Employee Testing

and Selection

4-

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 6-1

 WHERE ARE WE NOW….

• The purpose of this topic is to explain how to use various

tools to select the best candidate for the job.
• The main topics we’ll include the selection process, basic
testing techniques, background and reference checks,
ethical and legal questions in testing, types of tests, and
work samples and simulations

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 2

 Learning Objectives

6-1. Answer the question: Why is it

important to test and select employees?
6-2. Explain what is meant by reliability and
validity. 4-

6-3. List and briefly describe the basic

categories of selection tests, with
examples.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 6-3

 Learning Objectives

6-4. Explain how to use two work

simulations for selection.
6-5. Describe four ways
4- to improve an
employer’s background checking
process.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 6-4

 I.
Answer the question:
Why is it important to
test and select
employees? 4-

After reviewing the applicants’ résumés, the manager turns to selecting

the best candidate for the job.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 6-5

 Why Employee Selection Is
Important

• Performance
• Cost
4-
• Legal obligations
• Person and job/organization fit

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 6-6

 WHY EMPLOYEE SELECTION IS IMPORTANT
• After reviewing the applicants’ résumés, the manager turns to selecting the best candidate for
the job. This usually means reducing the applicant pool by using the 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 organization.
4- 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

1. First, employees with the right skills will perform better for you and the company.
2. Second, it is important because it’s costly to recruit and hire employees.
3. Third, it’s important because mismanaging hiring has legal consequences.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 7

 II.
Explain what is meant by
reliability and validity.
4-

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 6-8

 The Basic of Testing and
Selecting Employees
• Reliability
• Validity
o Criterion validity
o Content validity 4-

o Construct validity
The Basics of Testing and Selecting Employees

In this chapter, we’ll discuss several popular selection tools, starting with tests. A test
is basically a sample of a person’s behavior. Any test or screening tool has two
important characteristics, reliability and validity. We’ll start with the former

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 6-9

 Test Reliability

•Reliability- is a selection tool’s first

requirement. It is defined as the consistency of
scores obtained by the same person when
4-
retested with the identical tests or with alternate
forms of the same test.

So therefore, “A reliable test is one that yields consistent scores when a person
takes two alternate forms of the test or when he or she takes the same test on
two or more different occasions.”

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 1-10

 What Can Cause a Test to be Unreliable?

• physical conditions

• differences in the test taker

•
• differences in test 4-
administration

• the questions may do a poor

job of sampling the material

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 1-11

 What can cause a test to be Unreliable-

These include the following:

•physical conditions -(quiet one day, noisy the next),
•differences in the test taker (healthy one day, 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 example,
test one focuses more on Chapters 1 and 3, while test two focuses more on
Chapters 2 and 4.
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.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 6-12

 Reliability Coefficient

4-

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 correlate closely with their previous scores.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 1-13

 Test Validity

•Validity- is a selection tool’s defined as the accuracy

with which a test, interview, and so on, measure what
is purports to measure or fulfills the function it was
designed to fill.
Validity 4-
Test Reliability, while indispensable, tells you only that the test is measuring
something consistently.

✔Test Validity tells you whether the test is measuring what you think it’s supposed
to be measuring.

✔ Test validity answers the question “Does this test measure what it’s supposed to
measure?” Put another way, it refers to the correctness of the inferences that we can
make based on the test

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 1-14

 How to demonstrate Validity?

1. Criterion Validity
2. Content Validity
3. Construct Validity 4-

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 1-15

 How to demonstrate Validity:
There are several ways to demonstrate a test’s validity.

Criterion validity –involves demonstrating statistically a relationship between scores

on a selection procedure
and job performance of a sample of workers. For example, it means demonstrating that
those who do well on the test also do well on the job, and that those who do poorly on
the test do poorly on the job.

Content validity is a demonstration that 4- the content of a selection procedure is

representative of important aspects of performance on the job. For example, employers
may demonstrate the content validity of a test by showing that the test constitutes a fair
sample of the job’s content. The basic procedure here is to identify job tasks that are
critical to performance, and then randomly select a sample of those tasks to test.

