candidate to choose from
several courses of action. For example:
(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.81
 Chapter6 • employeetestingandseleCtion 181

The Miniature Job Training and Evaluation Approach

miniature job training Miniature job training and evaluation involves training candidates to perform
and evaluation several of the job’s tasks, and then evaluating their performance prior to hire. The
Training candidates to perform approach assumes that a person who demonstrates that he or she can learn and per-
several of the job’s tasks, and then form the sample of tasks will be able to learn and perform the job itself. Like work
evaluating the candidates’ perfor-
sampling, miniature job training and evaluation tests applicants with actual samples of
mance prior to hire.
the job, so it is inherently content relevant and valid.
For example, when Honda built an auto plant in Lincoln, Alabama, it had to
hire thousands of new employees. Working with an Alabama industrial development
training agency, Honda began running help wanted ads.
Honda and the Alabama agency first eliminated those applicants who lacked
the education or experience, and then gave preference to applicants near the plant.
About 340 applicants per 6-week session received special training at a new facility
about 15 miles south of the plant. It included classroom instruction, watching videos
of current Honda employees in action, and actually practicing particular jobs. Some
candidates who watched the videos simply dropped out when they saw the work’s
pace and repetitiveness.
The training sessions serve two purposes. First, job candidates learn the actual
skills they’ll need to do the Honda jobs. Second, the training sessions provide an
opportunity for special assessors from the Alabama state agency to scrutinize the
trainees’ work and to rate them. They then invite those who graduate to apply for
jobs at the plants. Honda teams, consisting of employees from HR and departmental
representatives, do the final screening. 82

Realistic Job Previews

Sometimes, a dose of realism makes the best screening tool. For example, when Walmart
began explicitly explaining and asking about work schedules and work preferences, turn-
over improved.83 In general, applicants who receive realistic job previews are more likely
to turn down job offers, but their employers are more likely to have less turnover.84

Choosing a Selection Method

The employer needs to consider several things before choosing to use a particular
selection tool (or tools). These include the tool’s reliability and validity, its return
on investment (in terms of utility analysis), applicant reactions, usability, adverse
impact, and the tool’s selection ratio (does it screen out, as it should, a high

employerssuchashonda
firsttrainandthenhave
applicantsperformseveral
ofthejobtasks,andthen
evaluatethecandidates
beforehiringthem.
Bi Shanghong/Xinhua Press/Corbis
182 part2 • reCruitment,plaCement,andtalentmanagement

Table 6-1 evaluation of Selected Assessment methods

Costs(develop/
assessmentmethod Validity adverseimpact administer)
Cognitive ability tests High High (against minorities) Low/low
Job knowledge test High High (against minorities) Low/low
Personality tests Low to moderate Low Low/low
Integrity tests Moderate to high Low Low/low
Structured interviews High Low High/high
Situational judgment tests Moderate Moderate (against minorities) High/low
Work samples High Low High/high
Assessment centers Moderate to high Low to moderate, depending on exercise High/high
Physical ability tests Moderate to high High (against females and older workers) High/high

Source: From Selection Assessment Methods, SHRM Foundation, 2005. Reprinted by permission from SHRM Foundation.

percentage of applicants or admit virtually all?).85 Table 6-1 summarizes the validity,
potential adverse impact, and cost of several popular assessment methods. The HR
Tools feature shows how line managers may devise their own tests.

IMPROVING PERFORMANCE: HR Tools for Line Managers and Small Businesses

Employee Testing and Selection
One of the ironies of being a line manager in even the largest of companies is that, when it comes to screening
employees, you’re often on your own. Some large firms’ HR departments may work with the hiring manager
to design and administer the sorts of screening tools we discussed in this chapter. But the fact is that in many
of these firms, the HR departments do little more than some preliminary prescreening (for instance, arithmetic
tests for clerical applicants), and then follow up with background checks and drug and physical exams.
What should you do if you are, say, a marketing manager, and want to screen some of your job ap-
plicants more formally? It is possible to devise your own test battery, but caution is required. Purchasing
and then using packaged intelligence tests or psychological tests or even tests of marketing ability could
be problematical. Doing so may violate company policy, raise questions of validity, and even expose your
employer to EEO liability if problems arise.
A preferred approach is to devise and use screening tools, the face validity of which is obvious. The
work sampling test we discussed is one example. It’s not unreasonable, for instance, for the marketing
manager to ask an advertising applicant to spend half an hour designing an ad, or to ask a marketing
research applicant to quickly outline a marketing research program for a hypothetical product. Similarly, a
production manager might reasonably ask an inventory control applicant to spend a few minutes using a
standard inventory control model to solve an inventory problem.
For small business owners, some tests’ ease of use makes them particularly good for small firms. One is the
Wonderlic Personnel Test; it measures general mental ability in about 15 minutes. The tester reads the instruc-
tions, and then keeps time as the candidate works through the 50 short problems on two pages. The tester
scores the test by totaling the number of correct answers. Comparing the person’s score with the minimum
scores recommended for various occupations shows whether the person achieved the minimally acceptable
score for the type of job in question. The Predictive Index measures work-related personality traits on a two-sided
sheet. For example, there is the “social interest” pattern for a person who is generally unselfish, congenial, and
unassuming. This person would be a good personnel interviewer, for instance. A template makes scoring simple.
As many managers know, for some jobs past performance is a more useful predictor of performance
than are formal selection tests. For example, one study of prospective NFL players concluded that collegiate
performance was a significantly better predictor of NFL performance than were physical ability tests.86 ■

Source: Based on Brian J. Hoffman, John W. Michel, and Kevin J. Williams,“On the Predictive Efficiency of Past
Performance and Physical Ability: The Case of the National Football League,” Human Performance 24, no. 2
(2011), pp. 158–172.

If your professor has assigned this, go to the Assignments section of [Link] to

complete this discussion.
Talk About it 4: You own a small ladies’ dress shop in a mall and want to hire a salesperson.
Create a test for doing so.
 Chapter6 • employeetestingandseleCtion 183

WLE Background Investigations and Other

KNO

DG
Selection Methods

E
BASE
Testing is only part of an employer’s selection process. Other tools may include back-
ground investigations and reference checks, preemployment information services,
LEarnIng OBjEcTIvE 6-5 honesty testing, and substance abuse screening.
Describe four ways to improve
an employer’s background Why Perform Background Investigations and Reference Checks?
checking process.
One major company was about to announce a new CEO until they discovered
he had a wife and two children in one state as well as a wife and two children in
another state.87 More mundanely, the recruiter HireRight found that of the over
600,000 educational verifications they did in one recent 12-month period, 32% had
discrepancies.88
One of the easiest ways to avoid hiring mistakes is to check the candidate’s back-
ground thoroughly. Doing so is inexpensive and (if done right) useful. There’s usu-
ally no reason why even supervisors in large companies can’t check the references of
someone they’re about to hire, as long as they know the rules.
Most employers check and verify the job applicant’s background information
and references. In one survey of about 700 human resource managers, 87% said
they conduct reference checks, 69% conduct background employment checks, 61%
check employee criminal records, 56% check employees’ driving records, and 35%
sometimes or always check credit.89 Commonly verified data include legal eligibility
for employment (in compliance with immigration laws), dates of prior employment,
military service (including discharge status), education, identification (including date
of birth and address to confirm identity), county criminal records (current residence,
last residence), motor vehicle record, credit, licensing verification, Social Security
number, and reference checks.90 Some employers check executive candidates’ civil
litigation records, with the candidate’s prior approval.91 Massachusetts and Hawaii
prohibit private employers from asking about criminal records on initial written
applications.92
There are two main reasons to check backgrounds—to verify the applicant’s
information (name and so forth) and to uncover damaging information.93 Lying on
one’s application isn’t unusual. A survey found that 23% of 7,000 executive résumés
contained exaggerated or false information.94
Even relatively sophisticated companies fall prey to criminal employees, in part
because they haven’t conducted proper background checks. In Chicago, a pharma-
ceutical firm discovered it had hired gang members in mail delivery and computer
repair. The crooks were stealing computer parts, and using the mail department to
ship them to their own nearby computer store.95
How deeply you search depends on the position. For example, a credit check is
more important for hiring an accountant than a groundskeeper. In any case, also pe-
riodically check the credit ratings of employees (like cashiers) who have easy access
to company assets, and the driving records of employees who use company cars.
Yet most managers don’t view references as very useful. Few employers will talk
freely about former employees. For example, in one poll, the Society for Human
Resource Management found that 98% of 433 responding members said their organi-
zations would verify dates of employment for current or former employees. However,
68% said they wouldn’t discuss work performance; 82% said they wouldn’t discuss
character or personality; and 87% said they wouldn’t disclose a disciplinary action.96
Many supervisors don’t want to damage a former employee’s chances for a job;
others might prefer giving an incompetent employee good reviews to get rid of him
or her.
Another reason is legal. Employers providing references generally can’t be suc-
cessfully sued for defamation unless the employee can show “malice”—that is, ill will,
culpable recklessness, or disregard of the employee’s rights.97 But many managers
and companies understandably still don’t want the grief. The following explains this.
184 part2 • reCruitment,plaCement,andtalentmanagement

