Screening Job Candidates

1. Screening Job Candidates MANA 4328 Dennis C. Veit dveit@uta.edu

2. Selection Tools • 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 - Most frequently misused means of assessment Follows a pattern of want to know information • Resumes - Most commonly used with professional/managerial Allow for greater freedom of expression (See pg 56) • Interview • Education level • Training and experience • Reference checks • Licensing and certification • Biodata

8. Required for Every Selection Test… • Equal opportunity (non-discriminatory) • Reliability • Validity (a) Test reflects the content of the job. (b) Test predicts job performance.

9. Test Reliability 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

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

11. Test Validity Validity – accuracy of the measure Are you measuring what you intend to measure? (CONTENT) OR Does the test measure a characteristic related to job performance? (CRITERION) 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

12. 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”

13. Correlation Scatterplots Figure 5.3

14. Reliability vs. Validity

15. Blood, Sweat and Type O: Japan's Weird Science In Japan, using blood type to predict a person’s character is as common as going to McDonald’s and ordering a teriyaki burger. Theodore Bestor, a professor of Japanese studies at Harvard: “It’s a piece of information that supposedly gives you some idea of what that person is like as a human being.” Japanese popular culture has been saturated by blood typology for decades. Dating services use it to make matches. Employers use it to evaluate job applicants. A person can have one of four blood types, A, B, AB or O, and while the most common blood type in Japan is Type A, many of the more prominent Japanese are Type O. In Japan, people with Type O are commonly referred to as warriors because they are said to be self-confident, outgoing, goal-oriented and passionate. Can any of these correlations be scientifically supported? “There’s absolutely no evidence that there are different character traits that you can define by blood type,” said Marc Siegel, an associate professor of medicine at the New York University School of Medicine. NYT 12.14.06

16. Better hide the tattoo if you want the job Once associated with drunken sailors, felons and Hells Angels, tattoos have gone nearly mainstream, putting employers in a bind. How to write rules that won't alienate un-hip customers on the one hand or eliminate talented workers on the other? Nearly 50% of Americans between 21 and 32 have at least one tattoo or a piercing other than in an ear, according to a 2006 study by the University of Chicago and Northwestern University. Men and women alike say their tattoos make them feel sexy and rebellious, a 2003 Harris Poll found, while the unadorned of both genders see body art as unsightly and think those with tattoos and piercings are less intelligent and less attractive. ….the law gives employers broad latitude to establish dress and grooming standards consistent with the images they want to convey. LA Times 7.6.07

17. Should employers discriminate against World of Warcraft players? “I met with a recruiter recently (online media industry) and in conversation I happened to mention I'd spent way too much time in the early 2000s playing online games. He replied that employers specifically instruct him not to send them World of Warcraft players. He said there is a belief that WoW players cannot give 100% because their focus is elsewhere, their sleeping patterns are often not great, etc. I mentioned that some people have written about MMOG leadership experience as a career positive or a way to learn project management skills, and he shook his head. He has been specifically asked to avoid WoW players.” BoingBoing.com December 15, 2008

18. 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.

19. 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

20. 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

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

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

23. 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

24. 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

25. 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?

26. 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.

27. 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.

28. Common Resume Fibs • According to a CareerBuilder.com survey, these were the most common falsehoods people admitted to using on a résumé: • 38 percent of those surveyed indicated they had embellished their job responsibilities • 18 percent admitted to lying about their skill set • 12 percent indicated they had been dishonest about their start and end dates of employment • 10 percent confessed to lying about an academic degree • 7 percent said they had lied about the companies they had worked for • 5 percent disclosed that they had been untruthful about their job title • CNN 8.14.08

29. Reference Checking • Relatively low reliability and predictive validity • Used primarily as a “screening out” mechanism • 80% - 95% of organizations attempt • Two-thirds of organizations limit info they will share. • Companies decline to report negative information to protect from defamation suit. • What type of questions are more likely to get good responses? • Should ask for applicant permission • Failure to conduct reference check may create negligent hiring liability.

30. Reference Checking • Verify resume or application information • Education • Work history • Information on personality or character • Motivation and job performance • Willingness to rehire

31. “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?

32. 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.