Construct validity means demonstrating that (1) a selection procedure measures a

construct (an abstract idea such as morale or honesty) and (2) that the construct is
important for successful job performance.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 6-16

 Trends Shaping HR:
Digital and Social Media

Talent Analytics
4-
Let’s take a look…

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 1-17

 Trends Shaping HR: Digital and Social Media

✔Talent analytics is revolutionizing employee selection. Numbers-crunching data

analysis tools including statistical techniques, algorithms, data mining, and problem-
solving let employers dig 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
associates. Bon-Ton chose 450 current cosmetics associates who filled out anonymous
surveys aimed at identifying employee traits.

✔By using talent analytics to analyze these 4- 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.

✔ Talent analysis thereby helped Bon Ton formulate better selection criteria.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 6-18

Evidence-Based HR: How to Validate a Test

Step 1: Analyze The Job

Step 2: Choose The Test
Step 3: Administer The Test
4-
Evidence-Based HR: How to Validate a Test
✔Employers often decide to demonstrate evidence of a test’s validity using
criterion validity. Here, in order for a selection test to be useful, you need
evidence that scores on the test relate in a predictable way to performance on
the job.

✔ 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.
* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 1-19
 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.

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.

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 4- 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). 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 applicants 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.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 6-20

 Evidence-Based HR: How to Validate a Test

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 and4-job performance, you can develop an

expectancy chart. This presents the relationship between test scores and job
performance graphically. Figure 6-4 illustrates this.

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.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 6-21

Evidence-Based HR: How to Validate a Test

Step 4: Relate Your Test Scores and Criteria

Step 5: Cross-Validate and Revalidate

4-

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 1-22

 Bias
❑ Most employers know they shouldn’t use biased tests in the selection
process. For example, a particular IQ (intelligence quotient)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.
4-
❑ Until recently, many industrial psychologists believed they were
adequately controlling test bias, but that issue is under review.
Employers should therefore redouble their efforts to ensure that the tests
they’re using aren’t producing biased decisions

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 1-23

 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 selection4-
measure improves the quality of individuals
selected over what would have happened if the measure had not been used.”
✔ 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.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 1-24

 Improving Performance:
HR as a Profit Center

Using Tests to Cut Cost

and Boost
4- Profits

Let’s talk about it…

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 1-25

 Case example 1
Financial services firm Key Bank knew it needed a better way to screen and
select tellers and call-center employees. 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 4- 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.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 6-26

 Case example 2

Outback Steakhouse has used pre-employment tests almost from when the
company started. The testing 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 a4-three-step pre-employment 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?”

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 6-27

 Validity Generalization
✔ If the test is valid in one company, to what extent can we generalize
those validity 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 generalized to another situation without further
study.”
4-
✔ 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.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 1-28

 Know Your Employment Law
Testing and Equal
Employment 4-Opportunity

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 5-29

 Test Taker’s Individual
Rights and 4-Test Security

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 1-30

 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 psychological tests; these guide
psychologists but are not legally enforceable.

Test takers have rights such as:

[Link] the confidentiality of test results.
[Link] informed consent regarding use of these results.
[Link] expect that only people qualified to interpret the scores will have access to them,
or that sufficient information will accompany
4- the scores to ensure their appropriate
interpretation.
[Link] expect the test is fair. For example, no test taker should have prior access to the
questions or answers.

The Federal Privacy Act gives federal employees the right to inspect their personnel
files, and limits the disclosure of personnel information without the employee’s
consent, (the recent hacking of federal employees’ files notwithstanding) among other
things.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 6-31

 Diversity Counts

4-

Employee Testing and Selection Topic

* 4-32
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
4-
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 various
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.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 6-33

 How Do Employers Use
Test at4- Work?

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 1-34

 How do Employers Use Test at Work?
✔About 41% of companies in one survey tested applicants for basic
skills (defined as the ability to read instructions, write reports, and do
arithmetic).

✔ About 67% of the respondents required employees to take job skills

tests, and 29% required some form of psychological measurement.

✔ Tests are not just for lower-level workers. In general, as work demands
4-

increase(in terms of skill requirements, training, and pay), employers

tend to rely more on selection testing.