KnoW your employmenT lAW

Giving References
Federal laws that affect references include the Privacy Act of 1974, the Fair Credit
Reporting Act of 1970, the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (and
Buckley Amendment of 1974), and the Freedom of Information Act of 1966. They
give people the right to know the nature and substance of information in their
credit files and files with government agencies, and (Privacy Act) to review records
pertaining to them from any private business that contracts with a federal agency.
The person may thus see your comments.98
Beyond that, common law (and in particular the tort of defamation) applies to
any information you supply. Communication is defamatory if it is false and tends to
harm the reputation of another by lowering the person in the estimation of the com-
munity or by deterring other persons from dealing with him or her.
Truth is not always a defense. In some states, employees can sue employers for
disclosing to a large number of people true but embarrassing private facts about
the employee. One case involved a supervisor shouting that the employee’s wife
had been having sexual relations with certain people. The jury found the employer
liable for invasion of the couple’s privacy and for intentional infliction of emo-
tional distress.99
The net result is that most employers and managers restrict who can give refer-
ences and what they can say. As a rule, only authorized managers should provide
information. Other suggestions include “Don’t volunteer information,” “Avoid vague
statements,” and “Do not answer trap questions such as, ‘Would you rehire this per-
son?’” In practice, many firms have a policy of not providing any information about
former employees except for their dates of employment, last salary, and position
titles.100
(However, not disclosing relevant information can be dangerous, too. In one
case, a company fired an employee for allegedly bringing a handgun to work. After
his next employer fired him for absenteeism, he returned to that company and shot
several employees. The injured parties and their relatives sued the previous employer,
who had provided the employee with a clean letter of recommendation.)
The person alleging defamation has various legal remedies, including suing
the source of the reference for defamation.101 In one case, a court awarded a man
$56,000 after a company turned him down for a job after the former employer called
him a “character.” Many firms will check references for a small fee.102 One supervi-
sor hired such a firm. It found that someone at the supervisor’s previous company
suggested that the employee was “… not comfortable with taking risks, or making
big decisions.” The former employee sued, demanding an end to defamation and
$45,000 in compensation.103 ■

How to Check a Candidate’s Background

There are several things managers and employers can do to get better information.
Most employers at least try to verify an applicant’s current (or former) posi-
tion and salary with his or her current (or former) employer by phone (assum-
ing you cleared doing so with the candidate). Others call the applicant’s current
and previous supervisors to try to discover more about the person’s motivation,
technical competence, and ability to work with others (although, again, many em-
ployers have policies against providing such information). Figure 6-8 shows one
form for phone references. Many employers get background reports from com-
mercial credit rating companies for information about credit standing, indebted-
ness, reputation, character, and lifestyle. (Others check social network sites, as we
will see in a moment.)
 Chapter6 • employeetestingandseleCtion 185

Figure 6-8 reference

Checking Form (Verify that the applicant has provided permission before conducting reference checks.)
Source: Reprinted with permis-
sion of the Society for Human Candidate
Resource Management (www Name
.[Link]), Alexandria, VA Reference
22314. Name

Company
Name

Dates of Employment
From: To:

Position(s)
Held

Salary
History

Reason for
Leaving

Explain the reason for your call and verify the above information with the supervisor (including the reason
for leaving)

1. Please describe the type of work for which the candidate was responsible.

2. How would you describe the applicant’s relationships with coworkers, subordinates (if applicable), and
with superiors?

3. Did the candidate have a positive or negative work attitude? Please elaborate.

4. How would you describe the quantity and quality of output generated by the former employee?

5. What were his/her strengths on the job?

6. What were his/her weaknesses on the job?

7. What is your overall assessment of the candidate?

8. Would you recommend him/her for this position? Why or why not?

9. Would this individual be eligible for rehire? Why or why not?

Other comments?
186 part2 • reCruitment,plaCement,andtalentmanagement

Automated online reference checking can improve the results. With a system such
as Pre-Hire 360 ([Link]/pre-hire-360), the hiring employer inputs the
applicant’s name and e-mail address. Then the person’s preselected references rate the
applicant’s skills anonymously, using a survey. The system then compiles these references
into a report for the employer.104

Trends shaping hr: DiGiTAL AnD SoCiAL MeDiA

Digital tools are changing the background-checking process. Employers are Goog-
ling applicants or checking Facebook and LinkedIn, and what they’re finding
isn’t always pretty. One candidate described his interests on Facebook as smoking
pot and shooting people. The student may have been kidding, but didn’t get the
job.105 An article called “Funny, They Don’t Look Like My References” notes
that the new LinkedIn premium service “Reference Search” lets employers iden-
tify people in their own networks who worked for the same company when a job
candidate did, and thus use them to get references on the candidate.106 According
to LinkedIn, you just select Reference Search, then enter a company name, candi-
date’s name, and the timeframe, and click search. Employers are integrating such
tools with software solutions such as Oracle/Taleo Verify to facilitate obtaining
such information and then integrating it into the candidate’s dashboard-accessi-
ble profile.
Web and social media background searches can be problematical. While applicants
usually don’t list race, age, disability or ethnic origin on their résumés, their Facebook pag-
es may reveal such information, setting the stage for possible EEOC claims. Or, an over-
eager supervisor might conduct his or her own Facebook page “background check.”107
In any case, it’s probably best to get the candidate’s prior approval for so-
cial networking searches.108 And do not use a pretext or fabricate an identity.109
Maryland law restricts employer demands for applicant usernames and pass-
words.110 Other states will undoubtedly follow.
The solution isn’t necessarily to prohibit the legitimate use of social media–
based information (unless perusing such information is illegal under the law, as
in Maryland). Instead, follow intelligent social media staffing policies and proce-
dures. For example, inform employees and prospective employees ahead of time
regarding what information the employer plans to review. Assign one or two spe-
cially trained human resource professionals to search social media sites. And warn
unauthorized employees (such as prospective supervisors) about accessing such
information.111 ■

If your professor has assigned this, go to the Assignments section of [Link] to

complete this discussion question.
Talk About it 5: Review your Facebook or other social media site. How do you think a prospective
employer would react to what you’ve had posted there?

Using Preemployment Information Services

It is easy to have employment screening services check out applicants. Major back-
ground checking providers include Automatic Data Processing Inc., First Advantage,
HireRight, and Sterling Backcheck.112 They use databases to access information
about matters such as workers’ compensation, credit histories, and conviction and
driving records. For example, retail employers use First Advantage Corporation’s
Esteem Database to see if their job candidates have previously been involved in
suspected retail thefts.113 Another firm advertises that for less than $50 it will do
 Chapter6 • employeetestingandseleCtion 187

a criminal history report, motor vehicle/driver’s record report, and (after the per-
son is hired) a workers’ compensation claims report history, plus confirm identity,
name, and Social Security number. There are thousands of databases, including sex
offender registries and criminal and educational histories.
There are three reasons to use caution with such services.114 First, EEO laws
apply. For example, New Jersey recently became the 13th state to pass a “Ban the
Box” law prohibiting prospective employees from questioning applicants about
convictions until late in the hiring process.115 So be careful not to use the product
of an unreasonable investigation.
Second, various federal and state laws govern how employers acquire and use
applicants’ and employees’ background information. At the federal level, the Fair
Credit Reporting Act is the main directive. In addition, at least 21 states impose their
own requirements. Authorizing background reports while complying with these laws
requires four steps, as follows:
Step 1: Disclosure and authorization. Before requesting reports, the employer
must disclose to the applicant or employee that a report will be requested and
that the employee/applicant may receive a copy. (Do this on the application
form.)
Step 2: Certification. The employer must certify to the reporting agency that the
employer will comply with the federal and state legal requirements—for example,
that the employer obtained written consent from the employee/applicant.
Step 3: Providing copies of reports. Under federal law, the employer must provide
copies of the report to the applicant or employee if adverse action (such as with-
drawing a job offer) is contemplated.116
Step 4: Notice after adverse action. If the employer anticipates taking an adverse
action, the employee/applicant must get an adverse action notice. This contains
information such as the name of the consumer reporting agency. The employee/
applicant then has various remedies under the laws.117
Third, the criminal background information may be flawed. Many return “pos-
sible matches” for the wrong person (who happens to be a criminal).118 One such
firm paid a $2.6 million penalty after the Federal Trade Commission sued it for such
erroneous reporting.119

Making the Background Check More Valuable

There are steps one can take to improve the usefulness of the background informa-
tion being sought. Specifically:
●● Include on the application form a statement for applicants to sign explicitly

authorizing a background and credit check, such as:

