human resource

Techniques of Employee Selection & Recruitment

Chapter 9: External Selection II

Muhammet Sait Dinc [email protected]

Textbook:

Heneman, Herbert Judge, Timothy A. and Kammeyer- Muller, John (8th Edition – 2014). Staffing

Organizations, McGraw-Hill Irwin. ISBN 13: 978-007- 108647-9.

Organization Strategy HR and Staffing Strategy

Staffing Policies and Programs

Staffing System and Retention Management

Support Activities

Legal compliance

Planning

Job analysis

Core Staffing Activities

Recruitment: External, internal

Selection: Measurement, external, internal

Employment: Decision making, final match

Organization

Mission

Goals and Objectives

Staffing Organizations Model

9-3

External Selection II Outline

• Substantive Assessment Methods • Personality Tests • Ability Tests • Emotional Intelligence Tests • Performance Tests and Work Samples • Situational Judgment Tests • Integrity Tests • Interest, Values, and Preference

Inventories • Structured Interview • Choice of Substantive Assessment

Methods

• Discretionary Assessment Methods

• Contingent Assessment Methods • Drug testing • Medical exams

Ex. 8.3 Assessment Methods by Applicant

Flow Stage

•Substantive

assessment methods

• Determining who

among the minimally

qualified will likely be

the best performers

on the job

9-5

9-6

Overview of Personality Tests

• Current role of personality tests e.g., role of Big Five • Describe behavioral, not emotional or cognitive traits

• May capture up to 75% of an individual’s personality

• Big Five factors (Personality Characteristics Inventory etc.) • Emotional stability-calm, optimistic, and well adjusted

• Extraversion-sociable, assertive, active, upbeat, and talkative

• Openness to experience-imaginative, attentive to inner feelings, have intellectual curiosity and independence of judgment

• Agreeableness-altruistic, trusting, sympathetic, and cooperative

• Conscientiousness-purposeful, determined, dependable, and attentive to detail

• Roughly 50% of the variance in the Big Five traits appears to be inherited

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Ex. 9.1 Sample Items from the Personal Characteristics Inventory

• Conscientiousness • I can always be counted on to get the job done.

• I am a very persistent worker.

• I almost always plan things in advance of work.

• Extraversion • Meeting new people is enjoyable to me.

• I like to stir up excitement if things get boring.

• I am a “take-charge” type of person.

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Ex. 9.1 Sample Items from the Personal Characteristics Inventory

• Agreeableness • I like to help others who are down on their luck. • I usually see the good side of people. • I forgive others easily.

• Emotional Stability • I can become annoyed at people quite easily (reverse-scored). • At times I don’t care about much of anything (reverse-scored). • My feelings tend to be easily hurt (reverse-scored).

• Openness to Experience • I like to work with difficult concepts and ideas. • I enjoy trying new and different things. • I tend to enjoy art, music, or literature.

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Ex. 9.2 Implications of Big Five Personality Traits at Work

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Criticisms of Personality Tests

• Trivial validities • Correlations for any individual trait with job performance are typically low (around r=.23)

• However, when all traits are used simultaneously, correlations are higher

• Faking • Individuals answer in a dishonest way

• However, tests still have some validity, and it may be that being able to “act” conscientiously may be related to real job performance

• Negative applicant reactions • Applicants, in general, believe personality tests are less valid predictors of job performance

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Exhibit 9.3 The Core Self-Evaluations Scale

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Overview of Ability Tests

• Definition -- Measures that assess an individual’s capacity to function in a certain way

• 15 to 20% of organizations use ability tests in selection

• Two types • Aptitude - Assess innate capacity to function

• Achievement - Assess learned capacity to function

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Overview of Ability Tests

• Four classes of ability tests • Cognitive: perception, memory, reasoning, verbal, math, expression

• Psychomotor: thought/body movement coordination

• Physical: strength, endurance, movement quality

• Sensory/perceptual: detection & recognition of stimuli

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Exhibit 9.4 Sample Cognitive Ability Test Items

