1. 6 Selecting Employees and Placing Them in Jobs
Chapter 6
Selecting Employees and Placing Them in Jobs
What Do I Need to Know
Identify the elements of the selection process.
Define ways to measure the success of a selection method.
Summarize the government’s requirements for employee selection.
Compare the common methods used for selecting human resources.
Describe major types of employment tests.
Discuss how to conduct effective interviews.
Explain how employers carry out the process of making a selection decision.

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Selection Process
Hiring decisions are about finding the people who will be a good fit with the job and the organization.
Personnel selection: the process through which organizations make decisions about who will or will not be allowed to join the organization.
Selection begins with the candidates identified through recruitment and attempts to reduce their number to the individuals best qualified to perform the available job.
The best selection methods:
Will provide information that is reliable and valid and can be generalized to apply to the organization’s group of candidates
Should measure characteristics that have practical benefits for the organization
Must meet legal requirements in effect where the organization operates
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3. Steps in the Selection Process
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Steps in the Selection Process
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4. Criteria for Evaluating Selection Methods
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Criteria for Evaluating Selection Methods

5. Reliability and Validity
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Reliability and Validity
Reliability: refers to the extent to which a type of measurement is free from random error.
A reliable measurement generates consistent results.
Usually, information about the reliability of tests involves statistics such as correlation coefficients.
Validity: describes the extent to which performance on the measure, such as a test score, is related to what the measure is designed to assess, such as job performance.
Information about the validity of selection methods often uses correlation coefficients.
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Measuring Validity
Criterion-related validity: a measure of validity based on showing a substantial correlation between test scores and job performance scores.
Two kinds of research are possible for arriving at criterion-related validity:
Predictive validation
Concurrent validation
Content validity: consistency between the test items or problems and the kinds of situations or problems that occur on the job.
Construct validity: involves establishing that tests really do measure intelligence, leadership ability, or other such constructs.
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7. More About Selection Methods
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More About Selection Methods
Generalizable: applies not only to the conditions in which the method was originally developed, it also applies to others as well.
Utility: refers to the point when the methods utilized provide economic value greater than the cost of using them.
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8. Legal Standards for Selection
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Legal Standards for Selection
The U.S. government imposes legal limits on selection decisions.
The government requires that the selection process be conducted in a way that avoids discrimination and provides access to employees with disabilities.
The following laws have many applications to the selection process:
Civil Rights Act of 1991
Equal Employment Opportunity Laws
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1991
Organizations must be concerned about candidates’ privacy rights.
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9. Job Applications and Résumés
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Job Applications and Résumés
Employment applications are a low-cost way to gather basic data from many applicants.
Employment applications provide several types of information:
Contact information
Work experience
Educational background
Applicant’s signature
Résumés are the usual way applicants introduce themselves to a potential employer.
Organizations typically use them as a basis for deciding which candidates to investigate further.
Résumés are most valid when the content of the résumé is evaluated in terms of the elements of a job description.
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10. References and Background Checks
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References and Background Checks
References are not always an unbiased source of information.
Applicants provide the name and phone numbers of references.
Organizations typically check references after it has determined that the applicant is a finalist for the job.
Background checks are a way to verify that applicants are as they represent themselves to be.
Verifying credentials and conducting background checks is more complicated when candidates are not U.S. citizens.
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11. Employment Tests Two broad categories of employment tests are:
Aptitude tests: assess how well a person can learn or acquire skills and abilities
Achievement tests: measure a person’s existing knowledge and skills
Other types of employment tests include:
Physical ability tests:
Evaluates muscular tension, power, endurance, flexibility, balance, and coordination
Personality tests:
Finds applicants who have desired personality traits
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12. Employment Tests Other types of employment tests include:
Integrity tests:
Weeds out dishonest employees
Drug testing and medical examinations:
Ensures that candidates meet physical job requirements and will not be impaired on the job
Cognitive ability tests:
Designed to measure such mental abilities as:
Verbal skills
Quantitative skills
Reasoning ability
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13. Personality Inventories
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Personality Inventories
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Drug Tests
As concerns about substance abuse have grown during recent decades, so has the use of drug testing.
Employers considering the use of drug tests should ensure that their drug-testing programs conform to some general rules such as:
Tests should be administered systematically to all applicants for the same job
Applicants should receive a report of the results and be informed how to appeal those results
Applicant's privacy should be respected
Results should be confidential
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15. Interviewing Techniques
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Interviewing Techniques
Nondirective interview: the interviewer has great discretion in choosing questions to ask.
Structured interview: uses a set of established questions.
Situational interview: the interviewer describes a situation likely to arise and asks the candidate to describe how he or she would handle it
Behavior description interview: the interviewer asks the candidate to describe how he or she handled a type of situation in the past
Face-to-face interview: one candidate, one interviewer.
Panel interview: several organizational members interview each candidate
Computerized interview: candidate responds to questions presented by the computer
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16. Advantages and Disadvantages of Interviewing
Advantages include:
Can provide evidence of communication and interpersonal skills
Can gain insight into candidates’ personality and interpersonal style
Disadvantages include:
Can be unreliable
Low on validity
Costly
Subjective
Can be biased
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17. How Organizations Select Employees
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How Organizations Select Employees
Multiple-hurdle model: gradually narrowing the pool of candidates for each job.
Compensatory model: a very high score on one type of assessment can make up for a low score on another.
Organizations have choices about who will make the selection decision:
Supervisor
Human resource professional
Work team
Other panel of decision makers
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