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> Unit 5: Recruitment & selection
Began during WWI to help match recruits with appropriate jobs. Recently, have begun to administer them via computer.
- For example, PSI
has a test that police departments can use to test applicants'
aptitude:
- "The Police Selection Test is an assessment of a candidate's reasoning, verbal ability, and numeric ability. Key measures, including reading comprehension, quantitative problem solving, interpretation, written communication skills, and verbal problem solving, are integrated into one comprehensive exam. The Police Selection Test is based on comprehensive job analysis and literature review. Additionally, the Police Selection Test validation can be transported to your organization using a simple procedure."
- Another vendor offers a wide range of pre-employment tests:
- Assessment centers (used
by 62% of cities of 50,000 or more to screen police and fire
applicants). Not a physical location, but an evaluation method.
"An assessment center measures multiple dimensions of the individual being tested. An assessment center usually has three or more simulations or exercises. " Rate candidates on each procedure or exercise used in the center. "When rating the candidate, assessors do not rate the candidate s against one another. Instead, all the candidates are compared or ranked against the global standards that was developed prior to the assessment."- a wide range of possible components. Examples include:
- role playing: where you'd role play with an employee who has a particular problem: must identify the problem and solve the problem
- basket exercises: measure how applicant handles typical management issues, prioritizes time, and addresses job-specific problems, including real and perceived emergencies.
- benefit of the assessment center is that if gives a lot of information about how candidates will perform in situations similar to on-the-job ones. Might result in lower turnover. It can help the candidates, who surveys show find to be fair, and give a realistic job preview. They can also identify weaknesses in candidates: if they are ultimately hired, results can be used to target special training for them.
- Big problem is costs:
- Case study: Development Dimensions International
- a wide range of possible components. Examples include:
- Personality Tests
They are psychologically-based tests used to improve employee selection by determining candidate's non-intellectual behaviors. Measure factors such as neuroticism, extroversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. "The underlying assumption of these tests is that they will identify candidate having personality characteristics that the organization feels are important for success on the job." - Honesty Tests
"(these tests)... are based on the notion that the applicant's personality tendencies and inclinations translate into behaviors reflecting their propensity toward honesty, theft, productivity, and compatability with other employees in the organization." Quick and cheap to administer, can be used to weed out the pool.- However, their validity has been questioned: "such tests may have a high-false positive rate or erroneously identify individuals who have an integrity/honesty problem: " some research has concluded that they are only 1.7 to 13.6% accurate and shouldn't be used.