Selection 1

1. Selection 1 MANA 4328 Dr. George Benson benson@uta.edu

2. Selection Mechanisms • Personality tests • Physical ability tests • Job knowledge tests • Work sample tests • Simulators • Situational interviews • Unstructured interviews • Assessment centers • Recommendations • Many others….. • Applications • Resumes • Biographical information • Background investigations • Checking references • Credit reports • Polygraph tests • Honesty tests • Graphology • Drug testing • Cognitive ability tests

3. Why Use Selection Mechanisms?

4. Why Use Selection Mechanisms? • Individual judgment is poor and inconsistent • Perceptual biases • Individual biases • Match applicant KSA’s with job requirements • Ensure that new hires will perform well on the job.

5. Choosing Selection Methods Multiple factors need to be considered. • Specificity of skills required • Risk of bad hire or mistakes made by employees • Employee reactions • Level of adverse impact • Cost • Administration time • “Screening-in” vs. “Screening out” methods

6. Developing A Selection Plan List each of the KSA’s required for the job • Does it need to be assessed? • What are the minimum qualifications? List potential selection mechanisms for those KSA’s that need to be assessed along with costs and benefits. • Validity and reliability • $$$ Costs • Level of adverse impact Detail the selection sequence • Data to be collected at each point • Criteria to be used to move applicants through the sequence

7. Most Common Methods • Application • Interview • Education level • Training and experience • Reference checks • Resumes • Licensing and certification • Biodata

8. EEOC Uniform Guidelines Reliability – consistency of the measure If the same person takes the test again will he/she earn the same score? Potential contaminations: • Test takers physical or mental state • Environmental factors • Test forms • Multiple raters How to determine reliability: Statistical techniques • Test – retest reliability • Inter-rater reliability • Others

9. Relative Reliability of Measures Visual acuity High Hearing Dexterity Mathematical ability Verbal ability Intelligence Clerical skills Mechanical aptitudes Sociability Cooperativeness Tolerance Emotional stability Low

10. EEOC Uniform Guidelines Validity – accuracy of the measure Are you measuring what you intend to measure? OR Does the test measure a characteristic related to job performance? Testing criterion validity: Criterion – test predicts job performance in general • Predictive – test predicts job future performance • Concurrent – test predicts performance at time of test How to determine validity: • Conduct a job analysis • Collect statistics • Use outside evidence

11. MISS Inaccurateprediction(Person would have succeeded on the job) HIT Accurateprediction(Person succeeds on the job) High Job Performance HIT Accurateprediction(Person would not have succeeded on the job) MISS Inaccurate prediction(Person fails on the job) Low Low High Predicted Success The Goal of Selection: Maximize “Hits” “Earns a Bonus” “Is a Bonehead”

12. Correlation Scatterplots Figure 5.3

13. Reliability vs. Validity

14. Principles of Assessment • Don’t rely on a single method. • Use only fair and unbiased instruments. • Use only reliable instruments. • Use only valid instruments for a specific purpose. • Use only tools designed for a specific group. • Use instruments with understandable instructions. • Ensure test administration staff are properly trained. • Ensure test conditions are suitable for all test takers. • Provide reasonable accommodation. • Maintain confidentiality of results. • Ensure proper interpretation of results.

15. Effectiveness of Selection Methods A survey of 201 HR executives rated selection methods on the effectiveness producing the best employees. Work samples 3.68 References/recommendations 3.49 Structured interviews 3.42 Assessment centers 3.42 Specific aptitude tests 3.08 Personality tests 2.93 General cognitive ability tests 2.89 Biographical information blanks 2.84 HR Focus 1996

16. Steps in Pre-Employment Screening 1. Verify applicants employment history • Competency-based screening • Written or simulation tests generally reliable and valid • Benefits need to be balanced with costs 3. Use structured interviews • Question objectivity and job relatedness • Standardized administration • Multiple raters 4. Consider “screening-out” tool

