Tools for Successful Selection

1. Tools for Successful Selection Employment Testing: General

2. Types of Employment Tests • Ability Tests • Mental (Cognitive) Ability • Psychomotor Ability • Physical Ability • Sensory Ability • Achievement and Skill Tests • Job Knowledge • Performance/Work Sample

3. Types of Employment Tests • Personality/Interest Inventories • Other Types of Tests • Integrity (honesty) • Drug

4. Selecting Employment Tests • Which KSAs are relevant to testing? • Search sources of tests • General • Tests: A Comprehensive Reference... • Web-based information sources • Reviews • Mental Measurement Yearbook • Useful article on using the MMY • British Psychological Society • Test Critiques

5. Evaluating Test Manuals • Evidence of reliability • Relevant evidence of validity • Use of appropriate criteria • Norms, based on appropriate samples • Evidence of test fairness • Practicality

6. Tools for Successful Selection Cognitive Ability (Intelligence) Tests

7. What is “Intelligence”? And is it relevant to job performance??

9. “Successful” Intelligence • Ability to achieve success in life and work; requires a balance among: • Analytical intelligence • “Academic” intelligence • Practical Intelligence • “Common sense” as well as social or emotional intelligence; “street smarts” • Creative Intelligence

10. Analytical Intelligence • Traditional aspects of intelligence measured by standard tests • Verbal and numerical ability, memory, processing speed • Predicts job performance in nearly all jobs • More important as jobs become more complex • Probably due to: • Broader knowledge base • Ability to learn on the job more quickly • Ability to problem-solve

11. Practical Intelligence • Ability to deal with everyday life challenges • E.g., computing lowest price/unit when grocery shopping, or interpreting a bus schedule • Social/emotional intelligence • Ability to understand people and relationships • Impression management skills • Ability to persuade others • Adaptability to different social situations • Shown to add to predictive power of analytical intelligence for sales and execs • May be culture-specific

12. Creative Intelligence • Relies on a base of knowledge + ability to apply it to new situations or problems • Ability to generate novel high-quality ideas • Ability to recognize opportunities or define challenges in new ways • Ability to adjust to new situations

13. Measuring Intelligence • Wide variety of measures of analytical intelligence/general mental ability • Wonderlic Personnel Test is most popular • Sternberg Multidimensional Abilities Test measures all 3 intelligences • Sternberg and Wagner’s test of Practical Managerial Intelligence: • ability to write effective memos • ability to motivate people • knowledge of when to delegate • ability to “read” people

14. Lingering Controversies about IQ • Is intelligence testing fair? • Is intelligence—even when measured more broadly—sufficient? • Do you want “bright” or “well trained” employees?

15. Fairness and Intelligence Testing: A Dilemma • CA predicts performance in a wide variety of jobs • Measures knowledge • Measures ability to learn, reason, and solve new problems • Few alternative predictors with comparable utility for entry-level jobs • But are they “fair” to all groups?

17. Definitions of Test “Fairness” 1. Differences between groups’ average test scores • ~1 SD difference for African-Americans • ~.75 SD for Latinos But what do these differences mean? • Groups differ in ability? • Test discriminates against one group?

18. Definitions of Test “Fairness” 2. Differential Validity: Group differences in validity of test

19. Definitions of Test “Fairness” 2. Differential Validity: Group differences in validity of test White Black Job Perf Test Scores

20. Definitions of Test “Fairness” 3. Test Bias: Group differences in predicted job performance with same cutoff score

21. Definitions of Test “Fairness” 3. Test Bias: Group differences in predicted job performance with same cutoff score Black Job Perf White Test Scores

22. Definitions of Test “Fairness” 3. Test Bias: Group differences in predicted job performance with same cutoff score Black Job Perf White Test Scores

23. Typical CA Test Situation • Adverse Impact • No differential validity • No test bias White Black Job Perf Test Scores

24. Typical CA Test Situation • Adverse Impact • No differential validity • No test bias White Black Job Perf Test Scores

25. Minimizing Adverse Impact • Recruit high quality applicants • Use tests only when appropriate • Use tests as one part of process • Use to eliminate unqualified (rather than to differentiate among most qualified) • Be sure test is valid (job-related)!!