I hereby certify that the facts set forth in the above employment applica-
tion are true and complete to the best of my knowledge. I understand that
falsified statements or misrepresentation of information on this applica-
tion or omission of any information sought may be cause for dismissal, if
employed, or may lead to refusal to make an offer and/or to withdrawal of
an offer. I also authorize investigation of credit, employment record, driv-
ing record, and, once a job offer is made or during employment, workers’
compensation background if required.
●● Telephone references tend to produce more candid assessments. Use a form,
such as Figure 6-8. Remember that you can get relatively accurate information
regarding dates of employment, eligibility for rehire, and job qualifications.
It’s more difficult to get other background information (such as reasons for
leaving a previous job).120
188 part2 • reCruitment,plaCement,andtalentmanagement

●● Persistence and attentiveness to possible red flags improve results. For ex-
ample, if the former employer hesitates or seems to qualify his or her answer,
don’t go on to the next question. Try to unearth what the applicant did to
make the former employer pause. If he says, “Joe requires some special care,”
say, “Special care?”
●● Compare the application to the résumé; people tend to be more creative on
their résumés than on their application forms, where they must certify the
information.
●● Try to ask open-ended questions (such as, “How much structure does the
applicant need in his/her work?”) to get the references to talk more about the
candidate.121 But in asking for information: Only ask for and obtain informa-
tion that you’re going to use; remember that using arrest information is highly
problematical; use information that is specific and job related; and keep infor-
mation confidential.
●● Ask the references supplied by the applicant to suggest other references. You
might ask each of the applicant’s references, “Could you give me the name of an-
other person who might be familiar with the applicant’s performance?” Then you
begin getting information from references that may be more objective, because
they did not come directly from the applicant (or use LinkedIn’s Reference Search
service).

The Polygraph and Honesty Testing

The polygraph is a device that measures physiological changes like increased perspi-
ration. The assumption is that such changes reflect changes in emotional state that
accompany lying.
Complaints about offensiveness plus grave doubts about the polygraph’s ac-
curacy culminated in the Employee Polygraph Protection Act of 1988.122 With a
few exceptions, the law prohibits employers from conducting polygraph examina-
tions of all job applicants and most employees. (Also prohibited are other mechani-
cal or electrical devices that attempt to measure honesty or dishonesty, including
voice stress analyzers.) Federal laws don’t prohibit paper-and-pencil tests or chemi-
cal testing, as for drugs.
Local, state, and federal government employers (including the FBI) can use
polygraphs for selection screening and other purposes, but state laws restrict many
local and state governments. Private employers can use polygraph testing, but only
under strictly limited circumstances.123 These include firms with national defense
or security contracts, nuclear power-related contracts with the Department of
Energy, access to highly classified information, counterintelligence-related con-
tracts with the FBI or Department of Justice, and private businesses (1) hiring
private security personnel, (2) hiring persons with access to drugs, or (3) doing
ongoing investigations involving economic loss or injury to an employer’s busi-
ness, such as a theft.
However, even for ongoing investigations of theft, the law restricts employers’
rights. To administer a polygraph test for an ongoing investigation, an employer must
meet four standards:
1. It must show that it suffered an economic loss or injury.
2. It must show that the employee in question had access to the property.
3. It must have a reasonable suspicion before asking the employee to take the
polygraph.
4. The person to be tested must receive the details of the investigation before the
test, as well as the polygraph questions to be asked.

WriTTen honeSTy TeSTS The Polygraph Protection Act triggered a burgeoning

market for paper-and-pencil (or computerized or online) honesty tests. These are
 Chapter6 • employeetestingandseleCtion 189

psychological tests designed to predict job applicants’ proneness to dishonesty

and other forms of counterproductivity.124 Most measure attitudes regarding
things like tolerance of others who steal and admission of theft-related activities.
Tests include the Phase II profile. London House, Inc., and Stanton Corporation
publish similar tests.125
Psychologists were initially skeptical about paper-and-pencil honesty tests, but
studies support these tests’ validity.126 One study involved 111 employees hired by a
convenience store chain to work at store or gas station counters.127 The firm estimated
that “shrinkage” equaled 3% of sales, and believed that internal theft accounted for
much of this. Scores on an honesty test successfully predicted theft here (as measured
by termination for theft). At Hospital Management Corp., an integrity test is the first
step in the hiring process, and those who fail go no further. It instituted the test after
determining that the test did weed out undesirable applicants. For example, after
the test was used for several months, workers compensation claims dropped among
new hires.128

Testing for Honesty: Practical Guidelines

With or without testing, there’s a lot a manager can do to screen out dishonest
applicants or employees. Specifically:
●● Ask blunt questions.129 Says one expert, there is nothing wrong with ask-
ing the applicant direct questions, such as, “Have you ever stolen anything
from an employer?” “Have you recently held jobs other than those listed on
your application?” “Is any information on your application misrepresented or
falsified?”
●● Listen, rather than talk. Thus liars may try to answer direct questions somewhat
evasively. For example, ask them if they’ve ever used drugs, and they might say,
“I don’t take drugs.”130
●● Watch for telltale body signals. For example, someone who is not telling the
truth may move his or her body slightly away from you.131 Establish a baseline
by seeing how the person’s body is positioned when he or she is undoubtedly
telling the truth. Know that it is not true that adult liars won’t look you in
the eye when they’re lying; polished liars may actually do so excessively.132
●● Do a credit check. Include a clause in your application giving you the right to
conduct background checks, including credit checks and motor vehicle reports.
●● Check all employment and personal references.
●● Use written honesty tests and psychological tests.
●● Test for drugs. Devise a drug-testing program and give each applicant a copy of
the policy.
●● Establish a search-and-seizure policy and conduct searches. Give each applicant
a copy of the policy and require each to return a signed copy. The policy should
state, “All lockers, desks, and similar property remain the property of the com-
pany and may be inspected routinely.”
Honesty testing requires caution. Having just taken and “failed” what is fairly
obviously an “honesty test,” the candidate may leave the premises feeling mis-
treated. Some “honesty” questions also pose invasion-of-privacy issues. And some
states such as Massachusetts and Rhode Island limit paper-and-pencil honesty
testing.

Graphology
Graphology is the use of handwriting analysis to determine the writer’s basic per-
sonality traits. It thus has some resemblance to projective personality tests, although
graphology’s validity is highly suspect. The handwriting analyst studies an applicant’s
handwriting and signature to discover the person’s needs, desires, and psychologi-
cal makeup. In one typical example the graphologist notes that a writing sample has
190 part2 • reCruitment,plaCement,andtalentmanagement

small handwriting, a vertical stance, and narrow letters (among other things) and so
is indicative of someone with uptight tendencies.
Virtually all scientific studies suggest graphology is not valid, or that when gra-
phologists do accurately size up candidates, it’s because they are also privy to other
background information. Yet some firms swear by it.133 One 325-employee firm uses
profiles based on handwriting samples to design follow-up interviews.134 Most
experts shun it.

“Human Lie Detectors”

Some employers are using so-called “human lie detectors,” experts who may (or may
not) be able to identify lying just by watching candidates.135 One Wall Street firm uses
a former FBI agent. He sits in on interviews and watches for signs of candidate decep-
tiveness. Signs include pupils changing size (fear), irregular breathing (nervousness),
crossing legs (“liars distance themselves from an untruth”), and quick verbal responses
(scripted statements).

Physical Exams
Once the employer extends the person a job offer, a medical exam is often the next
step in selection (although it may also occur after the new employee starts work).
There are several reasons for preemployment medical 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.
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, an employer cannot reject someone
with a disability if he or she is otherwise qualified and can perform the essential job
functions with reasonable accommodation. Recall that the ADA permits a medical
exam during the period between the job offer and commencement of work if such
exams are standard practice for all applicants for that job category.136

Substance Abuse Screening

Most employers conduct drug screenings. The most common practice is to test candi-
dates just before they’re formally hired. Many also test current employees when there
is reason to believe they’ve been using drugs—after a work accident, or with obvi-
ous behavioral symptoms such as chronic lateness. Some firms routinely administer
drug tests on a random or periodic basis, while others require drug tests when they
transfer or promote employees to new positions.137 Most employers that conduct
such tests use urine sampling. Numerous vendors provide workplace drug-testing
services.138 Employers may use urine testing to test for illicit drugs, breath alcohol
tests to determine amount of alcohol in the blood, blood tests to measure alcohol or
drugs in the blood at the time of the test, hair analyses to reveal drug history, saliva
tests for substances such as marijuana and cocaine, and skin patches to determine
drug use.139
Yet drug testing, while ubiquitous, is neither as simple nor as effective as it might
appear. First, no drug test is foolproof. Some urine sample tests can’t distinguish be-
tween legal and illegal substances; for example, Advil can produce positive results for
marijuana. Furthermore, “there is a swarm of products that promise to help employees
(both male and female) beat drug tests.”140 (Employers should view the presence of
adulterants in a sample as a positive test.) One alternative, hair follicle testing, requires
a small sample of hair, which the lab analyzes.141 But here, too, classified ads advertise
chemicals to rub on the scalp to fool the test.
There’s also the question of what is the point.142 Unlike roadside breathalyzers
for DUI drivers, tests for drugs show only whether drug residues are present; they
do not indicate impairment (or, for that matter, habituation or addiction).143 Some
therefore argue that testing is not justifiable on the grounds of boosting workplace
 Chapter6 • employeetestingandseleCtion 191

safety.144 Many feel the testing procedures themselves are degrading and intrusive.
Many employers reasonably counter that they don’t want drug-prone employees
on their premises. Employers should choose the lab they engage to do the testing
with care.