✔ And, employers don’t use tests just to find good employees, but also to
screen out bad ones.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 6-35

 III.
List and briefly describe the
basic categories4-
of selection
tests, with examples.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 6-36

 Types of Tests
We can conveniently classify tests according to whether they measure
cognitive (mental) abilities, motor and physical abilities, personality
and interests, or achievement.

1. Test of Cognitive Abilities

o Intelligence tests4-(IQ)
o Specific cognitive abilities
2. Test of Motor & physical abilities
3. Measuring Personality and Interests
o Interest inventories

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 6-37

 COGNITIVE TESTS

• Cognitive tests include testing general reasoning ability or

intelligence. In addition, they include tests of specific mental
abilities such as memory or inductive reasoning.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 38

 INTELLIGENCE TESTS

• Intelligence tests are known as (IQ) 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.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 39

 SPECIFIC COGNITIVE ABILITIES

• 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.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 40

• Test of Motor and Physical Abilities - You also might need
to measure motor abilities, such as finger dexterity, manual
dexterity, and (if hiring pilots) reaction time. Tests of physical
abilities may also be required. These include static strength
(such as lifting weights), dynamic strength (pull-ups), body
coordination (jumping rope), and stamina

• Measuring Personality and Interests -Personality tests

measure basic aspects of an 4-applicant’s personality, such as
introversion, stability, and motivation. Industrial psychologists
often focus on the “big five” personality dimensions:
extraversion, emotional stability/neuroticism, agreeableness,
conscientiousness, and openness to experience.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 41

 Improving Performance:
HR Practices Around The Globe

Testing for Assignments

Abroad
4-

Let’s talk about it…

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 1-42

 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.
Employers often use special inventories such as the Global Competencies Inventory
(GCI) here.
4-
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.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 6-43

 Types of Tests

4. Interest inventories
5. Achievement tests
4-

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 6-44

 Types of Tests

Interest Inventories - A personal development and

selection device that compares the person’s current interests
with those of others now in various occupations so as to
determine the preferred occupation for the individual.

4-
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.”

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 6-45

 Improving Performance Through HRIS:
Computerization and Online Testing

Testing using
Computer
4- /Online

Let’s take a look…

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 1-46

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.
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.

✔ The applicant tracking systems often include online prescreening tests. Vendors (as in
[Link]) are making tests available for applicants to take via their smart phones.
Employers using such automated screening systems should remember that applicants are human
beings. Ensure the rejection standards are valid, and
4- inform applicants quickly regarding their status.

✔ Computerized and online tests are increasingly sophisticated. For example, SHL
([Link]/us/) offers online adaptive personality tests. As a candidate answers each question,
these tests adapt the next question to the test taker’s answers to the previous question. This improves
test validity and may reduce cheating (since each candidate basically gets a customized test).
Service firms like Unicru process and score online pre-employment tests from employers’
applicants. Most of the tests we describe are available in computerized form.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 6-47

 Improving Performance:
The Strategic Context

Crowdsourcing at Google
4-
Let’s talk about it…

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 1-48

 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 employees 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.

Here’s how it works. When a prospective employee4- applies for a job, his or her information (such
as school and previous employers) goes into Google’s applicant tracking system (ATS). The ATS
then matches the applicant’s information with that of current Google employees. When it finds a
match, it asks those Google employees to comment on the applicant’s suitability for the position.
This helps give Google recruiters a valuable insight into how the Google employees actually
doing the work think the applicant will do at Google. And it supports Google’s strategy, by
fostering a sense of community and collaboration among Google employees, who see themselves
working together to select new “Googlers.”

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 6-49

 IV.
Explain how to use two
work simulations
4-
for
selection.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 6-50

 Work Samples and Simulations
Work Samples and Simulations

✔With work samples, you present examinees with situations

representative of the job for4- which they’re applying, and
evaluate their responses.
✔ 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
performance.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 6-51

 Using Work Sampling for
Employee Selection

1. Basic procedure
2. Situational judgment tests
4-
3. Management Assessment Centers
4. Situational Testing and Video-Based
Situational Testing

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 6-52

 Using Work Sampling for Employee Selection

The basic procedure with work sampling is to select a sample of several tasks crucial to
performing the job, and then test applicants on them.

