Human Resource

Management
ELEVENTH EDITION

GARY DESSLER

Part 2 | Recruitment and Placement

Chapter 6

Employee Testing and Selection

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PowerPoint Presentation by Charlie Cook

The University of West Alabama

After studying this chapter, you should be able to:

1. Explain what is meant by reliability and validity.
2. Explain how you would go about validating a test.

3. Cite and illustrate our testing guidelines.

4. Give examples of some of the ethical and legal
considerations in testing.

5. List eight tests you could use for employee selection,

and how you would use them.
6. Explain the key points to remember in conducting
background investigations.

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62

Why Careful Selection is Important

The Importance of
Selecting the Right
Employees

Organizational
Performance

Costs of
Recruiting and
Hiring

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Legal
Obligations and
Liability

63

Avoiding Negligent Hiring Claims

Carefully scrutinize information on employment
applications.
Get written authorization for reference checks, and
check references.
Save all records and information about the applicant.
Reject applicants for false statements or conviction
records for offenses related to the job.
Balance the applicants privacy rights with others need
to know.
Take immediate disciplinary action if problems arise.

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64

Basic Testing Concepts

Reliability
Consistency of scores obtained by the same person

when retested with identical or equivalent tests.

Are test results stable over time?

Validity
Indicates whether a test is measuring what it is

supposed to be measuring.
Does the test actually measure what it is intended to
measure?

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65

FIGURE 61

Sample Picture Card from Thematic Apperception Test

Source: Reprinted by permission of the publishers from Henry A. Murray, THEMATIC

APPERCEPTION TEST, Plate 12F, Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1943.
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66

Types of Validity
Test
Validity

Criterion
Validity

Content
Validity

Face
Validity

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67

How to Validate a Test

Steps in Test Validation
1

Analyze the Job: predictors and criteria

Choose the Tests: test battery or single test

Administer the Tests: concurrent or predictive validation

Relate Your Test Scores and Criteria: scores versus

actual performance

Cross-Validate and Revalidate: repeat Steps 3 and 4

with a different sample

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68

FIGURE 62

Examples of Web Sites Offering Information

on Tests or Testing Programs

www.hr-guide.com/data/G371.htm
Provides general information and sources for all types
of employment tests.
http://buros.unl.edu/buros/jsp/search.jsp
Provides technical information on all types of
employment and nonemployment tests.
www.ets.org/testcoll
Provides information on over 20,000 tests.
www.kaplan.com
Information from Kaplan test preparation on how
various admissions tests work.
www.assessments.biz
One of many firms offering employment tests.
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69

FIGURE 63

Expectancy Chart

Note: This expectancy chart shows the

relation between scores made on the
Minnesota Paper Form Board and rated
success of junior draftspersons.
Example: Those who score between 37
and 44 have a 55% chance of being
rated above average and those scoring
between 57 and 64 have a 97% chance.
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610

TABLE 61

Testing Program Guidelines

1. Use tests as supplements.

2. Validate the tests.
3. Monitor your testing/selection program.
4. Keep accurate records.

5. Use a certified psychologist.

6. Manage test conditions.
7. Revalidate periodically.

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611

Test Takers Individual Rights and

Test Security
Under the APAs standard for educational and
psychological tests, test takers have the right:
To privacy and information.
To the confidentiality of test results.

To informed consent regarding use of these results.

To expect that only people qualified to interpret the

scores will have access to them.

To expect the test is fair to all.

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612

Legal Privacy Issues

Defamation
Libeling or slandering of employees or former

employees by an employer.

Avoiding Employee Defamation Suits

1. Train supervisors regarding the importance of

employee confidentiality.
2. Adopt a need to know policy.
3. Disclose procedures impacting confidentially of

information to employees.

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613

FIGURE 64

Sample Test

Source: Courtesy of NYT Permissions.

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614

Using Tests at Work

Major Types of Tests
Basic skills tests
Job skills tests
Psychological tests

Why Use Testing?

Increased work demands = more testing
Screen out bad or dishonest employees
Reduce turnover by personality profiling

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615

Computerized and Online Testing

Online tests
Telephone prescreening
Offline computer tests

Virtual inbox tests

Online problem-solving tests

Types of Tests
Specialized work sample tests
Numerical ability tests
Reading comprehension tests

Clerical comparing and checking tests

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616

Types of Tests
What Tests
Measure

Cognitive
(Mental)
Abilities

Motor and
Physical
Abilities

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Personality
and
Interests

Achievement

617

FIGURE 65

Type of Question Applicant Might Expect

on a Test of Mechanical Comprehension

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618

FIGURE 66

Sample Personality Test Items

Source: Elaine Pulakos, Selection Assessment

Methods, SHRM Foundation, 2005, p. 9.

