Foundations

of Selection
Selection
• Selection is a systematic
process of choosing the best fit
employee amongst a number of
qualified candidates who seems
to most successfully meet job
and organisational requirements.
Selection
•Necessary prerequisites include

Job analysis

Human resource
planning

Recruitment
BASIC SELECTION CRITERIA

Formal Education

Experience and Past

BASIC Performance
SELECTION
CRITERIA
Physical Characteristics

Personality Characteristics
WHY CAREFUL SELECTION ???

PERFORMANCE
First, your own performance always
depends on your subordinates. Employees
with the right skills will do a better job for
you and the company.

COST
Hiring an employee can cost too much for a
company. Hiring and training even a clerk
can cost $5,000 or more in fees and
supervisory time.
WHY CAREFUL SELECTION ???

LEGAL OBLIGATION
The employee selected should not have any criminal
record.
- Negligent Hiring
In one case, Ponticas v. K.M.S. Investments, an
apartment manager with a passkey entered a
woman s apartment and assaulted her. The court
found the apartment complex s owner negligent
for not checking the manager s background
properly
NEGLIGENT HIRING

-Making a systematic effort to gain relevant information about the

applicants and verifying all documentation.

-Scrutinizing all information supplied by the applicant, and

following up on unexplained gaps.

- Keeping a detailed log of all attempts to obtain information,

including names and dates for phone calls or other requests.

-Rejecting applicants who make false statements of material facts or

who have conviction records for offenses directly related and
important to the job on question.
The Selection Process
The selection initial screening
Failed to meet minimum qualifications
process Passed

typically completed application

Failed to complete application or
consists of Passed failed job specifications

eight steps. employment test

Failed test
Passed
conditional comprehensive interview
job offer Passed
Failed to impress interviewer and/or
meet job expectations

background examination
if required Problems encountered

Passed
permanent
job offer medical/physical examination
(conditional job offer made) reject applicant
Unfit to do essential
elements of job

Able to perform essential

elements of the job
 BASIC TESTING CONCEPTS
A test is basically a sample
of a persons behavior.

Using a test (or any selection

tool) assumes the tool is both
reliable and valid.
 BASIC TESTING CONCEPTS
Reliability- Consistency
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.
 BASIC TESTING CONCEPTS

Reliability- Consistency
If a person scores 90 on an
intelligence test on Monday
and 130 when retested on
Tuesday, you probably
wouldn’t have much faith in
the test.
 BASIC TESTING CONCEPTS
Reliability measurement
techniques:
 test-retest reliability estimates
 One is to administer a test to a group of
people one day, readminister the same
test several days later to the same group,
and then correlate the first set of scores
with the second.
 equivalent or alternate form estimate.
 administer a test and then administer what
experts believe to be an equivalent test
later. The Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT)
is an example
 BASIC TESTING CONCEPTS
Measurement Techniques:
internal comparison
estimate.
 psychologist includes 10 items on a
test believing that they all measure
interest in working outdoors. You
administer the test and then
statistically analyze the degree to
which responses to these 10 items
vary together.
 BASIC TESTING CONCEPTS
 What makes a test unreliable?
 Physical conditions
 quiet tests conditions one day, noisy the
next),
 Differences in the test-taker
 (healthy one day, sick the next),
 Differences in the person administering
the test
 (courteous one day, curt the next).
 The questions may do a poor job of
sampling the material;
 for example, test one focuses more on
Chapters 1, 3, and 7, while test two focuses
more on Chapters 2, 4, and 8.
BASIC TESTING CONCEPTS
 BASIC TESTING CONCEPTS
Validity
A mismanufactured 33-inch yardstick
will consistently tell you that 33-
inch boards are 33 inches long.
Unfortunately, if what you re
looking for is a board that is 1 yard
long, then your 33-inch yardstick,
though reliable, is misleading you
by 3 inches.
BASIC TESTING CONCEPTS
How accurately a method measures
what it is intended to measure
 BASIC TESTING CONCEPTS
Test Validity
 Test validity answers the question -Does
this test measure what it s supposed to
measure?