✔Situational judgment tests are personnel tests “…designed to assess an applicant’s judgment
regarding a situation encountered in the workplace.” Situational judgment tests are effective and
widely used.

✔ A management assessment center is a 2- to 3-day simulation in which 10 to 12 candidates

perform realistic management tasks (like making presentations.) Under the observation of experts
who appraise each candidate’s leadership potential. Most experts view assessment centers as
effective for selecting management candidates. However, they are quite costly in terms of money
and time. 4-

✔ Situational tests require examinees to respond to situations found on the job. Work sampling
and some assessment center tasks fall into this category. Some of the testing may be video-based.

✔ The video-based simulation presents the candidate with several online or computer video
situations, each followed by one or more multiple-choice questions.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 6-53

 Using Work Sampling for
Employee Selection

5. The Miniature Job Training and Evaluation

Approach
4-
6. Realistic Job Preview
7. Choosing a Selection Method

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 6-54

 USING WORK SAMPLING FOR
EMPLOYEE SELECTION:
• The Miniature Job Training and Evaluation Approach -
involves training candidates to perform several of the job’s
tasks, and then evaluating their performance prior to hire.
✔ The approach assumes that a person who demonstrates that he
or she can learn and perform the sample of tasks will be able
to learn and perform the job itself.
✔ Like work sampling, miniature job training and evaluation
tests applicants with actual samples of the job, so it is
inherently content relevant and valid.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 55

 USING WORK SAMPLING FOR EMPLOYEE
SELECTION:

• Realistic Job Previews - Sometimes, a dose of realism makes

the best screening tool. 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.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 56

CHOOSING A SELECTION METHOD

• 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 percentage of applicants or admit virtually all?)

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 57

 Improving Performance: HR Tools for
Line Managers and Small Businesses

Employee Testing and

Selection
4-

Let’s talk about it…

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 1-58

 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.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 59

 IMPROVING PERFORMANCE: HR TOOLS FOR LINE
MANAGERS AND SMALL BUSINESSES

• What should you do if you are, say, a marketing manager, and want to screen some
of your job applicants 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.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 60

 FOR A SMALL BUSINESS
• 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 instructions, 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

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 61

 V.
Describe four ways to improve
4-
an employer’s background
checking process.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 6-62

 Background Investigations and
Other Selection Method

Background Investigations and Other Selection

Methods

Testing is only part of an employer’s selection process.

Other tools may include background investigations and
4-
reference checks, pre-employment information services,
honesty testing, and substance abuse screening.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 6-63

 Why Perform Background Investigations
and Reference Checks?

One of the easiest ways to avoid hiring mistakes is to check the

candidate’s background thoroughly. Doing so is inexpensive
and (if done right) useful. There are two main reasons to check
backgrounds—to verify the applicant’s
4- information and to
uncover damaging information.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 6-64

 Know Your Employment Law

Giving References

Let’s take a look…

4-

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 1-65

 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.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 66

 KNOW YOUR EMPLOYMENT LAW
✔ The person may thus see your comments. 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
community 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 emotional distress. The net result is that most employers
and managers restrict who can give references 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 person?’” 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.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 67

 KNOW YOUR EMPLOYMENT LAW
✔ (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.

✔ 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. One supervisor 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.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 68

 HOW TO CHECK A CANDIDATES
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) position and
salary with his or her current (or former) employer by phone (assuming 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 employers
have policies against providing such information).

✔ Many employers get background reports from commercial credit rating companies
for information about credit standing, indebtedness, reputation, character, and
lifestyle. (Others check social network sites, as we will see in a moment.)
✔ Automated online reference checking can improve the results.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 6-69

 Trends Shaping HR:
Digital and Social Media

Digital Tools -
Background
4- Checks

Let’s talk about it…

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 1-70

 DIGITAL TOOLS - BACKGROUND CHECKS

• Digital tools are changing the background-checking process.

Employers are Googling 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.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 71

 Using Pre-employment Information
Services

4-

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 6-72

 USING PRE-EMPLOYMENT
INFORMATION SERVICES
• Using Pre-employment Information Services

• It is easy to have employment screening services check out applicants. Major

background checking providers include Automatic Data Processing Inc., First
Advantage, HireRight, and Sterling Backcheck. 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.