Reprinted by
permission of Society
for Human Resource
Management via Copyright
Clearance Center.

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619

The Big Five

Extraversion

Conscientiousness

Agreeableness

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Emotional Stability/
Neuroticism

Openness to
Experience

620

FIGURE 67

Example of a Work Sampling Question

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621

Work Samples and Simulations

Measuring Work
Performance Directly

Work
Samples

Management
Assessment
Centers

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Video-Based
Situational
Testing

Miniature
Job Training
and
Evaluation

622

TABLE 62

Evaluation of Assessment Methods on Four Key Criteria

Assessment Method

Validity

Adverse Impact

Costs
(Develop/
Administer)

Cognitive ability tests

High

High (against minorities)

Low/low

Somewhat favorable

Job knowledge test

High

High (against minorities)

Low/low

More favorable

Personality tests

Low to
moderate

Low

Low/low

Less favorable

Biographical data
inventories

Moderate

Low to high for different types

High/low

Less favorable

Integrity tests

Moderate
to high

Low

Low/low

Less favorable

Structured interviews

High

Low

High/high

More favorable

Physical fitness tests

Moderate
to high

High (against females and

older workers)

High/high

More favorable

Situational judgment tests

Moderate

Moderate (against minorities)

High/low

More favorable

Work samples

High

Low

High/high

More favorable

Assessment centers

Moderate
to high

Low to moderate, depending

on exercise

High/high

More favorable

Physical ability tests

Moderate
to high

High (against females and

older workers)

High/high

More favorable

Applicant
Reactions

Note: There was limited research evidence available on applicant reactions to situational judgment tests and physical ability tests. However,
because these tests tend to appear very relevant to the job, it is likely that applicant reactions to them would be favorable.
Source: Elaine Pulakos, Selection Assessment Methods, SHRM Foundation, 2005, p. 17. Reprinted
by permission of Society for Human Resource Management via Copyright Clearance Center.
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623

Background Investigations and

Reference Checks
Investigations and Checks
Reference checks
Background employment checks
Criminal records
Driving records
Credit checks

Why?
To verify factual information provided by applicants.
To uncover damaging information.
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624

FIGURE 68
Reference
Checking
Form

Source: Society for Human Resource

Management, 2004. Reproduced with
permission of Society for Human Resource
Management in the Format Textbook via
Copyright Clearance Center.
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625

Background Investigations and

Reference Checks (contd)
Former Employers

Current Supervisors

Sources of
Information

Commercial Credit
Rating Companies

Written References

Social Networking Sites

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626

Limitations on Background Investigations

and Reference Checks
Legal
Issues:
Defamation

Employer
Guidelines

Background
Investigations
and
Reference Checks

Legal
Issues:
Privacy

Supervisor
Reluctance

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627

Making Background Checks More Useful

1. Include on the application form a statement for
applicants to sign explicitly authorizing a
background check.

2. Use telephone references if possible.

3. Be persistent in obtaining information.
4. Use references provided by the candidate as
a source for other references.
5. Ask open-ended questions to elicit more
information from references.

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628

Using Preemployment Information Services

Acquisition and Use of Background Information
1

Disclosure to and authorization by applicant/employee

Employer certification to reporting agency

Providing copies of reports to applicant/employee

Notice of adverse action to applicant/employee

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629

TABLE 63

Collecting Background Information

Suggestions for collecting background information include the following:

1.

Check all applicable state laws.

2.

Review the impact of federal equal employment laws.

3.

Remember the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act.

4.

Do not obtain information that youre not going to use.

5.

Remember that using arrest information will be highly suspect.

6.

Avoid blanket policies (such as we hire no one with a record of workers compensation claims).

7.

Use information that is specific and job related.

8.

Keep information confidential and up to date.

9.

Never authorize an unreasonable investigation.

10. Make sure you always get at least two forms of identification from the applicant.
11. Always require applicants to fill out a job application.
12. Compare the application to the rsum (people tend to be more imaginative on their rsums
than on their application forms, where they must certify the information).
13. Particularly for executive candidates, include background checks of such things as involvement
in lawsuits, and of articles about the candidate in local or national newspapers.
14. Separate the tasks of (1) hiring and (2) doing the background check (a recruiter or supervisor
anxious to hire someone may cut corners when investigating the candidates background).