Drug Testing Legal Issues

Drug testing raises legal issues.145 As one attorney writes, “It is not uncommon for
employees to claim that drug tests violate their rights to privacy under common law
or, in some states, a state statutory or constitutional provision.”146 Hair follicle test-
ing is less intrusive than urinalysis but can actually produce more personal informa-
tion: A 3-inch hair segment could record 6 months of drug use.
Several federal laws affect workplace drug testing. Under the Americans with
Disabilities Act, a court would probably consider a former drug user (who no longer
uses illegal drugs and has successfully completed or is participating in a rehabilita-
tion program) as a qualified applicant with a disability.147 Under the Drug Free
Workplace Act of 1988, federal contractors must maintain a workplace free from
illegal drugs. While this doesn’t require contractors to conduct drug testing or reha-
bilitate affected employees, many do. Under the U.S. Department of Transportation
workplace regulations, firms with over 50 eligible employees in transportation in-
dustries must conduct alcohol testing on workers with sensitive or safety-related
jobs. These include mass transit workers, air traffic controllers, train crews, and
school bus drivers.148 Other laws, including the Federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973
and various state laws, protect rehabilitating drug users or those who have a physical
or mental addiction.
What should an employer do when a job candidate tests positive? Most compa-
nies will not hire such candidates, and a few will immediately fire current employees
who test positive. Current employees have more legal recourse; employers must tell
them the reason for dismissal if the reason is a positive drug test.149
Particularly where sensitive jobs are concerned, courts tend to side with
employers. In one case, a U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that Exxon acted properly
in firing a truck driver who failed a drug test. Exxon requires random testing of
employees in safety-sensitive jobs. The employee drove a tractor-trailer carrying
12,000 gallons of flammable motor fuel and tested positive for cocaine. The union
representing the employee challenged the firing. An arbitrator reduced the penalty to
a 2-month suspension, but the appeals court ruled that the employer acted properly
in firing the truck driver.150
WLE
Complying with Immigration Law
KNO

DG

Employees hired in the United States must prove they are eligible to work here.
E

BASE The requirement to verify eligibility does not provide any basis to reject an ap-
plicant just because he or she is a foreigner, not a U.S. citizen, or an alien residing
in the United States, as long as that person can prove his or her identity and em-
ployment eligibility. To comply with this law, employers should follow procedures
outlined in the so-called I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification form.151 More
than 500,000 employers are using the federal government’s voluntary electronic
employment verification program, E-Verify.152 Federal contractors must use it.153
There is no charge to use E-Verify.154 Many employers now use automated I-9
verification systems with drop-down menus to electronically compile and submit
applicants’ I-9 data.155 The I-9 forms contain a prominent “antidiscrimination
notice.”156
Applicants can prove their eligibility for employment in two ways. One is to show
a document (such as a U.S. passport or alien registration card with photograph) that
proves both identity and employment eligibility. The other is to show a document
that proves the person’s identity, along with a second document showing his or her
employment eligibility, such as a work permit.157 In any case, it’s always advisable to
get two forms of proof of identity.
192 part2 • reCruitment,plaCement,andtalentmanagement

Identity theft—undocumented workers stealing and using an authorized worker’s

identity—is a problem even with E-Verify.158 The federal government is tightening
restrictions on hiring undocumented workers. Realizing that many documents are
fakes, the government is putting the onus on employers to make sure whom they’re
hiring. The Department of Homeland Security files criminal charges against sus-
pected employer violators.159
You can verify Social Security numbers by calling the Social Security
Administration. Employers can avoid accusations of discrimination by verifying the
documents of all applicants, not just those they may think suspicious.160

chapter review

MyManagementLab® Go to [Link] to complete the problems marked with this icon.

chapter Section Summaries
6-1. Careful employee selection is important for several and physical abilities, and measures of person-
reasons. Your own performance always depends ality and interests. With respect to personal-
on your subordinates; it is costly to recruit and ity, psychologists often focus on the “big five”
hire employees; and mismanaging the hiring personality dimensions: extroversion, emotional
process has various legal implications includ- stability/neuroticism, agreeableness, conscien-
ing equal employment, negligent hiring, and tiousness, and openness to experience. Achieve-
defamation. ment tests measure what someone has learned.
6-2. Whether you are administering tests or making 6-4. With work samples and simulations, you pres-
decisions based on test results, managers need ent examinees with situations representative
to understand several basic testing concepts. of the jobs for which they are applying. One
Reliability refers to a test’s consistency, while example is the management assessment cen-
validity tells you whether the test is measuring ter, a 2- to 3-day simulation in which 10 to 12
what you think it’s supposed to be measuring. candidates perform realistic management tasks
Criterion validity means demonstrating that under the observation of experts who appraise
those who do well on the test also do well on the each candidate’s leadership potential. Video-
job while content validity means showing that based situational testing and the miniature job
the test constitutes a fair sample of the job’s training and evaluation approach are two other
content. Validating a test involves analyzing examples.
the job, choosing the tests, administering the 6-5. Testing is only part of an employer’s selection
test, relating your test scores and criteria, and process; you also want to conduct background
cross-validating and revalidating. Test takers investigations and other selection procedures.
have rights to privacy and feedback as well as to • The main point of doing a background check

confidentiality. is to verify the applicant’s information and to

6-3. Whether they are administered via paper and uncover potentially damaging information.
pencil, by computer, or online, we discussed However, care must be taken, particularly
several main types of tests. Tests of cognitive when giving a reference, that the employee not
abilities measure things like reasoning abil- be defamed and that his or her privacy rights
ity and include intelligence tests and tests of are maintained.
specific cognitive abilities such as mechanical • Given former employers’ reluctance to pro-

comprehension. There are also tests of motor vide a comprehensive report, those checking
 Chapter6 • employeetestingandseleCtion 193

references need to do several things. Make • For many types of jobs, honesty testing is es-
sure the applicant explicitly authorizes a sential and paper-and-pencil tests have proven
background check, use a checklist or form useful.
for obtaining telephone references, and be • Most employers also require that new hires,
persistent and attentive to potential red before actually coming on board, take physical
flags. exams and substance abuse screening. It’s es-
• Given the growing popularity of computerized sential to comply with immigration law, in par-
employment background databases, many or ticular by having the candidate complete an
most employers use preemployment information I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification Form
services to obtain background information. and submit proof of eligibility.

Discussion Questions
6-1. What is the difference between reliability and 6-4. Explain how you would get around the problem
validity? of former employers being unwilling to give bad
6-2. Explain why you think a certified psychologist references on their former employees.
who is specifically trained in test construction 6-5. How can employers protect themselves against
should (or should not) be used by a small busi- negligent hiring claims?
ness that needs an employment test.
6-3. Why is it important to conduct preemployment
background investigations? How would you do so?

Individual and group activities

6-6. Write a short essay discussing some of the ethical 6-9. Appendices A and B at the end of this book
and legal considerations in testing. WLE (pages 612–629) list the knowledge someone
6-7. Working individually or in groups, develop a studying for the HRCI (Appendix A) or SHRM
KNO

DG
E

list of specific selection techniques that you BASE

(Appendix B) certification exam needs to have
would suggest your dean use to hire the next HR in each area of human resource management
professor at your school. Explain why you chose (such as in Strategic Management, and Workforce
each selection technique. Planning). In groups of several students, do four
6-8. Working individually or in groups, contact things: (1) review Appendix A and/or B; (2) iden-
the publisher of a standardized test such as tify the material in this chapter that relates to the
the Scholastic Assessment Test and obtain Appendix A and/or B required knowledge lists;
from it written information regarding the (3) write four multiple-choice exam questions on
test’s validity and reliability. Present a short this material that you believe would be suitable for
report in class discussing what the test is sup- inclusion in the HRCI exam and/or the SHRM
posed to measure and the degree to which you exam; and, (4) if time permits, have someone from
think the test does what it is supposed to do, your team post your team’s questions in front of
based on the reported validity and reliability the class, so that students in all teams can answer
scores. the exam questions created by the other teams.