• There are three reasons to use caution with such services.

1. First, EEO laws apply.
2. Second, various federal and state laws govern how employers acquire and use
applicants’ and employees’ background information.
3. Third, the criminal background information may be flawed.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 73

 Making the Background Check
More Valuable

4-

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 6-74

 MAKING THE BACKGROUND CHECK
MORE VALUABLE

• There are steps one can take to improve the usefulness of the background information being
sought. Specifically:

1. Include on the application form a statement for applicants to sign explicitly authorizing a
background and credit check
2. Telephone references tend to produce more candid assessments.
3. Persistence and attentiveness to possible red flags improve results.
4. 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.
5. Try to ask open-ended questions to get the references to talk more about the candidate.
6. But in asking for information: Only ask for and obtain information that you’re going to use;
remember that using arrest information is highly problematical; use information that is
specific and job related; and keep information confidential
7. Ask the references supplied by the applicant to suggest other references. You might ask each
of the applicant’s references,

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 75

 The Polygraph and Honesty Testing

• Meet Standards
• Written Honest Test
4-
• Testing for Honesty
Guidelines

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 6-76

 THE POLYGRAPH AND HONESTY
TESTING
• The polygraph is a device that measures physiological changes like increased
perspiration. The assumption is that such changes reflect changes in emotional state
that accompany lying.

• 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.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 77

 MAKING THE BACKGROUND CHECK
MORE VALUABLE

• Written Honesty Tests The Polygraph Protection Act triggered a burgeoning market for
paper-and-pencil (or computerized or online) honesty tests. These are psychological tests
designed to predict job applicants’ proneness to dishonesty and other forms of counter
productivity.

• 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

• Listen, rather than talk.
• Watch for telltale body signals.
• Do a credit check.
• Check all employment and personal references.
• Use written honesty tests and psychological tests.
• Test for drugs.
• Establish a search-and-seizure policy and conduct searches.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 78

 Graphology

4-

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 6-79

 GRAPHOLOGY

• Graphology - is the use of handwriting analysis to determine

the writer’s basic personality 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
psychological makeup.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 80

 “Human Lie Detectors”

“Human Lie Detectors”

Some employers are using so-called

4-
“human lie detectors,” experts who may
(or may not) be able to identify lying
just by watching candidates.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 6-81

 Physical Exams

4-

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 6-82

 PHYSICAL EXAMS
• Once the employer extends the person a job offer, a medical exam is often the next
step in selection

• There are several reasons for pre-employment 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.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 83

 Substance Abuse Screening
and
Drug Testing Legal Issues

4-

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 6-84

 SUBSTANCE ABUSE SCREENING
• Most employers conduct drug screenings. The most common
practice is to test candidates just before they’re formally hired. Most
employers that conduct such tests use urine sampling. Numerous
vendors provide workplace drug-testing services.

• 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.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 85

 SUBSTANCE ABUSE SCREENING
• Drug Testing Legal Issues - Drug testing raises legal issues. 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
rehabilitation program) as a qualified applicant with a disability.

• 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
rehabilitate affected employees, many do.

• Under the U.S. Department of Transportation workplace regulations, firms with over 50
eligible employees in transportation industries 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.

• 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.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 86

 Comply with Immigration Law

4-

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 6-87

 COMPLYING WITH IMMIGRATION
LAW
✔ Employees hired in the United States must prove they are eligible to work
here. The requirement to verify eligibility does not provide any basis to
reject an applicant 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 employment eligibility.
✔ To comply with this law, employers should follow procedures outlined in
the so called I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification form. More than
500,000 employers are using the federal government’s voluntary electronic
employment verification program, E-Verify. Federal contractors must use
it. Also there is no charge to use E-Verify.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 88

 To Sum Up Review
What you should now know….
By the end of this presentation, you should now be able to:
6-1. Answer the question: Why is it important to test and select
employees?
6-2. Explain what is meant by reliability
4- and validity.
6-3. List and briefly describe the basic categories of selection tests,
with examples.
6-4. Explain how to use two work simulations for selection.
6-5. Describe four ways to improve an employer’s background
checking process.

* Employee Testing and Selection Topic 1-89