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Employee Selection

Learning Outcomes

Discuss the steps of a typical selection process

Compare the value of different types of employment tests

Explain why the information gathered during the process must be reliable and valid

Contrast several types of selection interviews and some key considerations in conducting these interviews

Selection

Process of choosing individuals who have relevant qualifications to fill existing or projected job openings

“Hire hard, manage easy.”

“Good training will not make up for bad selection.”

Selection Process Flowchart

Pre-employment Screening

Discussion:

Should organizations do social network screening?

What are the potential problems with social network screening?

Electronic assessment screening: Software used to review résumés and application forms received

Disqualification questions to understand individual KSAs

Assessment tests and background, drug, and financial screening

Social network screening—controversial

A controversial trend is screening candidates based on information obtained from their social networking profiles. Doing so can have negative consequences for applicants and companies. The legality and appropriateness of such screening is highly questionable because most managers simply access available information without consistency or regard to job demands. The information found on Facebook or other online platforms can lead to discrimination against applicants due to their religion or sexual orientation. Although it may be tempting to just click on an applicant’s profile, top candidates may develop a negative opinion of the organization or, even worse, take legal action if they are not hired because of the information found on social networking sites. Companies must walk a fine line and realize that random, haphazard screening in this manner is likely to attract attention from lawmakers who will no doubt restrict the practice if it becomes too prevalent.

Application Forms

Application forms:

Basis for prescreening information

Are these questions found on application forms legal?

Marital status

Height/weight

Number and ages of dependents

Information on spouse

Date of high school graduation

Emergency contact information

Social Security number

Record of the applicant’s desire to obtain a position

Applicant profile for the interviewer

Basic employee record for applicants hired

Research on the effectiveness of the selection process

Formal document on which applicant attests to truthful information

At-will employment: Indicates the right of the employer or the employee to terminate employment at any time with or without notice or cause (where applicable by state law)

Reference contacts: Requests permission to contact previous employers listed by the applicant on the application form or résumé

Employment testing: Notifies applicants of required drug tests, pencil-and-paper tests, physical exams, or electronic or other tests that will be used in the employment decision

Application time limit: Indicates how long application forms are active (typically six months) and that individuals must reapply or reactivate their applications after that period

Information falsification: Conveys to an applicant that falsification of application information can be grounds for serious reprimand or termination

Résumés as Applications

EEOC standards require that a résumé is treated as an application form

Application forms are better because the same information is furnished by all applicants

Résumés may embellish or omit negative information

If an applicant voluntarily furnishes some information on a résumé that cannot be legally obtained, the employer should not use that information during the selection process. Some employers require those who submit résumés to complete an application form as well so that there is consistent information on every applicant and appropriate comparisons can be made.

Types of Tests

Sample Work Sample Tests

Clerical

■ Typing test.

■ Proofreading.

Job knowledge tests

Designed to measure people’s level of understanding about a particular job

Work sample tests

Require the applicant to perform tasks that are actually a part of the work required on the job

Types of Tests

The Employee Polygraph Protection Act of 1988 prohibits employers from requiring or requesting pre-employment polygraphs under most circumstances.

Federal, state, and local government agencies are exempt from the act.

Reduces the frequency of lying and theft on the job

Communicates to applicants that dishonesty will not be tolerated

The polygraph, more generally and incorrectly referred to as the

“lie detector,” is a mechanical device that measures a person’s galvanic skin

response, heart rate, and breathing rate.

Congress passed the Employee Polygraph Protection Act, which prohibits the use of

polygraphs for preemployment screening purposes by most

employers.

Federal, state, and local government agencies

are exempt from the act. Also exempted are certain private sector

employers such as security companies and pharmaceutical

companies.

The act does allow employers to use

polygraphs as part of internal investigations of thefts or

losses. But in those situations, the polygraph test should be

taken voluntarily, and the employee should be allowed to

end the test at any time.

Cognitive ability tests

Measure mental capabilities such as general intelligence, verbal fluency, numerical ability, and reasoning ability

Provides a diagnostic opinion about a candidate's honesty, but their validity has been called into question

Polygraph tests (Lie detector)

Types of Tests

Legal experts recommend that employers order such tests only after making a contingent offer of employment.

Physical ability tests

Tests that measure an individual’s abilities such as strength, endurance, and muscular movement.