 In case of selection performance on the

test accurately predicts subsequent
performance on the job.

 there are two main ways to demonstrate

a test s validity:
 criterion validity and content validity. A
third option is construct validity.
 BASIC TESTING CONCEPTS
Test Validity
Criterion validity
 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. Here the criteria is
performance.
 BASIC TESTING CONCEPTS
Test Validity
Content validity
 Content of a selection procedure
In selecting students for
is representative of important Fine arts, many schools
aspects of performance on the give applicants chunks of
chalk, and ask them to
job. carve something that
 For example, employers may looks like a circle

demonstrate the content validity of

a test by showing that the test
constitutes a fair sample of the job s
content.
 BASIC TESTING CONCEPTS
Test Validity
Construct validity
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.
TYPES OF TESTS
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 https://stanfordbinettest.com/
 Covers range of abilities, including memory,
vocabulary, verbal fluency, and numerical
ability. https://
www.pearsonassessments.co
 Intelligence is often measured with individually
m/store/usassessments/en/
administered tests like the Stanford-Binet Test Store/Professional-
or the Wechsler Test. Assessments/Cognition-%26-
Neuro/Wechsler-Adult-
Intelligence-Scale-%7C-Fourth-
Edition/p/100000392.html
TYPES OF TESTS
Tests of Cognitive Abilities
Specific Cognitive Abilities
Like deductive reasoning, verbal comprehension, memory,
and numerical ability.
 Psychologists often call such tests aptitude tests
TYPES OF TESTS
Tests of Motor and Physical
Abilities
 Measure motor abilities, such as finger
dexterity, manual dexterity, and (if
hiring pilots) reaction time.

 The Crawford Small Parts Dexterity Test

is an example.

 It measures the speed and accuracy of

simple judgment as well as the speed of
finger, hand, and arm movements.
TYPES OF TESTS
Measuring Personality and
Interests
 motivation and interpersonal skills, are
very important.

 As one consultant put it, “most people

are hired based on qualifications, but
most are fired for nonperformance.”

 Nonperformance is usually the result of

personal characteristics, such as
attitude, motivation, and especially,
temperament.
TYPES OF TESTS
THE BIG FIVE
personality test
TYPES OF TESTS
Do Personality Tests Predict Performance?
 In one study, extraversion, conscientiousness, and openness
to experience were strong predictors of leadership.

 In another study, neuroticism was negatively related to

motivation.

 in personality research, conscientiousness has been the

most consistent and universal predictor of job performance.
TYPES OF TESTS
WORK SAMPLES
 With work samples, you
present examinees with
situations representative of the
job for which they re applying,
and evaluate their responses.

 For example,work samples for

a cashier may include
operating a cash register and
counting money
TYPES OF TESTS
Situational Judgment
Tests
 Designed to assess an applicant s
judgment regarding a situation
encountered in the workplace.
 As an example, You are facing a project deadline
and are concerned that you may not complete
the project by the time it is due. It is very
important to your supervisor that you complete
a project by the deadline. It is not possible to get
anyone to help you with the work.
What will you do?
TYPES OF TESTS
Situational Judgment Tests
a. Ask for an extension of the deadline
b. Let the supervisor know that you may not meet the
deadline
c. Work as many hours it as it takes to get the job done by
the deadline
d. Explore different ways to do the work so it can be
completed by the deadline
e. On the date it is due, hand in what you have done so
far
f. Do the most critical parts of the project by the deadline
and complete the remaining parts after the deadline
g. Tell your supervisor that the deadline is unreasonable
h. Give your supervisor an update and express your
concern about your ability to complete the project by the
deadline
i. Quit your job
TYPES OF TESTS
Management Assessment Centers
 A 2- to 3-day simulation in which 10 to 12 candidates
perform realistic management tasks.
 Making presentations under the observation of experts who
appraise each candidate s leadership potential.

 Typical simulated tasks include:

 The in-basket.This exercise confronts the candidate with an accumulation of
reports, memos, notes of incoming phone calls, letters, 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 then review the candidate s efforts.
TYPES OF TESTS
Management Assessment Centers
 Typical simulated tasks include:
 Leaderless group discussion
 Management games
 Individual presentations
 Objective tests. An assessment center typically includes tests of
personality, mental ability, interests, and achievements.
BACKGROUND INVESTIGATIONS AND OTHER
SELECTION METHODS
 Why Perform Background Investigations and
Reference Checks?
 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.
BACKGROUND INVESTIGATIONS AND OTHER
SELECTION METHODS

What to Check?
 Legal eligibility for employment
 Military service
 Education,
 Identification (including date of birth and
address to confirm identity),
 Criminal records (current residence, last
residence),
 Motor vehicle record,
 Credit,
 Licensing verification,
 Social Security number, and
 Reference check.
 Dope test
The Social Network: Checking Applicants Social
Postings
 More employers are Googling
applicants or checking social
networking sites.
 Recruiters found that 31% of
applicants had lied about their
qualifications
 19% had posted information about
their drinking or drug use.
 On Facebook.com, one employer
found that a candidate had described
his interests as smoking pot and
shooting people.