Employee Testing and
Selection
Chapter 6
Learning Outcome
• Explain what is meant by reliability and validity.
• Explain how you would go about validating a test.
• Cite and illustrate our testing guidelines.
• Give examples of some of the ethical and legal considerations in
testing.
• List eight tests you could use for employee selection and how you
would use them.
• Give two examples of work sample/simulation tests.
• Explain the key points to remember in conducting background
investigations.
6–2
What is Employee Selection?
The process of interviewing and evaluating candidates for a specific job and
selecting an individual for employment based on certain criteria.
Employee selection can range from a very simple process to a very
complicated process depending on the firm hiring and the position.
Certain employment laws such as anti-discrimination laws must be obeyed
during employee selection.
6–3
Why Careful Selection is Important
The Importance of Selecting
the Right Employees
Organizational Costs of recruiting Legal obligations
performance and hiring and liability
6–4
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 applicant’s privacy rights with others’
“need to know.”
• Take immediate disciplinary action if problems
arise.
6–5
Basic Testing Concepts
• Reliability
• Describes the consistency of scores obtained by the same person when
retested with the identical or alternate forms of the same test.
• 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?
6–6
Types of Test Validity
Types of
Test Validity
Criterion validity Content validity
6–7
Evidence-Based HR: How to Validate a Test
Steps in Test Validation
1 Analyze the Job: predictors and criteria
2 Choose the Tests: test battery or single test
3 Administer the Test: concurrent or predictive validation
4 Relate Your Test Scores and Criteria: scores versus actual performance
5 Cross-Validate and Revalidate: repeat Steps 3 and 4 with a different sample
Types of Tests
What Different Tests Measure
Cognitive Motor and Personality Current
abilities physical abilities and interests achievement
6–9
FIGURE 6–5 Type of Question Applicant Might Expect on a Test of Mechanical
Comprehension
6–10
The “Big Five”
Extraversion
Conscientiousness Emotional stability
Openness to
Agreeableness
experience
6–11
Work Samples and Simulations
Measuring Work Performance
Directly
Management Video-based Miniature job
Work
assessment situational training and
samples
centers testing evaluation
6–12