Medical examinations

Ensure the health of an applicant is adequate to meet the job requirements

Drug tests

Right of an employer in accordance with Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988

Legal Considerations in Selection Process

Job-relatedness: Qualification or requirement in selection is significantly related to successful performance of job duties

Business necessity: Practice that is necessary for safe and efficient operations

Selection Tests

The Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures of 1978: 4/5ths rule

Selection tests must be evaluated extensively before being utilized for hiring decisions. The development of test items should be linked to a thorough job analysis, which is covered in Chapter 4. Also, initial review of the items should include an evaluation by knowledge experts, and statistical and validity assessments of the items should be conducted.

Pre-employment testing is a selection tool that can provide valuable information to aid the selection process.

Pre-employment tests can add objectivity to the selection process if applicants for the same position take the same test under the same conditions and if the test accurately measures skills essential to job performance.

If the use of a particular selection procedure results in adverse impact, the employer can eliminate the use of the procedure, thus eliminating the adverse impact. Or, if the employer wishes to continue to use the procedure, it must then demonstrate the “business necessity” of the selection procedure– that is, demonstrate a clear relationship between the selection procedure and performance of the job. This process is known as validation.

Validation as used in personnel psychology is the establishment of a clear relationship between a selection procedure and the requirements of successful job performance. The Uniform Guidelines recognize three aspects of validity: content validity, criterion validity, and construct validity. The Uniform Guidelines outline technical standards and documentation requirements to justify each of these three aspects of validity.

Case: Gordon Food Service

Michigan-based Gordon Food Service administered a strength test using isokinetic testing technology and equipment to measure upper and lower body resistance. The test was intended to gauge an applicant’s ability to handle the physical demands of the job and determine the applicant’s risk of injury, according to the settlement.

Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs investigators found that the test had a statistically significant adverse impact on female applicants, resulting in the hiring of only six females over a period when nearly 300 males were hired.

Moreover the test was “more stringent than the actual job requirements at Gordon Food,” and was not validated.

Gordon Food Service agreed to pay $1.85 million in back wages and benefits to 926 women, hire 37 of the female applicants, and stop using the strength test.

job-related and consistent with business necessity

“Too often we find tests like the one used in this case that exclude workers from jobs that they can in fact perform,” said Patricia Shiu, director of the OFCCP, in a press release. The agency stated that the test was “more stringent than the actual job requirements at Gordon Food,” and was not validated.

Gordon Food Service agreed to pay $1.85 million in back wages and benefits to 926 women, hire 37 of the female applicants, and stop using the strength test. The company, which provides products to the U.S. Departments of Defense and Agriculture and to the Federal Prison System, did not admit liability.

PRE-EMPLOYMENT TEST BY DIAL CORP. DISCRIMINATES AGAINST WOMEN, COURT RULES IN EEOC CASE https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/2-8-05.cfm

EEOC v. Dial Corp.

Women were disproportionately rejected for entry-level production jobs because of a strength test. The test had a significant adverse impact on women – prior to the use of the test, 46% of hires were women; after use of the test, only 15% of hires were women.

Dial defended the test by noting that it looked like the job and use of the test had resulted in fewer injuries to hired workers. The EEOC established through expert testimony, however, that the test was considerably more difficult than the job and that the reduction in injuries occurred two years before the test was implemented, most likely due to improved training and better job rotation procedures.

On appeal, the Eighth Circuit upheld the trial court’s finding that Dial’s use of the test violated Title VII under the disparate impact theory of discrimination.

Selection Tests

Selection tests must be evaluated extensively before being utilized for hiring decisions.

The development of test items should be linked to a thorough job analysis.

Case: Selecting a Programmer

*Reliability and Validity

Reliability: Extent to which a test or measure repeatedly produces the same results over time

Validity: Extent to which a test measures what it claims to measure

Selection tests should be validated to ensure that they measure the knowledge or skills that an applicant would need to perform the job.

Correlation Scatterplots

Ban-the-box Laws

The "box" refers to the question on job applications that asks applicants whether or not they have ever been convicted of a crime.

Ban-the-box does not mean there can never be a criminal background check

However, most ban-the-box legislation places other restrictions and other requirements on employers. For instance, some states prohibit employers from inquiring about arrests, dismissed history, sealed records, or history in a diversion program. Some ban-the-box laws restrict employers from inquiring about criminal history until after the first interview or until a conditional offer of employment is made. Some jurisdictions require employers to consider other factors, such as, time-related restrictions or whether the criminal history is job-related.

https://www.backgroundchecks.com/banthebox

Ban the Box Laws in California

For a full list, please see Ban the Box Laws by State and Municipality from SHRM

Interview

Purposes

To obtain information about candidates

To provide information and reinforce the employer brand

In-depth selection interview

Initial screening interview

Assessing the qualifications of applicants

Types of Interviews

Unstructured interview: Interview that uses questions developed from the answers to previous questions

Structured interviews: Uses a set of standardized questions that have an established set of answers

Employers prefer to use interviews over other selection activities because

they have high “face validity” (i.e., interviews make sense to employers). It is

often assumed that if someone interviews well and the information obtained in

the interview is useful, then the individual will be a good hire.30 However, an

unstructured interview does not always provide much actual validity, causing

a growth in the popularity of structured interviews.