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Emotional Intelligence

• The ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings, to discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and action • Self-awareness: Good at recognizing and understanding one’s own emotions

• Other awareness: Good at recognizing and understanding others’ emotions

• Emotion regulation: Good at making use of or managing this awareness

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Performance Tests and Work Samples

• Definition -- Assess actual performance (e.g., fix a car, teach a class, type a document)

• Types of tests (should focus on relevant KSAOs) • Performance test vs. work sample (all or some) • Motor vs verbal work samples (action or thought) • High- vs. low-fidelity tests (level of realism) • Computer interaction performance tests vs. paper-and-pencil tests including

simulations (e.g., The Manager’s Workshop)

• All the above can have good validity (.50+) & acceptance

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Situational Judgment Tests

• Place applicants in hypothetical, job-related situations.

• Applicants are then asked to choose a course of action from several alternatives

• Capture the validity of work samples and cognitive ability tests in a way that is cheaper than work samples and that has less adverse impact than cognitive ability tests

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Ex. 9.7: Example of Situational Judgment Test Item

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Interest, Values, and Preference Inventories

• Assess activities individuals prefer to do on & off the job; do not attempt to assess ability to do these

• Not often used in selection

• Can be useful for self-selection into job types

• Types of tests • Strong Vocational Interest Blank (SVIB) • Myers-Briggs Type Inventory (MBTI)

• Evaluation • Unlikely to predict job performance directly • May help assess person-organization fit & subsequent job satisfaction, commitment &

turnover

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Discussion questions

• Describe the similarities and differences between personality tests and integrity tests. When is each warranted in the selection process?

• How would you advise an organization considering adopting a cognitive ability test for selection?

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Typical Unstructured Interviews

• Relatively unplanned and “quick and dirty”

• Questions based on interviewer “hunches” or “pet questions” to assess applicants

• Casual, open-ended, or subjective questions

• Often contains obtuse questions

• Often contains highly speculative questions

• Interviewer often unprepared

• More potential for discrimination and bias

• Validity typically r=.20

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Structured Interviews

• Questions based on job analysis

• Same questions asked of each candidate

• Response to each question numerically evaluated

• Detailed anchored rating scales used to score each response

• Detailed notes taken, focusing on interviewees’ behaviors

• Validity may be r=.30 or better

• Surprisingly uncommon in organizations

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Structured Interviews (continued)

• Situational - Assess applicant’s ability to project his / her behaviors to future situations. Assumes the person’s goals/intentions will predict future behavior

• Experience-based - Assess past behaviors that are linked to prospective job. Assumes past performance will predict future performance

⚫Research is inconclusive regarding which type is best

⚫Individual interviews usually more valid than panel

interviews

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Constructing a Structured Interview

• Consult job requirements matrix

• Develop the selection plan • Exh. 9.10: Partial Selection Plan for Job of Retail Store Sales Associate

• Develop structured interview plan • Exh. 9.11: Structured Interview Questions, Benchmark Responses, Rating

Scale, and Question Weights

• Select and train interviewers

• Evaluate effectiveness

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Discussion questions

• Describe the structured interview. What are the characteristics of structured interviews that improve on the shortcomings of unstructured interviews?

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Exhibit 9.14 Evaluation of Substantive Assessment Methods

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Discretionary Assessment Methods

• Used to separate people who receive job offers from list of finalists (assumes each finalist is considered fully qualified for position)

• Often very subjective, relying heavily on intuition of decision maker

• Factors other than KSAOs are evaluated • Assess person/organization match • Assess motivation level • Assess people on relevant organizational

citizenship behaviors

• Should involve organization’s staffing philosophy regarding EEO/AA commitments

9-28

Contingent Assessment Methods

• “We offer you this job contingent upon ….”

• Contingent methods not always used • Depends on nature of job and legal mandates

• Might involve confirmation of • Drug test results

• Medical exam results

Thank you