26. Lingering Controversies about IQ • Is intelligence testing fair? • Is intelligence—even when measured more broadly—sufficient? • Do you want “bright” or “well trained” employees?

27. Why Intelligent People Fail • Lack of motivation • Lack of impulse control • Lack of perseverance • Fear of failure • Procrastination • Inability to delay gratification • Too little/too much self-confidence Source: Sternberg (1986)

28. Lingering Controversies about IQ • Is intelligence testing fair? • Is intelligence—even when measured more broadly—sufficient? • Do you want “bright” or “well trained” employees?

29. Intelligence or Training? • Is being smart a pre-requisite for learning? • Is being smart sufficient for learning?

30. Tools for Successful Selection Personality Testing

31. Invasiveness • Employer right to know vs. right to privacy • Over-emphasis on individual items • Reducing invasiveness: • Use only for job-related traits • Use employment (not clinical) measures • Use as part of overall system • Explain purpose as matching not screening

34. Is Personality Job-Relevant? • The “Big Five” Personality Traits • Conscientiousness • Emotional Stability • Extraversion • Agreeableness • <Openness to Experience> • Others may apply in particular jobs • e.g., customer service, safety, attention to detail

35. Do Personality Tests Predict? • Is the situation weak or powerful? • Is the measure valid? • Validities typically in low .20s (when based on job analysis)

36. Faking & Personality Tests • Applicants often distort their answers to look good • Some applicants more than others • This can affect who is hired • Reducing faking: • Use faking (lie) scales • Reduce motivation to fake • Use less transparent questions

38. Fairness of Personality Tests • Little evidence of racial discrimination • Men and women differ on many scales • but no evidence of “discrimination” • Watch out for adverse impact due to: • religious beliefs • disability

39. Ways to Assess Personality Paper & Pencil Inventories Individual (clinical) assessment During interviews

40. Ways to Assess Personality

41. Ways to Assess Personality Paper & Pencil Inventories Individual (clinical) assessment During interviews Reports from others Behavioral observation

42. Tools for Successful Selection Assessing Deviance: Drug Testing Integrity (Honesty) Testing

43. What is “Job Performance”? Extra-Role Behavior In-Role Behavior Counter-Productive Behavior Risk Factors

44. General Rationale • Employee deviance is a costly problem • $6 to 200 billion annual cost • 33-75% of employees • It’s said that 30-50% of business failures are due to theft • Drug/alcohol abuse results in $197B in productivity costs

45. How Do You Screen out Deviant Employees? • Some are based on past behavior • analysis of drug metabolites in urine; past theft; reference and background checks • Others focus on likely future behavior • attitudes toward theft, drug use; personality • Only a few focus on current behavior • impairment testing

46. Physiological Drug Tests • Urinalysis • Quick screening • Confirmatory: Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS) • Hair analysis • Blood analysis • Breath analysis

47. What’s Measured (& for how long?) • The “NIDA 5”: • Cannabis • Cocaine • Amphetamines • PCP • Opiates

48. What’s Measured (& for how long?) • The “NIDA 5”: • Cannabis 2 – 90 days • Cocaine 1 – 2 days • Amphetamines .5 – 2 days • PCP 30 – 90 days • Opiates 2 – 4 days

49. Other Forms of Drug Tests • Paper-and-pencil integrity tests • Impairment testing • based on person’s own “baseline” performance on a computer task

50. Types of Drug Testing Programs • Pre-employment • “For cause” testing • mandatory post-accident • based on supervisor’s observations • Fitness for duty • daily (impairment testing) • post-rehabilitation • Random