Experiential Exercise
Chapter 6

A Test for a Reservation Clerk airline. If time permits, you’ll be able to combine your
tests into a test battery.
Purpose: The purpose of this exercise is to give you
practice in developing a test to measure one specific Required Understanding: Your airline has decided to
ability for the job of airline reservation clerk for a major outsource its reservation jobs to Asia. You should be
 194 part2 • reCruitment,plaCement,andtalentmanagement

fully acquainted with the procedure for developing a your objective is to create a test that is useful in selecting
personnel test and should read the following description a third of those available.
of an airline reservation clerk’s duties:
How to Set Up the Exercise/Instructions:
Customers contact our airline reservation clerks to
Divide the class into teams of five or six students. The
obtain flight schedules, prices, and itineraries. The
ideal candidate will need to have a number of skills to
reservation clerks look up the requested informa-
perform this job well. Your job is to select a single skill
tion on our airline’s online flight schedule systems,
and to develop a test to measure that skill. Please use
which are updated continuously. The reservation
only the materials available in the room. The test should
clerk must speak clearly, deal courteously and ex-
permit quantitative scoring and may be an individual or
peditiously with the customer, and be able to find
a group test.
quickly alternative flight arrangements in order to
Please go to your assigned groups. As per our dis-
provide the customer with the itinerary that fits his
cussion of test development in this chapter, each group
or her needs. Alternative flights and prices must
should make a list of the skills relevant to success in the
be found quickly, so that the customer is not kept
airline reservation clerk’s job. Each group should then
waiting, and so that our reservations operations
rate the importance of these skills on a 5-point scale.
group maintains its efficiency standards. There
Then, develop a test to measure what you believe to be
may be a dozen or more alternative routes between
the top-ranked skill. If time permits, the groups should
the customer’s starting point and destination.
combine the various tests from each group into a test
You may assume that we will hire about one-third battery. If possible, leave time for a group of students to
of the applicants as airline reservation clerks. Therefore, take the test battery.

application case
The Insider Over lunch at Bouley restaurant in Manhattan’s TriBeCa area, the
heads of several investment firms were discussing the conviction, and
A federal jury convicted a stock trader who worked for a well-known what they could do to make sure something like that didn’t occur in
investment firm, along with two alleged accomplices, of insider trad- their firms. “It’s not just compliance,” said one. “We’ve got to keep out
ing. According to the indictment, the trader got inside information the bad apples.” They ask you for your advice.
about pending mergers from lawyers. The lawyers allegedly browsed
around their law firm picking up information about corporate deals Questions
others in the firm were working on. The lawyers would then allegedly
6-10. We want you to design an employee selection program for hir-
pass their information on to a friend, who in turn passed it on to the
ing stock traders. We already know what to look for as far as
trader. Such “inside” information reportedly helped the trader (and his
technical skills are concerned—accounting courses, economics,
investment firm) earn millions of dollars. The trader would then alleg-
and so on. What we want is a program for screening out po-
edly thank the lawyers, for instance, with envelopes filled with cash.
tential bad apples. To that end, please let us know the follow-
Things like that are not supposed to happen. Federal and state
ing: What screening test(s) would you suggest, and why? What
laws prohibit them. And investment firms have their own compliance
questions should we add to our application form? Specifically
procedures to identify and head off shady trades. The problem is that
how should we check candidates’ backgrounds, and what
controlling such behavior once the firm has someone working for it
questions should we ask previous employers and references?
who may be prone to engage in inside trading isn’t easy. “Better to
6-11. What else (if anything) would you suggest?
avoid hiring such people in the first place,” said one pundit.

continuing case
Carter Cleaning Company other hand, applicant screening for the stores can also be frustratingly hard
because of the nature of some of the other qualities that Jennifer would
Honesty Testing like to screen for. Two of the most critical problems facing her company are
chapter 6

Jennifer Carter, of the Carter Cleaning Centers, and her father have what employee turnover and employee honesty. Jennifer and her father sorely
the latter describes as an easy but hard job when it comes to screening need to implement practices that will reduce the rate of employee turn-
job applicants. It is easy because for two important jobs—the people who over. If there is a way to do this through employee testing and screening
actually do the pressing and those who do the cleaning/spotting—the ap- techniques, Jennifer would like to know about it because of the manage-
plicants are easily screened with about 20 minutes of on-the-job testing. ment time and money that are now being wasted by the never-ending
As with typists, Jennifer points out, “Applicants either know how to press need to recruit and hire new employees. Of even greater concern to Jenni-
clothes fast or how to use cleaning chemicals and machines, or they don’t, fer and her father is the need to institute new practices to screen out those
and we find out very quickly by just trying them out on the job.” On the employees who may be predisposed to steal from the company.
 Chapter6 • employeetestingandseleCtion 195

Employee theft is an enormous problem for the Carter Clean- should have a much better handle on stealing in our stores. Well, one of
ing Centers, and not just cash. For example, the cleaner/spotter of- our managers found a way around this. I came into the store one night
ten opens the store without a manager present, to get the day’s work and noticed that the cash register this particular manager was using just
started, and it is not unusual for that person to “run a route.” Running didn’t look right, although the sign was placed in front of it. It turned
a route means that an employee canvasses his or her neighborhood out that every afternoon at about 5:00 p.m. when the other employees
to pick up people’s clothes for cleaning and then secretly cleans and left, this character would pull his own cash register out of a box that he
presses them in the Carter store, using the company’s supplies, gas, hid underneath our supplies. Customers coming in would notice the sign
and power. It would also not be unusual for an unsupervised person and, of course, the fact that he was meticulous in ringing up every sale.
(or his or her supervisor, for that matter) to accept a 1-hour rush order But unknown to them, for about 5 months the sales that came in for
for cleaning or laundering, quickly clean and press the item, and return about an hour every day went into his cash register, not mine. It took us
it to the customer for payment without making out a proper ticket for that long to figure out where our cash for that store was going.”
the item posting the sale. The money, of course, goes into the worker’s Here is what Jennifer would like you to answer:
pocket instead of into the cash register.
The more serious problem concerns the store manager and the Questions
counter workers who actually handle the cash. According to Jack Carter, 6-12. What would be the advantages and disadvantages to Jen-
“You would not believe the creativity employees use to get around the nifer’s company of routinely administering honesty tests to all
management controls we set up to cut down on employee theft.” As its employees?
one extreme example of this felonious creativity, Jack tells the following 6-13. Specifically, what other screening techniques could the
story: “To cut down on the amount of money my employees were steal- company use to screen out theft-prone and turnover-prone
ing, I had a small sign painted and placed in front of all our cash registers. employees, and how exactly could these be used?
The sign said: YOUR ENTIRE ORDER FREE IF WE DON’T GIVE YOU A 6-14. How should her company terminate employees caught
CASH REGISTER RECEIPT WHEN YOU PAY. CALL 552–0235. It was my stealing, and what kind of procedure should be set up for
intention with this sign to force all our cash-handling employees to give handling reference calls about these employees when they go
receipts so the cash register would record them for my accountants. After to other companies looking for jobs?
all, if all the cash that comes in is recorded in the cash register, then we

Translating Strategy into Hr Policies and Practices case*,§

*The accompanying strategy map for this chapter is in the MyManagementLab, and the overall map on the inside back cover of this text outlines the relationships
involved.

Improving Performance at The Hotel Paris clerk candidates spend 10 minutes processing an incoming “guest”; a
personality test aimed at weeding out applicants who lack emotional
The New Employee Testing Program stability; the Wonderlic test of mental ability; and the Phase II Profile for
The Hotel Paris’s competitive strategy is “To use superior guest service to assessing candidate honesty. Their subsequent validity analysis shows
differentiate the Hotel Paris properties, and to thereby increase the length that scores on the test batteries predict scores on the hotel’s employee
of stay and return rate of guests, and thus boost revenues and profitabil- capabilities and behavior metrics. A second analysis confirmed that, as
ity.” HR manager Lisa Cruz must now formulate functional policies and the percentage of employees hired after testing rose, so too did the
activities that support this competitive strategy and boost performance, hotel’s employee capabilities and behaviors scores, for instance (see the
by eliciting the required employee behaviors and competencies. strategy map), in terms of speed of check-in/out, and the percent of
As she considered what to do next, Lisa Cruz, the Hotel Paris’s HR guests receiving the Hotel Paris required greeting.
director, knew that employee selection had to play a role. The Hotel Par- Lisa and the CFO also found other measurable improvements appar-
is currently had an informal screening process in which local hotel man- ently resulting from the new testing process. For example, it took less time
agers obtained application forms, interviewed applicants, and checked to fill an open position, and cost per hire diminished, so the HR department
their references. However, a pilot project using an employment test for became more efficient. The new testing program thus did not only con-
service people at the Chicago hotel had produced startling results. Lisa tribute to the hotel’s performance by improving employee capabilities and
found consistent, significant relationships between test performance behaviors. It also did so by directly improving profit margins and profits.
and a range of employee competencies and behaviors such as speed
of check-in/out, employee turnover, and percentage of calls answered Questions
with the required greeting. She knew that such employee capabilities 6-15. Provide a detailed example of a security guard work sample test.
and behaviors translated into the improved guest service performance 6-16. Provide a detailed example of two personality test items you
the Hotel Paris needed to execute its strategy. She therefore had to would suggest they use, and why you would suggest using
decide what selection procedures would be best. them.
chapter 6

Lisa’s team, working with an industrial psychologist, designs a test 6-17. Based on what you read here in this Dessler Human Resource
battery that they believe will produce the sorts of high-morale, patient, Management Chapter, what other tests would you suggest to
people-oriented employees they are looking for. It includes a prelimi- Lisa, and why would you suggest them?
nary, computerized test in which applicants for the positions of front- 6-18. How would you suggest Lisa try to confirm that it is indeed
desk clerk, door person, assistant manager, and security guard must the testing and not some other change that accounts for the
deal with an apparently irate guest; a work sample in which front-desk improved performance.