Comparison of Structured and Unstructured Selection Interviews

Structured Interviews

Situational interview: Questions about how applicants might handle specific job situations

Behavioral interview: Applicants give specific examples of how they have performed a certain task

Example: “Tell me about a time when you initiated a project. What was the situation? What did you do? What were the results?”

Interview and Resume Tips from Starbucks

A recent study showed that “past behavior”

interviews are better at identifying achievement at work than are situational

interviews, because they focus on what applicants have actually done in real

situations rather than on what they think they might do in hypothetical situations.

33 An example of a behavioral interview line of questioning might be:

“Tell me about a time when you initiated a project. What was the situation?

What did you do? What were the results?”

Discussion: Are these questions situational or behavioral questions

1. Describe a time when you were faced with problems or stresses at work that tested your coping skills. What did you do?

2. What would you do if the work of a subordinate or team member was not up to expectations?

3. Give an example of a time when you had to be relatively quick in coming to a decision. How did you go about making the decision?

4. How would you handle it if you believed strongly in a recommendation you made in a meeting, but most of your co-workers shot it down?

Effective Interviewing: Questions to Avoid

Illegal questions

Questions that are not job related

Yes/no questions

Obvious questions

Questions that rarely produce a true answer

Leading questions

Yes/no questions: Unless verifying specific information, the interviewer should avoid questions that can be answered “yes” or “no.” For example, “Did you have good attendance on your last job?” will probably be answered simply “yes.”

• Obvious questions: An obvious question is one for which the interviewer already has the answer and the applicant knows it.

• Questions that rarely produce a true answer: Avoid questions that prompt a less-than-honest response. An example is “How did you get along with your coworkers?” The likely answer is “Just fine.”

• Leading questions: A leading question is one to which the answer is obvious from the way the question is asked. For example, “How do you like working with other people?” suggests the answer “I like it.”

• Illegal questions: Questions that involve information such as race, age, gender, national origin, marital status, and number of children are illegal. They are just as inappropriate in the interview as on the application form.

• Questions that are not job related: All questions should be directly job related.

Background Investigations

Negligent hiring: Occurs when an employer fails to check an employee’s background and the employee injures someone on the job.

Question: How would you conduct a complete background investigation on applicants for the job of school bus driver to minimize concerns about negligent hiring?

Negligent retention

Background Investigations

Employment Background Checking Basics

Information can be obtained from:

Past job records

Testing records

Educational and certification records

Drug tests

Criminal history

Sex offender lists

Motor vehicle records

Credit history

Background Investigations

Legal Constraints on Background Investigations

EEOC requires you treat everyone equally

When you run background checks through a company in the business of compiling background information , you must comply with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)

Notify the applicant and get their permission to get a background report

Companies should obtain a signed release from the applicant

The FCRA applies anytime an employer obtains a background check for employment purposes from a third party. These reports could include criminal history, employment and education verifications, motor vehicle reports, health care sanctions and professional licenses. It is important to note that while the word “credit” appears in the name of the law, it applies to background reports regardless of whether or not the report includes credit information.

Employers must make sure they disclose that they are going to conduct a background check and get written authorization.

Medical Examinations and Inquiries

Used to determine the physical and mental abilities to perform jobs

ADA prohibits:

Using pre-employment medical exams, except for drug tests, until a job has been conditionally offered

Rejecting an individual because of a disability

Asking job applicants any question related to current or past medical history until a conditional job offer has been made

Medical Examinations and Inquiries

Drug testing - Accuracy of tests varies according to the type of test used and the quality of the laboratory where the test samples are sent

Safety-sensitive jobs may require more stringent screening

Positive tests should be tested again

Summarizing Information about Applicants

Approaches for Combining Predictors

Compensatory Approach

Allows a higher score on one predictor to offset, or compensate for, a lower score on another

Approaches for Combining Predictors (Cont.)

Multiple cutoff model:

Requires an applicant to achieve some minimum level of proficiency on all selection dimensions

Multiple hurdles model:

Sequential strategy in which only the applicants with the top scores at an initial test stage go on to subsequent stages

Making the Job Offer

General process

Offer given over the telephone

Formalized letter is then sent to the applicant

Offer document should be reviewed by legal counsel

Terms and conditions of employment should be clearly identified