17. Methods and Applicant Flow Applicants Candidates Offers Hires Initial Substantive Contingent

18. Initial Selection • Initial Selection • Resumes • Application Forms • Reference Checks • Initial / Contingent • Background Checks • Drug Tests

19. Application Forms Only ask info related to job KSA’s • Link to job performance • Use thorough job analysis and validation techniques • Consider potential adverse impact • Consider “knockout” questions Careful collecting personal characteristics • Race, National Origin, Gender, Age etc. • Law assumes all questions are used in hiring • More is not necessarily better • Different applications for different jobs • Instructions and Disclaimers • Not particularly valid (r = .10 - .20)

20. Application Forms How to ask non-discriminatory questions? • You are always permitted to ask if applicant is qualified and able to perform primary job duties. • You should never ask questions that indicate protected class status. • Allow people to “self-select” as much as possible. What if you need to collect demographic information for EEO purposes? • Race, National Origin, Gender, Age etc

21. How to ask… • Do you have child-care for your children? • Do you own a car? • How old are you? • Do you have a physical or mental disability? • Height? Weight? • What is your maiden name? • Are you a U.S. citizen? • Have you every been arrested? • Do you smoke or use tobacco?

22. Resumes • Applicant controls the information • Many examples of fraud or omission • Up to 50% contain some inaccuracy • What are possible indicators of resume fraud? • Jobs and education should be verified • One question honesty test • Requirements for education and experiences should be job-related.

23. Potential Problems AP May 11, 2004 WASHINGTON • “At least 28 senior-level federal employees in eight agencies have bogus college degrees, including three managers at the office that oversees nuclear weapons safety, congressional investigators have found.” MSNBC June 24, 2004 WASHINGTON • “More than 100 federal air marshals have been fired or stripped of their flight status in recent weeks for problems stemming from their security clearance background investigations”

24. Potential Problems NY Times Sept 12, 2005 Ronald L. Zarrella, the chief executive of Bausch & Lomb, claimed to have had a master's in business administration from New York University. Shares in the company dropped 3 percent the day the company divulged Mr. Zarrella's resume-fudging. David J. Edmondson, the chief executive of RadioShack, was fired after a newspaper investigation showed that his resume was padded with two degrees in psychology and theology, degrees he never got from a university that was not even accredited. Brad Fredericks, a co-founder of ResumeDoctor.com had his employees pull about a thousand of them that had been uploaded to the company Web site and check them for easily identifiable facts like job titles, education and dates of employment. ''What we found was shocking,'' Mr. Fredericks said. ''We discovered that 42.7 percent of them had significant inaccuracies.” The Rutgers University Career Services office did an audit last year and found that 20 percent of students submitting resumes had inflated their grade-point averages.

25. Reference Checking • Also relatively low predictive validity • 80% - 95% of Organizations attempt • 63% of Organizations limit info they will share • Should ask for applicant permission • Legal Concerns • Companies decline to report negative information to protect from defamation suit. • Failure to conduct reference check may create negligent hiring liability.

26. Potential Problems FW Star-Telegram 2.12.04 • ARLINGTON - A University of Texas a Arlington official voiced regrets that a part-time lecturer's background was not checked after he talked about his personal life in class and alarmed students….Ronnie Robert Molina was fired after his first lecture on communications law. In August, Molina was fired as an attorney for Dallas for inappropriate behavior. Shorthorn 1.28.04 • Several students in the class said Molina spent the first day discussing a range of personal topics and that many in the class were appalled and disturbed….After arriving 25 minutes late, Molina started a monologue about religious values, sexual orientation and drug use…Students said Molina wrote the initials of the attorney that he previously worked for and distinguished his initials D.L., as devil and Lucifer.

27. “Qualified Privilege” Aimed at protecting companies that provide “good faith” reference information • Information must be given without malicious intent • Information can be substantiated • Information given is limited to specific inquiry • Information must be given at proper time, through proper channels, with proper methods. Is the employee eligible for rehire?