§
Written by and copyright Gary Dessler, PhD.
 196 part2 • reCruitment,plaCement,andtalentmanagement

MyManagementLab
Go to [Link] for Auto-graded writing questions as well as the following
Assisted-graded writing questions:
6-19. Explain how you would go about validating a test. How can this information
be useful to a manager?
6-20. Explain how digital and social media have changed the employee selection
process, and the advice you would give an employer about avoiding problems
with using such tools for selection.
6-21. MyManagementLab Only—comprehensive writing assignment for this
chapter.

Try It!
How would you apply the concepts and skills you learned in this chapter? If your professor has
assigned this, go to the Assignments section of [Link] to complete the simulation:
Individual Behavior.

PERSONAL

PERSONAL INVENTORY ASSESSMENTS P I A INVENTORY

ASSESSMENT

Are You a Type A Personality?

Personality plays a big role in selection and employee performance. Complete this assessment to learn
more about your personality.

Key Terms
negligent hiring, 167 content validity, 179 work samples, 178 situational test, 180
reliability, 167 construct validity, 170 work sampling technique, 178 video-based simulation, 180
test validity, 168 expectancy chart, 171 management assessment center, miniature job training and
criterion validity, 168 interest inventory, 177 179 evaluation, 181

Endnotes
1. Kevin Delaney, “Google Adjusts tests’ job relatedness and EEO no. 6 (November–December detailed log of all attempts to
Hiring Process as Needs Grow,” compliance. “DOL Officials 2005), pp. 18–23. obtain information, including
Wall Street Journal, October 23, Discuss Contractors’ Duties on 7. For example, Ryan Zimmerman, the names and dates for phone
2006, pp. B1, B8; [Link] Validating Tests,” BNA Bulletin “Wal-Mart to Toughen Job calls or other requests.” Fay
[Link]/2009/01/ to Management, September Screening,” Wall Street Journal, Hansen, “Taking ‘Reasonable’
[Link], 4, 2007, p. 287. Furthermore, July 12, 2004, pp. B1–B8. See Action to Avoid Negligent Hir-
accessed March 25, 2009. enforcement units are increas- also Michael Tucker, “Show and ing Claims,” Workforce Man-
2. Aliah D. Wright, “At Google, ing their scrutiny of employers Tell,” HR Magazine, January agement, September 11, 2006,
It Takes a Village to Hire an who rely on tests and screening. 2012, pp. 51–52. p. 31. Similarly, the Employers
Employee,” HR Magazine 56, See “Litigation Increasing with 8. Negligent hiring highlights the Liability Act of 1969 holds
no. 7 (2009 HR Trendbook Employer Reliance on Tests, need to think through what employers responsible for their
supplement). Screening,” BNA Bulletin to the job’s human requirements employees’ health and safety
3. See, for example, Jean Phillips Management, April 8, 2008, p. really are. For example, “non- at work. Because personality
and Stanley Gully, Strategic 119. However, see also C. Tuna rapist” isn’t likely to appear traits may predict problems
Staffing (Upper Saddle River, et al., “Job-Test Ruling Cheers as a required knowledge, skill, such as unsafe behaviors and
NJ: Pearson Education, 2012), Employers,” Wall Street Journal, or ability in a job analysis of bullying, this act makes careful
pp. 234–235. July 1, 2009, p. B1–B2. an apartment manager, but in employee selection even more
Chapter 6

4. “Regret That Bad Hire? It’s an 6. See, for example, Ann Marie situations like this screening advisable.
Expensive Global Problem,” Ryan and Marja Lasek, “Neg- for such tendencies is obviously 9. Kevin Murphy and Charles
Bloomberg BNA Bulletin to ligent Hiring and Defamation: required. To avoid negligent Davidshofer, Psychological Test-
Management, June 4, 2013, Areas of Liability Related to hiring claims, “make a system- ing: Principles and Applications
p. 179. Pre-Employment Inquiries,” atic effort to gain relevant in- (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pren-
5. Even if they use a third party Personnel Psychology 44, no. 2 formation about the applicant, tice Hall, 2001), p. 73.
to prepare an employment test, (Summer 1991), pp. 293–319. verify documentation, follow 10. Ibid., pp. 116–119.
contractors are “ultimately See also Jay Stuller, “Fatal At- up on missing records or gaps 11. W. Bruce Walsh and Nancy
responsible” for ensuring the traction,” Across the Board 42, in employment, and keep a Betz, Tests and Assessment
 Chapter6 • employeetestingandseleCtion 197

(Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pren- 24. Herman Aguinis, Steven Cul- 37. Ibid. See also Alison Wolf and military-fitness/marine-corps-
tice Hall, 2001). pepper, and Charles Pierce, Andrew Jenkins, “Explaining fitness-requirements/marine-
12. Murphy and Davidshofer, Psy- “Revival of Test Bias Research Greater Test Use for Selection: corps-fitness-test, accessed
chological Testing, p. 74. in Preemployment Testing,” The Role of HR Professionals in October 4, 2011.
13. Ibid. Journal of Applied Psychology a World of Expanding Regula- 45. William Wagner, “All Skill,
14. See James Ledvinka, Federal 95, no. 4 (2010), p. 648. tion,” Human Resource Manage- No Finesse,” Workforce, June
Regulation of Personnel and 25. Robert Gatewood and Hubert ment Journal 16, no. 2 (2006), 2000, pp. 108–116. See also, for
Human Resource Management Feild, Human Resource Selection pp. 193–213. example, James Diefendorff and
(Boston: Kent, 1982), p. 113; (Mason, OH: South-Western, 38. Steffanie Wilk and Peter Ca- Kajal Mehta, “The Relations
and Murphy and Davidshofer, Cengage Learning, 2008), p. pelli, “Understanding the De- of Motivational Traits with
Psychological Testing, pp. 243. terminants of Employer Use of Workplace Deviance,” Journal
154–165. 26. Bill Leonard, “Wanted: Shorter Selection Methods,” Personnel of Applied Psychology 92, no. 4
15. [Link]/workplace/em- Time to Hire,” HR Magazine, Psychology 56 (2003), p. 117. (2007), pp. 967–977.
ployment%20testing/informa- November 2011, pp. 49–52. 39. Kevin Hart, “Not Wanted: 46. See, for example, Joyce Hogan
tion_to_consider_when_cre. 27. This is based on Dave Zielinski, Thieves,” HR Magazine, April et al., “Personality Measure-
aspx, accessed March 22, 2009. “Effective Assessments,” HR 2008, p. 119. ment, Faking, and Employee
16. Based on Joseph Walker, “Meet Magazine, January 2011, pp. 40. Sarah Needleman, “Businesses Selection,” Journal of Applied
the New Boss: Big Data,” Wall 61–64. Say Theft by Their Workers Is Psychology 92, no. 5 (2007),
Street Journal, September 28. Sarah Gale, “Three Companies Up,” Wall Street Journal, De- pp. 1270–1285; Colin Gill and
20, 2012, p. B1. Also see Josh Cut Turnover with Tests,” Work- cember 11, 2008, p. B8. Gerard Hodgkinson, “Develop-
Bersin, “Big Data in Human force, Spring 2002, pp. 66–69. 41. Except as noted, this is based ment and Validation of the Five
Resources: Talent Analytics 29. The Uniform Guidelines say, on Laurence Siegel and Irving Factor Model Questionnaire
(People Analytics) Comes of “Employers should ensure that Lane, Personnel and Organiza- (FFMQ): An Adjectival-Based
Age,” [Link]/sites/ tests and selection procedures tional Psychology (Burr Ridge, Personality Inventory for Use
joshbersin/2013/02/17/bigdata- are not adopted casually by IL: McGraw-Hill, 1982), pp. in Occupational Settings,” Per-
in-human-resources-talent- managers who know little about 170–185. See also Cabot Jaffee, sonnel Psychology 60 (2007),
analytics-comes-of-age, accessed these processes … no test or “Measurement of Human pp. 731–766; and Lisa Penney
March 29, 2015. selection procedure should be Potential,” Employment Rela- and Emily Witt, “A Review of
17. Bill Roberts, “Hire Intelligence,” implemented without an under- tions Today 17, no. 2 (Summer Personality and Performance:
HR Magazine, May 2011, p. 64. standing of its effectiveness and 2000), pp. 15–27; Maureen Pat- Identifying Boundaries, Con-
18. The procedure you would use limitations for the organization, terson, “Overcoming the Hiring tingencies, and Future Research
to demonstrate content valid- its appropriateness for a specific Crunch; Tests Deliver Informed Directions,” Human Resource
ity differs from that used to job, and whether it can be ap- Choices,” Employment Relations Management Review 20, no. 1
demonstrate criterion validity propriately administered and Today 27, no. 3 (Fall 2000), pp. (2011), pp. 297–310.
(as described in steps 1 through scored.” 77–88; Kathryn Tyler, “Put Ap- 47. Timothy Judge et al., “Personal-
5). Content validity tends to 30. Phillips and Gully, Strategic plicants’ Skills to the Test,” HR ity and Leadership: A Qualita-
emphasize judgment. Here, you Staffing, p. 220. Magazine, January 2000, p. 74; tive and Quantitative Review,”
first do a careful job analysis 31. Ibid., p. 220. Murphy and Davidshofer, Psy- Journal of Applied Psychology
to identify the work behaviors 32. [Link]/ chological Testing, pp. 215–403; 87, no. 4 (2002), p. 765.
required. Then combine several [Link], accessed July Elizabeth Schoenfelt and Leslie 48. [Link].
samples of those behaviors into 19, 2013. Conversely, validating Pedigo, “A Review of Court com/?gcli =CK71m6rE-
a test. A typing and computer a test that suffers from adverse Decisions on Cognitive Ability h6ACFVZS2godDEj gkw, ac-
skills test for a clerk would be impact may not be enough. Testing, 1992–2004,” Review of cessed August 21, 2014.
an example. The fact that the Under the Uniform Guidelines, Public Personnel Administration 49. Ibid.
test is a comprehensive sample the employer should also find an 25, no. 3 (2005), pp. 271–287. 50. L. A. Witt et al., “The Interac-
of actual, observable, on-the-job equally valid but less adversely 42. See, for example, Paul Agnello, tive Effects of Conscientious-
behaviors is what lends the test impacting alternative. Rachel Ryan, and Kenneth ness and Agreeableness on
its content validity. 33. A complete discussion of the Yusko, “Implications of Mod- Job Performance,” Journal of
19. Murphy and Davidshofer, Psy- APA’s “Ethical Principles of ern Intelligence Research for Applied Psychology 87, no. 1
chological Testing, p. 73. See also Psychologists and Code of Assessing Intelligence in the (2002), pp. 164–169.
Chad Van Iddekinge and Robert Conduct” is beyond this book’s Workplace,” Human Resource 51. Timothy Judge and Remus Ilies,
Ployhart, “Developments in the text’s scope. But points it ad- Management Review 25, no. “Relationship of Personality
Criterion-Related Validation of dresses include competence, 1 (2015), pp. 47–55; and C. to Performance Motivation: A
Selection Procedures: A Criti- integrity, respect for people’s A. Scherbaum and H. W. Meta Analytic Review,” Journal
cal Review and Recommenda- dignity, nondiscrimination, and Goldstein, “Intelligence and of Applied Psychology 87, no. 4
tions for Practice,” Personnel sexual harassment. From “Ethi- the Modern World of Work,” (2002), pp. 797–807.
Psychology 60, no. 1 (2008), pp. cal Principles of Psychologists Human Resource Management 52. Murray Barrick et al., “Per-
871–925. and Code of Conduct,” Ameri- Review 25, no. 1, March 2015, sonality and Job Performance:
20. Psychological Assessment can Psychologist 47 (1992), pp. pp. 1–3. Test of the Immediate Effects
Resources, Inc., in Odessa, 1597–1611; and [Link]/ 43. Norman Henderson, “Predict- of Motivation Among Sales
Florida, is typical. ethics/code/[Link], accessed ing Long-Term Firefighter Representatives,” Journal of
21. Experts sometimes have to September 9, 2011. Performance from Cognitive Applied Psychology 87, no. 1
develop separate expectancy 34. Mendelsohn and Morrison, and Physical Ability Measures,” (2002), p. 43.
charts and cutting points for “The Right to Privacy in the Personnel Psychology 60, no. 3 53. Charles Sarchione et al.,
minorities and nonminorities if Work Place,” p. 22. (2010), pp. 999–1039. “Prediction of Dysfunctional
the validation studies indicate 35. Kenneth Sovereign, Person- 44. As an example, results of meta- Job Behaviors Among Law-
that high performers from ei- nel Law (Upper Saddle River, analyses in one study indicated Enforcement Officers,” Journal
ther group (minority or nonmi- NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999), pp. that isometric strength tests of Applied Psychology 83,
nority) score lower (or higher) 204–206. were valid predictors of both no. 6 (1998), pp. 904–912.
on the test. 36. “One-Third of Job Applicants supervisory ratings of physical See also W. A. Scroggins et
22. In employment testing, bias has Flunked Basic Literacy and performance and performance al., “Psychological Testing in
Chapter 6

a precise meaning. Specifically, Math Tests Last Year, Ameri- on work simulations. See Barry Personnel Selection, Part III:
“bias is said to exist when a can Management Association R. Blakley, Miguel Quinones, The Resurgence of Personal-
test makes systematic errors in Survey Finds,” American Marnie Swerdlin Crawford, and ity Testing,” Public Personnel
measurement or prediction.” Management Association, www. I. Ann Jago, “The Validity of Management 38, no. 1 (Spring
Murphy and Davidshofer, Psy- [Link]/press/amanews/ Isometric Strength Tests,” Per- 2009), pp. 67–77.
chological Testing, p. 303. [Link], accessed January sonnel Psychology 47 (1994), pp. 54. Paula Caligiuri, “The Big Five
23. Ibid., p. 305. 11, 2008. 247–274; and [Link]/ Personality Characteristics as
 198 part2 • reCruitment,plaCement,andtalentmanagement