Source: Adapted from Jeffrey M. Hahn, Pre-Employment Services: Employers Beware? Employee Relations Law Journal 17, no. 1
(Summer 1991), pp. 4569; and Shari Caudron, Who Are You Really Hiring?, Workforce, 81, no. 12 (November 2002), pp. 2832.
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630

The Polygraph and Honesty Testing

Employee Polygraph Protection Act of 1988
Generally prohibits polygraph examinations by all

private employers unless:

The employer has suffered an economic loss or injury.

The employee in question had access to the property.

There is a reasonable prior suspicion.

The employee is told the details of the investigation, as well

as questions to be asked on the polygraph test itself.

Exceptions:

Private security employees

Employees with access to drugs

National defense and security (FBI, DOE, and DOJ)

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631

Honesty Testing Programs:

What Employers Can Do
Antitheft Screening Procedure:
Ask blunt questions.
Listen, rather than talk.
Do a credit check.
Check all employment and personal references.
Use paper-and-pencil honesty tests and

psychological tests.
Test for drugs.
Establish a search-and-seizure policy and conduct

searches.
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632

FIGURE 69

Handwriting Exhibit Used by Graphologist

Source: Kathryn Sackhein, Handwriting Analysis and the Employee

Selection Process (New York: Quorum Books, 1990), p. 45.
Reproduced with permission of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
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633

Physical Examination
Reasons for preemployment medical
examinations:
To verify that the applicant meets the physical

requirements of the position.

To discover any medical limitations to be taken into

account in placing the applicant.

To establish a record and baseline of the applicants

health for future insurance or compensation claims.

To reduce absenteeism and accidents.
To detect communicable diseases that may be

unknown to the applicant.

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634

Substance Abuse Screening

Types of Screening
Before formal hiring
After a work accident

Presence of obvious behavioral symptoms

Random or periodic basis
Transfer or promotion to new position

Types of Tests
Urinalysis
Hair follicle testing

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635

Substance Abuse Screening (contd)

Safety:
Impairment vs.
Presence
Americans with
Disabilities Act

Drug Free
Workplace Act
of 1988

Ethical
and Legal
Issues

Recreational
Use vs.
Addiction

Intrusiveness of
Procedures

Accuracy of
Tests

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636

FIGURE 610 Procedure in Complying with Immigration Law

1. Hire only citizens and aliens lawfully authorized to work in the

United States.
2. Advise all new job applicants of your policy.
3. Require all new employees to complete and sign the verification
form (the I-9 form) designated by the Immigration and
Naturalization Service (INS) to certify that they are eligible for
employment.
4. Examine documentation presented by new employees, record
information about the documents on the verification form, and
sign the form.
5. Retain the form for three years or for one year past the
employment of the individual, whichever is longer.
6. If requested, present the form for inspection by INS or
Department of Labor officers. No reporting is required.

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637

Improving Productivity Through HRIS: Comprehensive

Automated Applicant Tracking and Screening Systems

Benefits of Applicant
Tracking Systems

Knock out
applicants who
do not meet job
requirements

Allow employers
to extensively test
and screen
applicants online

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Can match
hidden talents
of applicants to
available
openings

638

FIGURE 611 Checklist: What to Look for in an Applicant Tracking System (ATS)
The employer thinking of adopting an ATS should seek one that meets several
minimum functionality requirements. Among other things, the ATS should be:
Easy to use.
Capable of being integrated into the companys existing HRIS platform, so that, for
instance, data on a newly hired candidate can flow seamlessly into the HRIS
payroll system.
Able to capture, track, and report applicant EEO data.
Able to provide employee selection performance metrics reports, including time to
fill, cost to hire, and applicant source statistics.
Able to facilitate scheduling and tracking of candidate interviews, email
communications, and completed forms, including job offers.
Able to provide automated screening and ranking of candidates based upon job
skill profiles.
Able to provide an internal job posting service that supports applications from
current employees and employee referral programs.
Able to cross-post jobs to commercial job boards such as www.monster.com.
Able to integrate the ATS job board with your companys own Web site, for
instance, by linking it to your sites careers section.
Able to provide for requisition creation and signoff approvals.
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639

KEY TERMS
negligent hiring
reliability
test validity
criterion validity
content validity
expectancy chart
interest inventory
work samples
work sampling technique
management assessment center
situational test
video-based simulation
miniature job training and evaluation
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640