Predictors of Expatriate Desire 64. Requiring job seekers to com- Jr. et al., “A Meta Analysis of Magazine, January 2002, pp. 59–
to Terminate the Assignment plete prescreening question- the Criterion Related Validity 62; and Carroll Lachnit, “Pro-
and Supervisor Rated Perfor- naires and screening selected of Assessment Center Data tecting People and Profits with
mance,” Personnel Psychology applicants out on this basis Dimensions,” Personnel Psychol- Background Checks,” Work-
53 (2000), pp. 67–68. For some carries legal and business conse- ogy 56 (2003), pp. 124–154; and force, February 2002, p. 52.
other examples, see Ryan Zim- quences. See, for example, Lisa Brian Hoffman et al., “Exercises 91. Matthew Heller, “Special Re-
merman, “Understanding the Harpe, “Designing an Effective and Dimensions Are the Cur- port: Background Checking,”
Impact of Personality Traits on Employment Prescreening Pro- rency of Assessment Centers,” Workforce Management, March
Individuals’ Turnover Decisions: gram,” Employment Relations Personnel Psychology 60, no. 4 3, 2008, pp. 35–54.
A Meta-Analytic Path Model,” Today 32, no. 3 (Fall 2005), (2011), pp. 351–395. 92. Bill Roberts, “Close-up on
Personnel Psychology 60, no. 1 pp. 41–43. 78. See, for example, John Meriac Screening,” HR Magazine, Feb-
(2008), pp. 309–348. 65. [Link], et al., “Further Evidence for the ruary 2011, pp. 23–29.
55. Adapted from [Link]. accessed March 23, 2009. Validity of Assessment Center 93. Seymour Adler, “Verifying a Job
com/-[Link], accessed 66. See, for example, Meg Breslin, Dimensions: A Meta-Analysis Candidate’s Background: The
March 3, 2008; and http:// “Can You Handle Rejection?” of the Incremental Criterion- State of Practice in a Vital Hu-
[Link]/inventories/the- Workforce Management, Octo- Related Validity of Dimension man Resources Activity,” Review
global competencies-inventory- ber 2012, pp. 32–36. Ratings,” Journal of Applied of Business 15, no. 2 (Winter
gci/what is-the-gci/, accessed 67. Ed Frauenheim, “Personal- Psychology 93, no. 5 (2008), 1993), p. 6.
August 21, 2014. ity Tests Adapt to the Times,” pp. 1042–1052. 94. Heller, “Special Report: Back-
56. Diane Cadrain, “Reassess Workforce Management, Febru- 79. Weekley and Jones, “Video- ground Checking,” p. 35.
Personality Tests After Court ary 2010, p. 4. Based Situational Testing,” 95. This is based on Samuel Green-
Case,” HR Magazine 50, no. 9 68. Except as noted, this is based p. 26. gard, “Have Gangs Invaded Your
(September 2005), p. 30. on Dave Zielinski, “Effective 80. Catherine Rampell, “Your Next Workplace?” Personnel Journal,
57. Frederick Morgeson et al., Assessments,” HR Magazine, Job Application Could Involve a February 1996, pp. 47–48.
“Reconsidering the Use of January 2011, pp. 61–64. Video Game,” New York Times, 96. Dori Meinert, “Seeing
Personality Tests in Personnel 69. Wright, “At Google, It Takes a January 25, 2014. Behind the Mask,” HR
Selection Contexts,” Personnel Village to Hire an Employee.” 81. Ibid., p. 30. Magazine 56, no. 2 (Febru-
Psychology 60 (2007), p. 683; 70. Ibid. 82. Robert Grossman, “Made from ary 2011), [Link]/
and Frederick Morgeson et al., 71. Jeff Weekley and Casey Jones, Scratch,” HR Magazine, April Publications/hrmagazine/
“Are We Getting Fooled Again? “Video-Based Situational Test- 2002, pp. 44–53. EditorialContent/2011/0211/
Coming to Terms with Limita- ing,” Personnel Psychology 50 83. Coleman Peterson, “Employee Pages/[Link],
tions in the Use of Personality (1997), p. 25. Retention, the Secrets Behind accessed August 20, 2011.
Tests for Personnel Selection,” 72. Elaine Pulakos, Selection Assess- Wal-Mart’s Successful Hiring 97. Ibid., p. 55.
Personnel Psychology 60 (2007), ment Methods, SHRM Founda- Policies,” Human Resource 98. For example, one U.S. Court of
p. 1046. tion, 2005, p. 14. Management 44, no. 1 (Spring Appeals found that bad refer-
58. Robert Tett and Neil Chris- 73. However, studies suggest that 2005), pp. 85–88. See also ences might be grounds for a
tiansen, “Personality Tests at blacks may be somewhat less Murray Barrick and Ryan Zim- suit when they are retaliations
the Crossroads: A Response to likely to do well on work sample merman, “Reducing Voluntary, for the employee having previ-
Morgeson, Campion, Dipboye, tests than are whites. See, for Avoidable Turnover Through ously filed an EEOC claim.
Hollenbeck, Murphy, and example, Philip Roth, Philip Selection,” Journal of Applied “Negative Reference Leads to
Schmitt,” Personnel Psychol- Bobko, and Lynn McFarland, Psychology 90, no. 1 (2005), Charge of Retaliation,” BNA
ogy 60 (2007), p. 967. See also “A Meta-Analysis of Work pp. 159–166. Bulletin to Management, Octo-
Deniz Ones et al., “In Support Sample Test Validity: Updating 84. James Breaugh, “Employee Re- ber 21, 2004, p. 344.
of Personality Assessment in and Integrating Some Classic cruitment: Current Knowledge 99. Kehr v. Consolidated Freightways
Organizational Settings,” Per- Literature,” Personnel Psychol- and Important Areas for Future of Delaware, Docket No. 86–
sonnel Psychology 60 (2007), pp. ogy 58, no. 4 (Winter 2005), pp. Research,” Human Resource 2126, July 15, 1987, U.S. Sev-
995–1027. 1009–1037; and Philip Roth et Management Review 18 (2008), enth Circuit Court of Appeals.
59. See also Edwin A. J. van Hoot al., “Work Sample Tests in Per- pp. 106–107. Discussed in Commerce Clearing
and Marise Ph. Born, “Inten- sonnel Selection: A Meta-Anal- 85. Phillips and Gully, Strategic House, Ideas and Trends, Octo-
tional Response Distortion ysis of Black–White Differences Staffing, p. 223. ber 16, 1987, p. 165.
on Personality Tests: Using in Overall and Exercise Scores,” 86. Brian J. Hoffman, John W. 100. James Bell, James Castagnera,
Eye Tracking to Understand Personnel Psychology 60, no. 1 Michel, and Kevin J. Williams, and Jane Patterson Young,
Response Processes When (2008), pp. 637–662. “On the Predictive Efficiency of “Employment References: Do
Thinking,” Journal of Applied 74. Siegel and Lane, Personnel and Past Performance and Physical You Know the Law?” Person-
Psychology 97, no. 2 (2012), Organizational Psychology, pp. Ability: The Case of the Na- nel Journal 63, no. 2 (February
pp. 301–316. 182–183. tional Football League,” Human 1984), pp. 32–36. In order to
60. Chad H. Van Iddeking et 75. Quoted from Deborah Whet- Performance 24, no. 2 (2011), demonstrate defamation, several
al., “Are You Interested? A zel and Michael McDaniel, pp. 158–172. elements must be present: (a) the
Meta-Analysis of Relations “Situational Judgment Tests: 87. Lara Walsh, “To Tell the Truth: defamatory statement must have
Between Vocational Interests An Overview of Current Catching Tall Tales on Résu- been communicated to another
and Employee Performance and Research,” Human Resource més,” Workforce, December party; (b) the statement must
Turnover,” Journal of Applied Management Review 19 (2009), 2014, p. 10. be a false statement of fact; (c)
Psychology 96, no 6 (2011), pp. pp. 188–202. 88. “Resume Fakery Is Rampant, injury to reputation must have
1167–1194. 76. “Help Wanted—and Found,” Global; Employer Caution occurred; and (d) the employer
61. Dracos Iliescu et al., “Voca- Fortune, October 2, 2006, p. 40. Needed, Bloomberg BNA Bul- must not be protected under
tional Fit and Counterpro- See also Brian Hoffman et al., letin to Management, November qualified or absolute privilege.
ductive Work Behaviors: A “Exercises and Dimensions Are 4, 2014, p. 351. For a discussion, see Ryan and
Self-Regulation Perspective,” the Currency of Assessment 89. “Internet, E-Mail Monitoring Lasek, “Negligent Hiring and
Journal of Applied Psychology Centers,” Personnel Psychology Common at Most Workplaces,” Defamation,” p. 307. See also
100, no. 1 (2015), pp. 21–39. 60, no. 4 (2011), pp. 351–395. BNA Bulletin to Management, James Burns Jr., “Employment
62. Ed Frauenheim, “More Compa- 77. Annette Spychalski, Miguel February 1, 2001, p. 34. See also References: Is There a Better
Chapter 6

nies Go with Online Test to Fill Quinones, Barbara Gaugler, “Are Your Background Checks Way?” Employee Relations Law
in the Blanks,” Workforce Man- and Katja Pohley, “A Survey Balanced? Experts Identify Con- Journal 23, no. 2 (Fall 1997),
agement, May 2011, p. 12. of Assessment Center Practices cerns over Verifications,” BNA pp. 157–168.
63. John Bateson et al., “When Hir- in Organizations in the United Bulletin to Management, May 101. For additional information, see
ing, First Test, and Then Inter- States,” Personnel Psychology 13, 2004, p. 153. Lawrence E. Dube Jr., “Em-
view,” Harvard Business Review, 50, no. 1 (Spring 1997), pp. 90. Merry Mayer, “Background ployment References and the
November 2013, p. 34. 71–90. See also Winfred Arthur Checks in Focus,” HR Law,” Personnel Journal 65, no.
 Chapter6 • employeetestingandseleCtion 199

2 (February 1986), pp. 87–91. Management, August 19, 2014, Iddeking et al., “The Criterion al., “Analytic Performance of
See also Mickey Veich, “Un- pp. 257–258. Related Validity of Integrity Immunoassays for Drugs of
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Chapter 6

Liability Loom as Push for integrity tests and measures p. 98. Not all agree that drug 152. “More Than 500,000 Employers
Ban the Box Policies Spread,” of job performance tend to be testing is worthwhile. See, for Are Now Enrolled in E-Verify
Bloomberg BNA Bulletin to rather weak.” Chad H. Van example, Veronica I. Luzzi et Program,” Bloomberg BNA
 200 part2 • reCruitment,plaCement,andtalentmanagement

Bulletin to Management, Janu- Adam Janofsky, “Small Busi- Stay on Top of Issues,” BNA 158. “Identity Theft Remains Top
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small business owners in partic- Aid Employers During Verifica- ments for confirming identity form clearly states that the
ular find that the new E-Verify tion Process,” BNA Bulletin to and eligibility. For the latest I-9 employer may not discrimi-
system makes it more difficult Management, March 15, 2011. form see [Link]/files/ nate. See [Link]/files/
to fill open positions. Angus 156. “As E-Verify, No Match Rules, form/[Link], accessed Septem- form/[Link], accessed October
Loten, Sarah Needleman, and I-9 Evolve, Employers Need to ber 7, 2013. 4, 2011.
Chapter 6